We started Gymnasium because we believe the fitness industry could be better. Everyone knows exercise is good for you, but for many people, fitness is an erratic, aimless and lonely journey that frequently disappoints and frustrates.
Gymnasium is a strength, conditioning & mobility gym based around expertly coached group training. We believe a gym should be a communal experience and know that getting fitter is better, easier to stick to and more effective when done together.
That’s why we have highly qualified, experienced and well-educated coaches. Importantly they are full time with sick-pay, pensions & holidays. There is real career progression as Gymnasium expands. They all go on regular courses across a range of fitness & nutrition specialisms and bring their knowledge back top the wider team and members. New coaches all go through our Academy, our coach development program. We are recruiting and training coaches with a wide range of skills and backgrounds who receive a series of practical workshops, videos and our handbook to show them how we coach at Gymnasium. They then join classes to shadow our full time Coaches before starting to lead classes themselves.
Jack oversees all the goings on in the gym and works with the programme leaders to make sure members get the best possible experience. Jack is a former national league level basketball player who opened IN2CROSSFIT Clapham in 2014 and IN2CROSSFIT Farnham in 2016. He was also the driving force behind renowned UK CrossFit competition; The Athlete Games. His passion is taking athletes who do not count themselves as remotely fit and showing them what they are really capable of.
Pete leads our Athletica program. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa and has been coaching since 2007. He represented his Province in rowing and played high level rugby until 2011. As a coach he has worked with Hollywood actors, stunt crews, sports teams and specialises in building female specific conditioning & strength programs.
Tim leads our Compete program. Tim has played competitive Football his whole life. He represented his NZ province at under 21, and at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland in 2008. He captained his team to 3rd place in the NZ Premier League. He has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Science specialising in Physical Conditioning, and has worked with and alongside top conditioning coaches and National Representative Scholarship athletes.
Sam joined Gymnasium as a member, starting out in Athletica and then adding Compete. She fell in love with Gymnasium and wanted to make it a more permanent fixture in her life and so 18 months later joined as a full-time coach.
Sam was a former swimmer, representing her county and competing at the Nationals. Although she no longer competes, she still very much enjoys the odd splash about and even started up the Gymnasium Swim Club.
Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Wesley is a former professional rugby player. Wesley moved to London after hanging up his boots in 2018. He has been personal training since 2012 with a primary focus in strength and conditioning. He has trained many professional athletes and takes pride in watching members develop and becoming the best version of themselves.
Born in Kolkata, India, Suraj is a former professional rugby player having represented his country on several occasions, as well as captaining the under 19 national team. Suraj completed an MSc in Strength and Conditioning at Middlesex University in London, where he spent time working with Harlequins RFC. Suraj has coached professional athletes, including the Indian Women’s Rugby team as well as worked with individuals in the UAE, India and the UK.
Teddy’s passion for movement, fitness and wellbeing was realised through his footballing and rugby background. He obtained his MS Degree in ‘Applied Exercise Physiology’ from the University of Central Florida, at the same time as initially interning at a Strength & Conditioning Facility (Spectrum Sports Performance) and working as a Head S&C Coach at Trinity Prep High School for their Lacrosse, Volleyball and Swim teams. Teddy started CrossFit in 2016 and quickly fell in love with functional fitness and the community created through group training. His ultimate goal is to assist others with their fitness and wellbeing, and to always be improving as coach through further experience and education.
After working in marketing for years, Sophia trained and qualified as a fitness instructor around her 9 to 5 – running classes before and after work (sometimes taking a cheeky nap at lunchtime!). She realised that fitness was her passion, decided to peruse it full time and hasn’t looked back since.
Sophia is a qualified yoga instructor and loves helping people out with their mobility. In her spare time you can usually find her on her bike or running around SW London – so she’s super excited about Gymnasium’s Run Club and Cycle Club, and hopes to see you there too!
Nic, was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He played professional level rugby, as well as district level waterpolo and district level bouldering. Nic then moved to Cape Town where his coaching career began. In the eight + years since, he has trained private clients with individual needs, celebrity clients with specific goals for film, and most especially, group classes with mixed level participants. Nic is passionate about functional fitness and the combination of both strength and mobility. He takes pride in being a part of his clients’ personal health & fitness journeys and believes that it also plays a major roll in ones mental health.
Coaches are the cornerstone of our community and so we want the best. The Gymnasium Coaching Academy is our in house coaches training programme. The aim is to take people who are passionate about a career in fitness and develop them to become epic Gymnasium Coaches.
Our programme lasts approximately 3 months, and during this time coaches will participate in classes as members, before shadowing classes with our full time coaching team, and eventually leading classes whilst under supervision.
Every week the academy coaches meet for their Coaching Academy Clinic session. During these sessions our experienced coaching team will work with the academy to develop key coaching skills.
Alongside weekly coaching clinics there are also Coaching Academy Camps. These are all day sessions where coaches are taken through all the key progressions, coaching cues and corrections that we use in our classes.
All academy coaches receive regular feedback as they progress through each stage and those who graduate can go on to join our part time and full time coaching team.
Understanding what it is like to be a Gymnasium member is one of the cornerstones of the programme, that is why all of the Academy coaches benefit from a free membership for the duration of the programme.
Our next intake of for our academy is summer 2021, to apply please contact jack@gymnasium.fit
Everyone is welcome and all our workouts are adjusted to match the needs and abilities of every individual. Our current mix of Athletes is diverse and includes 75 year old Peter, competitive athlete Gwendolyn (and her new baby), 36 year old teacher Rebecca and 10 year old want-to-be pro footballer, Elliot.
James Clark
I popped two disks in my back snowboarding in 2012 and spent 2 years rehabilitating my back and core. The PT I worked with through this period suggested that after my rehab I should think about how I could build on my baseline fitness and strength. I was pretty motivated to never be in that sort of pain again. I joined Gymnasium in 2014 and CrossFit gave me a constantly changing workout program in a high energy positive environment with professional coaches looking out for my safety with good form and teaching me how to move better. Combine that with the culture and community that drive and challenge you to do better, make loads of new friends and then compete with them before heading to brunch for a debrief! I challenge anyone that tries it not to love it as much as I do. I can’t imagine what else I would do at 6AM everyday!!
Kate Pollock
Joining Gymnasium is one of the better decisions I’ve made since moving to London.
The coaches are great - they are welcoming, talented and have an amazing way of getting you to do something you never thought possible.
At 6am on a snowy morning being greeted with a huge smile and enthusiasm for the class makes it just about bearable.
I’d never lifted weights, as a woman it was never encouraged at previous gyms, but now I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and still surprised at what I can do.
The workouts are constantly varied but always challenging and, somehow, fun. I’ve also made great friends through Gymnasium.
All in all it is much more than just a place to workout.
Bill O'Meara
You get a great workout every-time you come to Gymnasium, but that's only the beginning. The programming is such that you also make incremental progress towards developing and mastering skills and movements you may never have thought were achievable.
All of this is done in a genuinely friendly and supportive community environment with expert coaching, top notch facilities and no small amount of banging tunes. I can honestly say Gymnasium has completely changed my outlook on my training and helped me vastly exceed what I thought possible from myself.
Show up, commit to the process and it can do the same for you.
We use Teemill, a pioneering sustainable business that only uses organic materials and renewable energy powered factories. Real time, individual printing and shipping worldwide, all from the Isle of Wight. Visit our Gymnasium Teemill store here.
