About Us

Stephan Mulder
Owner & Head Trainer at Ideal Physique Fitness

Certified Crossfit Level 1 Trainer

I was born and raised in kuilsriver, well that was up untill the age of 14 when we moved to a small Karoo town named Prins albert. Growing up I’ve always loved being active and competed in various sports up until adulthood including rugby, wrestling, kickboxing, boxing and body building.

Being active, it was inevitable that I would be introduced to weight training. My first training session was at my best friends house, his father used to exercise quite regularly and they had all the basic exercise equipment required for a proper workout, barbell, dumbells and a bench . I can still remember my first training session, training at the age of 13 to the point where I couldn’t use my arms to eat dinner, but something about the feeling of training was remarkable. I fell in love with exercise, not just the physical result of exercise, the endorphins and calmness it produces post training but also the part of challenging yourself and resisting the urge to quit gave me a sense of achievement.

At the age of 14, we moved to prince Albert, a much smaller town and school than I was accustomed to. Being a small town, there were no gym facilities, but my dedication to training never faded. My “first” set of training equipment consisted of 3 water pumps. One 21m long pipe that served as my barbell, 2 x 8kg short stocky pumps as my dumbells and  2 chairs without back rest my bench. After seeing my commitment and realizing this is not just a phase, my older brother bought me a book by Bill Phillips – body for life, and I can truly say this changed the course of my life permanently. I didn’t just read the book, I studied it, I became obsessed with training and the principles surrounding what “works” and what doesn’t. At the age of 16 my parents bought my my first “real” set of dumbbells, a bench and a bar. By this time, our house was known amongst the kids as the place you go to train in town.

I approached my matric year with no idea what I would study. My dad, having once being a business owner himself laid it out quite simple, he asked, what do you enjoy, I said: “exercise” and he said well become a personal trainer. I said well there’s not much to gain financially being a trainer. Then he said, “if I was able to choose between being a boss, or doing what I love, I’d choose my passion, for you can always make a success of wat you love, but making a success out of something you don’t like doing, never brings you joy “- such a simple explanations and yet it had such a huge impact on my life.

I graduated from ETA College with a 2 year diploma in personal training and in 2011 I started my personal training career at zone fitness Brackenfell (about 3km away from IP Fitness). That was until the unexpected happened…

At the age of 21 I was unexpectedly diagnosed with a rare medical anomaly called Meckals diverticulum. I went into hospital a fit 106kg. 14 days and 3 operations later, I ended up weak, barely able to carry myself now just over 90kgs. The doctor said my body had the immune response of an aids patient. My first “exercise” was to inhale deeply and to slowly start walking again as I was bedridden for 12 days straight. Still I was telling myself: “This is only temporary.” When I first got back to gym after 6 months the only exercise I could do was walk, nothing more but putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually I started power walking, some teased and asked if I gave up training, why I’m not doing weights or jogging. The truth was both was too much impact for my stomach to handle… still I told myself “this is only temporary.” When I started lifting weights about 8 months later the 60kg barbell I used to warm up with for 50 reps was too heavy to press three times. Still I told myself this is only temporary.

It took over a year to fully recover but with the support from my family and friends and a positive mindset I eventually overcame all adversity that was thrown my way and now I’m back to competing in fitness shows and obstacle courses like I always intended to. Most of all I’m grateful for my health and will never take it for granted. Just 2 years after my operation I suffered a broken foot- 3 separate places, the doctor initially said my foot is “basically shattered” was his exact words. Recovery took a long 8 months and another 4 additional months until the screws where removed. On my final check up, I asked the doc :” Will l be able to do all the sport I love again eventually doc” his answer, well I suggest you don’t do anything involving your foot, you certainly won’t be able to jog pain free for more than 1km… his words hit me like a death sentence. How can this man decide what I am capable of and what not.

After a lot of hard work, discomfort, doubt, I eventually worked my foot strength and hip mobility up to the point that I am pain free and symmetrically balanced, I can jog 10km+ pain free and despite my foot not being the best looking like the picture of beauty, it does its job perfectly and pain free, and its from these experiences that I developed the I can mindset. If there’s something I don’t agree with, its when someone limits themselves by saying: I can’t.

Upon returning to my career I quickly realized that training individuals is about so much more than just letting them perform exercises in the correct way, its about connecting with people, carrying over your belief in them to make them believe in themselves. Its not just about being a coach, its about being a mentor and connecting on a emotional level. We all come from different walks of life and should be approached differently, and that’s the delicacy and the beauty of training.

Exercises, personal has changed me completely. It changed my outlook on life, my perspective of myself, and thought me that through hard work there truly are no limitations. I would not be the man I am today had it not been for physical exercise.

I live for this, this is what I was born to do.

Bianca Viljoen
Co-owner & Trainer at Ideal Physique Fitness

Ever since I can remember I always loved sport and the body’s ability to transform into something amazing, but I’ve always had a problem when it comes to eating. Always turning to food as my comfort whenever I was happy or sad.

Being active during my time in school came very easy as I was use to playing for top netball teams and my training schedule consisted of 4 days training, with 2-3 netball games p/week. But unfortunately this came to an end when I left matric in 2012 and training became unheard of. I started working for a promotion company directly after school and boy I boy, did I enjoy all the promotion stock in the warehouse 😂

My daily eating habits included muesli with chocolate/caramel pieces, Romary creams and chip rolls. While I enjoyed it daily, I started gaining weight extremely fast BUT “lewe was lekker gewees” and I struggled to put a stop to it.

Everyone that knows me personally knows that I am always up for a challenge, so after a year at the company I finally decided to move to a different venture and slowly but surely started training again but I couldn’t get my vibe back as training alone wasn’t for me.

In July 2016 I met Stephan for coffee as I started working as a Rep at a company selling Ozone machines. Knowing that he had so many injuries and challenges that he had to face regarding these injuries, I wanted to make him a victim for a potential sale. Low and behold, 6 years later that potential victim has made such a big impact on my life that I left my office job and made a complete 180 career change

When I met Stephan in 2016 we immediately got along. Till this day I can still remember the first training session with Stephan at Zone Fitness Brackenfell. He had to run to Spar to buy me a banana because my sugar levels crashed during our session. As hard as I tried to hide my bad fitness level, my pride eventually laid next to me on the floor.

I’ve always wanted to do a fitness show and Stephan finally convinced me to do one in March 2017 for which I had to do a 12 week prep. As much as I enjoyed the show, I gained 10kg’s within 2 weeks after my first show as I became obsessed with food. As much as I wanted to stop, I couldn’t and my whole struggle with food became even worse. Between 2017-2019 I did 3 fitness shows and every single time I couldn’t manage to keep the weight off.

When covid hit us 2020, we suddenly didn’t have a space where we could train our clients because all the gyms were on full lock down. Stephan and I then decided that it is time to finally time to take that next step into opening our own facility, and that is how Ideal Physique Fitness was established.

Stephan and I had to get married in March 2020, but work is our number 1 priority, and we used those funds to open up a new gym. Not knowing what we are doing, today 2 years later, I can finally say WE DID IT and today more than ever we are able to reach and inspire so many lives in our facility.

Stephan and I have completely committed our lives to help others, motivate others and to make a change in our clients’ lives and I can honestly say opening our gym in 2020 has been the best decision we have ever made!

You guys are the reason we get up every day and the reason we always aspire to do so much more.

Thank you for believing in us and for making our dream come true to help you with yours!!