Whanganui-born trainer opens gym to bring personal touch to fitness

ASAP Training owners Brayden Coley and Kelsey Stirling. Photo / Bevan Conley

A Whanganui-born personal trainer hopes to bring a more tailored experience to fitness with the opening of a new gym.

ASAP Training is located at 53 Wilson St and director Brayden Coley said they aimed to offer a more personalised experience than most gyms, with workouts tuned to each member’s age and ability.

“We just wanted to deliver a lot more value than what we were seeing for people ... a little bit more of a hands-on approach rather than your ‘pay and have all access’ type gyms,” Coley said.

Opening a gym in Whanganui had been a personal dream for him, which had taken a few years to become a reality.

“I’ve been a trainer for about 10 years and it’s just always been something I’ve wanted to do, to build a gym in my home town.”

He previously worked as a personal trainer in Wellington before moving back to Whanganui, wanting to bring what he’d learned to his home community.

Struggles with finding a good space and the Covid-19 pandemic delayed those plans before the vacant Wilson St building became an opportunity.

“I wasn’t completely sold on it, but we came up with a plan and got to work and it’s turned out pretty good so far,” he said.

ASAP will function as a hybrid micro-gym and will aim to foster a small, tight-knit community with its members and cater to a few different fitness regimes.

“We’re not looking for numbers, it’s really just [trying to] help people that see the value in having a hands-on approach with your coaching and removing the guesswork,” he said.

The gym’s main offering was functional training, a varied workout focusing on overall body improvement.

“It’s a mix of weights, gymnastics, bodyweight movement, metabolic conditioning, strength conditioning.”

The inside of ASAP Training. Photo / Bevan Conley

Multiple classes were available under this banner, including the flagship One group training class, Total Women’s Optimisation, a women-only variant of the One classes, bodybuilding-focused programmes and stretching and flexibility classes among others.

Coley and the team are also constructing a covered outdoor workout area which will be used for strength and conditioning training as well as a retreat area with ice baths and a sauna.

The gym, which had a soft opening in November, currently has about 55 members.

Its official opening will be on January 27, with the public welcome from 10am to 4pm.

“We’ve got a few challenges and events throughout the day and a few workouts,” Coley said.

There will be catering at the opening and prizes, such as supplements and merchandise sponsored by local businesses, will be up for grabs.

Coley hoped to have the rest of the gym’s facilities completed in a few months and to increase membership to around 150 people.

He also hoped to hold some fitness competitions in the city with the gym as a base of operations for these.

People can sign up for a membership on ASAP Training’s website.

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.