case study - indiana - army general entry

Prior to joining The Barracks Gym Indiana worked as a hairdresser and also in outdoor education in a rural location before she landed on the idea of joining the Army. She finds that she loses interest with anything overly academic and prefers to be hands on which is why she decided to shift her career path into joining the ADF. Upon applying for jobs on seek.com she came across an advert for the Army and it sparked her interest. She had never considered it prior to this point, however the appeal of ‘getting paid to stay fit’ really got her attention.

Indiana has travelled, worked, played and really enjoyed her life in an active capacity which led her to believe that she was fit enough to join the Army.

Prior to TBG Indiana felt that she had already been pretty fit despite not being involved in sports back in School. Having an active lifestyle meant that her body could operate in a functional capacity and that she was able to push herself to improve quite easily.

She decided to utilise the ADF Active app to help her get started with Military specific training. She has always considered herself a runner so wasn’t concerned about passing the beep test. She really wanted to help improve her strength and obtain a greater pushup score. She conducted any training sessions in the morning because it’s her preferred time to train.

Even with the use of the app she still found it challenging to get motivated for training. Whilst she felt accountable to the sessions she was being told to do from the app, she wasn’t accountable to a physical person and that made it hard to keep the momentum going.

After requesting to join the ADF Fitness Forum, Carly noticed that Indiana was from Brisbane and decided to reach out to her and see if she wanted to come and try it out. Indiana lives 70 mins drive away from the gym so it was unexpected that she’d commit to driving so far.

She instantly responded and came in right away and left us wondering if she was serious. She came in for her first session, committed and never left (until enlistment).

It was obvious that the training she had been doing was working for her and that she perhaps didn’t need TBG in order to pass her PFA and get ready for Kapooka. Add in that she lives 70 mins away from the gym and was going to spend over 2 hours at a time driving to and from the gym each day. She didn’t really hesitate to consider if it was worth it. She just knew that the TBG environment was what she wanted. Indiana had family in the Army but she doesn’t see them a lot so wasn’t surrounded by a lot of people who are experiencing what she wanted to do. She knew that if she came to TBG she would be able to talk to others about their experiences.

Once Indiana arrived at TBG and spoke to other like minded people, she realised that others were, in fact, going through a similar thing to her. She felt like her application process had been long and painful, however upon talking to others, she realised that it was the same for them and she was able to take comfort from this. She realised that everyone here was in the same boat as her and wanted to train with them.

Shortly thereafter she started to see results. Indiana quickly noticed an increase in strength and her overall physical ability and she found herself quickly addicted to the training. As hard as some sessions were, Indiana found that she would get to the end and be telling herself ‘that was awesome’. She loved it.

In the beginning Indiana told herself that she’d commit to 2 sessions a week as she didn’t feel she needed the help with running. She started off just coming to sessions on a casual basis but quickly realised it was much better value to become a member and utilise all the sessions that were available to her. She started to improve even more with her running and was loving getting PBs. Indiana travelled into the gym almost every day to train. It was rare for her to miss a session.

Indiana feels that her strength has improved more than anything since she’s been at TBG. She has made this a priority as it was her biggest deficiency. She started to feel empowered as she was becoming stronger. Indiana’s father is a cabinet maker and he now asks her to come and help lift and move things whereas before he wouldn’t have even thought to ask her. She has really gotten a kick out of being able to show her family how strong she now is.

Indiana loves the friendships she’s made at TBG. She felt a bit shy at first and was fairly quiet, however once she started socialising with everyone both in and outside of the gym she instantly came out of her shell and felt comfortable with everyone. This also then translated into her training because she was alongside ‘mates’ who then pushed her and she pushed them. She feels like she’s made lifelong friends who she can always be herself around.

Indiana is also one of the many people at the gym to go out and get a TBG logo tattoo as a way of signifying her love for her gym ‘family’.

She tells anyone who is thinking of coming to TBG but isn’t sure ‘what have you got to lose’. She makes a point of telling people to just give it a go because it’s the best thing she ever did. Joining TBG forced her to put herself out there and open herself up to a whole new world that allowed her to achieve things she never expected to.

Indiana is now happily serving in the Army and is posted up north and is absolutely loving life. 

If you can relate to Indiana's story and feel like you are ready to break away from those fears that are holding you back from joining the military, then come on in for your 2 Week Trial.