Having gone from sports coach to director of the Énergie gym (soon Level Up Fitness), Nelson Agius talks about his life journey between airsoft, martial arts and human relations.
Three months. Nelson Agius, 34, has been director for three months. He took over, with his partner Vanessa Pineau, the Club Énergie, a fitness room in Orléans. But that was not a goal, he assures. He even admits that a few weeks before embarking on the adventure, he began to move towards something completely different: “I loved being a sports coach, but I no longer wanted to be accountable. I wanted to continue fitness in the car. -entrepreneur and start my little DIY business on the side: Nelson touches everything!”
From the fight contact with his father“What if I jumped above the pool for the photo?” Nelson always has lots and lots of ideas! (Photo Pascal Proust)
A whole series of decisions (“at the right time, in the right place, with the right people”) means that today, he is the director of Énergie (soon to be Level Up Fitness). A success that does not come as a shock when you know Nelson Agius a little: “When you are true and authentic, you find friends or work that reflect your image”, he says, in the tone of a true Jedi knight.
Nelson has always been attracted to sport, which has been an integral part of his life since he was little. Between skateboarding, basketball, football and judo, he has done a bit of everything. But it was in martial arts that he really developed himself. By practicing contact wrestling with his father, Thierry Agius.
Thierry Agius from Orléans, the martial soul
This three-dimensional combat sport (strike, throw, ground), ancestor of MMA (mixed martial arts) which is a hit in France today. “Practicing martial arts gave me confidence,” he says with a big smile. “It’s sharing, it’s competition. It’s an individual sport. But without others, you don’t progress. Because you can’t have the fighting instinct by working alone on a bag.”
As we will have understood, Nelson is not a loner: “I have a lot of trouble being alone,” he admits. This is why he threw himself body and soul into fitness and group classes rather than bodybuilding: “I invest myself fully or not at all.”
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Lessons from home
His past as a martial artist is never far away for Nelson Agius. (Photo Pascal Proust)
This generosity in effort will reach a peak during the Covid crisis where he is among the first in France to offer (free) fitness classes by video. From home. Up to 200 people follow him every evening to do sport while everyone is confined: “I told myself that I had a real impact on people, he remembers. I felt like a duty, a mission to accomplish.”
“I invite myself into your home and welcome you into my home” was his slogan: “I was flooded with good vibes and thanks. I didn’t expect that.”
His daughter, now five, even took her first steps during a live class with her dad. A great memory, of course.
And don’t count on him to stop there. Because he has dozens and dozens of ideas. One of his goals? Organize recurring fitness events in Orléans: “We are emotion deliverers. We want to get the city moving,” he concludes. So, get ready!
Alban Gourgousse
