A personalised workout that’s not PT: Iskia Athletic Club

Fitness culture has a problem: overchoice.

There are so many gyms out there – from the 24/7 franchises to the domestic gyms. The landscape is both competitive and, if you’re new to it all, a tad overwhelming. 

Enter Iskia Athletic Club, the boutique gym that incorporates the same basic principles used to train elite athletes and translates them for the “everyday individual”. So, the OutinCanberra team nominated an amateur athlete and a fitness fanatic to go along and try their ‘Precision’ class to show that Iskia Athletic Club really is for anyone. 

Sarah, 22, Amateur Athlete 

Similar to Mia Thermopolis in Princess Diaries (2001) I am a “synchronized swimming, yoga doing, um, horseback-riding, wall climbing” type girl.  

I don’t have a gym membership and I don’t have any current plans to get one. I went to a HIIT gym once and found it super intimidating, like the kind of class you can only do when you’re already fit.  

I don’t own a lot of activewear, and I think walking up the stairs to my office is “exercise”. My Apple Watch has given up on telling me to “Make it Happen” each day. 

So, when I was asked to check out the new Iskia Athletic gym I immediately began dreaming of becoming the kind of person who announces to the office each afternoon that “they’re going to the gym tonight”.  

I am a “synchronized swimming, yoga doing, um, horseback-riding, wall climbing” type girl. 

In the class there was only myself, my colleague Kat and one other lady – a small class. There was no one to hide behind if I started to get tired or my lack of technique started to show.  

After our warmup, I noticed that my fellow gym goers began to break off and start doing different exercises. Turns out that the ‘Precision’ class is modelled on semi-private personal training which is customised to your fitness goals and level of fitness – which I have neither. This meant that for the remainder of the class I’d be flying solo, working on my own thing while Matt walked around – occasionally correcting our form and more often, joking with us to distract us from the burn.  

This small group mentality turned out to be the opposite of intimidating – especially given I had a friend there with me. Fewer people to embarrass myself in front of, fewer egos crowding the space, and more space to focus on myself. And this space to focus on myself ended up being more motivating than I expected.  

I had previously believed that one of the reasons I didn’t have a gym membership was because I didn’t know enough about different exercises to be able to get through a workout alone. But Matt’s approach to semi-private PT gave me both the instructions I needed to get going and the space to do it – without the feeling of being examined and the accompanying self-consciousness that I expected I would experience with traditional, 1-on-1 PT. 

Kat, 23, Fitness Fanatic 

As someone who has tried a multitude of gyms in the Capital, it takes something special for one to stand out from the rest. As soon as I walked into Iskia Athletic Club, I was greeted with a friendly smile and astute observation from Owner and Head Coach, Matt Rodgers. 

“You’re too hip-dominant.”  

Um, what? What does that even mean and how did he notice it so quickly? 

He went on to explain that when I walked in and warmed up, I placed most of my body weight on my heels. I was amazed as this is something that had never been pointed out in my 6 years of training. 

We started the session with 15 minutes of ‘Prime’ which involves stretching and mobilising to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead. This was followed by ‘Develop’ in which we spent 20-30 minutes focusing on a specific exercise. Matt got me started with a tailored stability exercise designed to improve the way I balanced over my foot. After assessing my technique, body composition and some healthy banter, I was shown how to perform the most effective deadlift style for my body.  

Finally, my ‘Enhance’ component involved 10-15 minutes of conditioning. After such a complete sweat sesh we took 10 minutes to recover and downregulate the system to speed up the recovery process. Even as a ‘fitness fanatic’ I had walked out of Iskia Athletic Club armed with new techniques and insight into how my body moved. The fact that I had learnt so much in just one hour goes to show the expertise of the Iskia team. 

Memberships include a training journal, consistent assessments and infrared scans as a means of tracking your results and progress. 

Iskia Athletic Club’s approach to personalised group training is a complete game changer in the Canberra fitness market. There are no streamlined templates; and each workout is completely fine-tuned and personalised to your training goals and individual needs.  

Memberships include a training journal, consistent assessments and infrared scans as a means of tracking your results and progress. And as any night out, filled with a few too many shots and an end-of-the-night kebab, has proven to us, training is only half of the work. An included customised nutrition plan means that a well-balanced diet complements your hard work.  

Redeem your free trial at Iskia Athletic Club now when you mention this article: https://iskiaathleticclub.com.au/