The club that treats
fitness like a craft
About Fitness Training Lab — a Melbourne gym built by coaches and physiologists who wanted somewhere they'd actually train themselves.
Most gyms sell
access. We sell
attention.
Fitness Training Lab started in a Collingwood garage in 2019 — two exercise physiologists, one squat rack, and a clipboard. The idea that survived that winter: every member gets a program built on measurements, reviewed every six weeks, and a coach who knows their name before week two.
Six years on, the garage is a two-floor club in the CBD. The clipboard is now a diagnostics lab. The rule hasn't moved — if a program isn't working, we change the program, not the goalposts.
The garage era
Collingwood, winter 2019
Little Bourke St
2020 — today
Six years,
one obsession
From a rented garage to a club with a waitlist for PT. A few markers along the way — the unglamorous middle bits included.
The garage
Two physios, a rack, a whiteboard. First forty members found us through word of mouth — there was no sign on the door.
Move to the CBD
Lease signed on Little Bourke three weeks before lockdowns hit. We loaned members equipment and ran Zoom form checks until the doors could open.
The lab arrives
First InBody scanner and a VO₂ rig installed on level 4. Suddenly "we think you're fitter" became "here's the number".
Recovery floor opens
Sauna, plunge, compression lounge. Members started booking recovery like they booked squats — that told us something.
Corporate floor
Eleven companies moved their wellness budgets to us. The 12:15 express class quietly became the city's most productive lunch meeting.
Now
412 members, six service lines, and the same question at every team meeting: what did the data say this week?
Coaches with
opinions and credentials
Marcus Doyle
Ex-VFL strength lead. Will talk about tendon health longer than socially acceptable.
Priya Nair
Ex-national squad. Runs the pool and the VO₂ rig — often on the same morning.
Lena Fischer
Reformer specialist. Fixes desk-worker spines for a living — yours included.
Andre Santos
Masters in sports psych, 20 years on the pads. Boxing for brains, not bruises.
Every coach programs, every coach teaches classes, nobody hides in an office.
Book a free 20-min consultMeasure first,
train second
Every program starts with a baseline: InBody composition, VO₂ max, movement screen. Retested every six weeks — that's the "lab" part of our name doing work.
InBody scan
Muscle, fat, water distribution in 90 seconds.
Movement screen
How you squat, hinge, reach — filmed and scored.
VO₂ / lactate
On the bike erg or treadmill, zones set from data.
Program build
Your coach writes the plan against the numbers.
The lectorium
Monthly seminars with our physios and visiting sports doctors. Members come for the spine lecture, stay for the argument about caffeine timing.
- Spine health for desk workers — first Thursday monthly
- Sleep, hormones and training load — quarterly
- Video archive of every past session, free for members
Camps and retreats
we actually run
Grampians endurance camp
March · 3 days · 42 members went
Mornington swim week
January · open-water skills
Corporate retreats
On request · 10–40 people
Next on the calendar: winter alpine conditioning weekend, Falls Creek, 24–26 July.
Ask about company retreats
Capsule 03 — "Winter Circuit"
Heavyweight hoodie, flatlock tee, recycled-nylon leggings
Kit we wear
ourselves
One small run a season with a local maker. No massive inventory — when a size sells out, that's genuinely it until the next drop.
- Hoodie $89 · Tee $49 · Leggings $79
- Recycled fabric, flatlock seams, no giant logos
- Members try sizes at reception before ordering
Suite 2 — the corner pod
Own entry, own shower, no audience
Training without
an audience
Two fully private pods for members who'd rather not share the floor — executives before a board day, anyone mid-comeback, or people who just hate mirrors.
- Own entrance and shower; no cameras inside the pod
- Full strength set, Artis cardio unit, sound system
- Bookable in 60/90-minute blocks — $120/hour, coach optional
You can smell
the difference
(you can't)
Eight air changes an hour, HEPA filtration on every duct, hospital-grade wipe-downs between classes. The building breathes better than most offices.
- CO₂ sensors on every floor — live numbers at reception
- UV treatment in the pool plant room
- Towels washed at 71°C, towels never re-folded on the shelf
A gym that tries
to tread lighter
Solar on the roof deck, no bottled water sold anywhere in the building, and towels we repair until they genuinely fall apart.
- Filtered refill stations on every floor — 61,000 bottles not bought since 2023
- Pool backwash feeds the Fitzroy-side planters
- Annual impact note in the members' app, boring numbers included
Refill, don't rebuy
Chilled, room-temp or sparkling — pick your speed
Reading about a gym
is the weird part
Fifty minutes with a coach beats fifty pages of website. Tour the floors, meet the team, get scanned if you're curious.