The clang of metal against metal filled the room as young men craned lifting heavy weights with sweat glistening on their bodies.
It was business as usual inside Charman’s, one of the oldest and well-known fitness gymnasiums in the country.
Since it was established in Suva by boxing trainer Harry Charman in 1953, many of its members have gone on to represent Fiji in boxing, body building and power lifting.
Jale Colati Qasevakatini has been a familiar face at the gym over the years, showing the ropes to body building fanatics or simply those keen on working out to keep fit.
For 13 years he was a bouncer at popular Suva bar, Traps, before deciding to concentrate on a career in the gym other than working late hours in a crowded and unhealthy environment.
“I had been a bouncer for so long and it was very challenging and I knew I had to make a decision to take one, either being a bouncer or body building, so I chose body building.
“I knew getting out of the nightclub scene was good for the sport and I would benefit from it health wise, and since then I have been a regular instructor and coach at Charman’s,” he said.
Keeping a timely regimen, the father-of-two, commutes between Navua and Suva each day to get to the gym located at the corner of Kimberly St and McGregor Rd.
Once at the gym, he goes through routines for beginners and advanced trainers to the music pumping through the old wooden building.
“We get all kinds of members here from lawyers to accountants and students and my job is basically to ensure they carry out their training in the right way so they can get maximum benefit from it,” said the 48-year-old fitness junkie.
Qasevakatini enjoys his job because it is “good for the body and mind” and this is shown in the devotion which he applies to the training.
I met the native of Rakiraki, Yale, Kadavu while he prepared a few promising body builders, as they and others eye a spot on the Fiji team at the Pacific Games to be hosted by Papua New Guinea next June.
“Most of the old Charman’s members have retired so we have a new young crop of members. There are a few like Joe Magnus who still train but basically this is a new generation of members,” he said.
Regardless, the club has continued to churn out champion body builders over the years thanks largely to the efforts of trainers such as Qasevakatini, who has represented Fiji twice at regional body building events.
“I started off with athletics in secondary school and I got into body building shortly afterwards after spending time in the gym away from the tracks,” he shared.
This started a love affair with the gym and body building with Qasevakatini now a regular face at the gym any day in a week.
The former Saint John’s College student’s toned physique belies his age, which the Kadavu man puts down to a good diet and the right exercise.
“It’s sad to see many these days not devoting enough time to keeping fit and some people have forgotten what the inside of a gym looks like,” he said.
Like the true fitness junkie he is, Qasevakatini said he would continue to devote himself to gym work as long as he could maintain the intense physcal routine involved.
