COURTESY OF TOTAL FUSION PLATINUM

IF YOU HADN’T NOTICED, there’s been an overwhelming uptake in all things health, wellness and recovery-related in 2023. To be honest, it’s been happening for some time, there’s no disputing it. Just look at the growing number of gyms and recovery hubs opening in and around your area. Or the growing number of people taking to Instagram to show off their #coldplunge techniques.

But setting the bar well above the rest are a small number of dedicated facilities providing a holistic approach to fitness, wellness and recovery. Sure, we’ve long known that ‘health costs’, and while most are likely not willing to pay $2000 a week for a gym membership (more on that below), there are definitely those ready to change the way they workout and recover—and that comes with a lifestyle change.

There is a growing number of privatised, often exclusive, mostly luxurious, health and wellness clubs popping up all over the country, and people are taking notice
 and signing up. But who’s backing such gargantuan feats in the name of fitness? Currently, property developers are, and they’re onto something. Brisbane property development group Cavcorp has noticed that there are certain individuals willing to pay for fitness and wellness, and demand to live a certain lifestyle. As a result, all of its projects in the last five years have focused on developing research-backed wellness amenities in each of its residential buildings, like its latest offering within its Long Island precinct, the new Total Fusion Platinum health and wellness club.

“COVID-19 has propelled health and wellness as a priority within the day-to-day lives of the community. As a result, people are looking more favourably towards buildings and homes that offer a wellness-lifestyle,” says Cavcorp founder and managing director, Damien Cavallucci. “We [Cavcorp] do this really well. We know our consumer, and that is why we have created precincts that you essentially never have to leave!”

Then there’s Saint Haven, a private members health and wellness club conceptualised by Australian property guru, Tim Gurner, with a year-long wait list to join its exclusive Collingwood facility. Pellicano, another property and construction group, are currently working to develop its Gold Coast ‘Paloma House’ project, a $225-million four-tower build which promises to provide 8000 square metres of amenities including a wellness centre, gym, steam room and sauna.

It’s not all property-backed, though. There’s a great number of businesses contributing greatly to a holistic approach to fitness here in Australia. The catch? They come with memberships. So, forget what you know about the local drop in, drop out gym, as the below member-based health and wellness clubs are set to revolutionise the industry one bicep curl at a time.


Total Fusion Platinum

Brisbane, QLD

COURTESY

Up in the Sunshine state, Brisbane is leading a fitness revolution and it starts—and ends—with Total Fusion Platinum (or “TFP” for short): a 9,000sqm state-of-the-art luxury health club and fitness facility. It’s worth noting that Total Fusion Platinum is the result of the coming together between luxury property developer Cavcorp and Total Fusion Health and Wellness owner Leon McNiece (who is also the founder of Goodlife Health Clubs and Snap Fitness). The result is Australia’s largest health club and fitness facility, exceptionally luxurious and relatively affordable.

“When I first started my journey in the fitness industry in the early ’90s, I wanted to create an unrivalled health and fitness space where people could optimise their health and fitness regardless of what their starting point looks like,” says McNiece. “What we have developed at TFP has taken my original goal to a place I couldn’t have imagined at the time—we have created a 360 degree offering that can be hyper-personalised to each individual, empowering them to live longer and stronger.”

For starters, TFP is all about location: you’ll find it’s perched in the heart of Newstead within Cavcorp’s Long Island precinct, a high-end residential district driven by health and wellness. Upon arriving at TFP, feel free to park your car in the secure underground car park that feels more like a high-end shopping centre than a gym car park. Should you have kids by your side, drop them off at the on-site daycare (there’s a doggy daycare, also). Walking through ‘Piazza Di Long Island’ to reach TFP is intentionally designed to feel like a modern-day European piazza; an oasis of sorts where like minded community members can mingle and relax pre or post workout. It’s a peaceful way to start (or end) your day.

Enter TFP via the naturally-lit, luxury hotel-style lobby atrium and marvel at what is arguably TFP’s centrepiece, the magnificent five-storey, air-purifying ‘Tree of Life’. Here on the ground floor you’ll also find the Medispa reception offering services such as IV Drips, Normatec Technology, PEMF and LED therapy, and more, with registered nurses, doctors and medical attendants overseeing your specific treatment. From here, stroll past the calming fish pond to enter your zen—your workout is only steps away.

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A level up and you’ll reach the ‘Triumph Tunnel’, a beautiful but imposing arched hallway that will lead you to state-of-the-art bathrooms with a Roman bathhouse feel. Your workout begins now, but where exactly to begin? Maybe you’ll want to head into the Altitude (Everest) Room to ride, row or run at high altitudes. Maybe a reformer pilates or cycle class might entice you? Or perhaps you’ll stick to the 2000sqm Olympic-grade, multi-level fitness arena, all of which includes dedicated cardio equipment and free weights. Another level up, you’ll find more weights (TechnoGym and gym80 equipment, no less), as well as the Gladiator room—which includes its own indoor Kilter climbing wall—a lunge track, plus more. It’s fair to say that you’ll never have to wait for gym equipment again.

As you reach the rooftop recovery precinct—available at an additional fee that can be added to your membership—you’ll find a pool, sun beds, restaurant and bar (where it’s not uncommon to find a waiter wearing a Rolex Daytona), as well as a suite of recovery and longevity treatments, from infrared saunas, ice and thermal baths, cold plunge pools, a snow room (yes, you read correctly), Hyperbaric Chamber, plus much, much more.

It’s clear that when visiting TFP, no details were left unturned, which isn’t just evident in the services on offer, but from the build of the facility, as well; Cavcorp, together with lauded architects Caroline Choker and Vince Alafaci of ACME, have designed a beautiful and aspirational facility the blends Romanesque design with ultra-modern luxury touchpoints.

“The Long Island precinct services the whole community rather than a specific demographic,” says Cavallucci. “Where some health and wellness precincts thrive in exclusivity, TFP provides something for all to enjoy and get involved with.”

TFP welcomes anyone who is serious about embarking on a transformative health journey, but one that approaches health from a holistic sense: health, vitality and longevity are all centralised themes. Together with the upscale and refined nature of this facility, it’s easy to see why this could possibly be Australia’s best health and wellness facility right now.

Memberships start from $60 per week.


Saint Haven

Melbourne, VIC

COURTESY

I’ll be honest: at the start of 2023, I signed up as a founding member of Saint Haven, perhaps buying into the hype and mystique of Melbourne’s first private health and wellness club. Due to personal reasons, I had to forgo my membership some months later, but nonetheless, I was very much eager—and a little envious—to visit the facility a few months ago.

Now, Saint Haven is quite unique, aspirational and exclusive in its offering. Where TFP largely offers its memberships to whoever wants to get involved, Saint Haven is centred around exclusivity, with its memberships capped to a small percentage of the community who were all vetted through an interview process. Sounds overwhelming? It is somewhat.

But as soon as you walk through the doors of Saint Haven—which resides under Tim Gurner’s Victoria & Vine residential block—you’ll realise that this is more than just a “gym” trying to promote an exclusive wellness membership, Gurner and his team actually practise what they preach.

In the lead up to Saint Haven opening mid-2023, Gurner was quoted saying a typical member at Saint Haven was the type that, instead of visiting a pub on a Friday afternoon celebrating knock-off drinks, he or she would arrive at Saint Haven, maybe do a workout, maybe do a treatment such as cryotherapy or a vitamin-infused IV therapy, before having a healthy and wholesome dinner at the on-site restaurant and as a result, wake up on Saturday morning feeling fresh and rejuvenated.

Sounds rather great, doesn’t it?

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Well that’s the premise of Saint Haven—a “luxury Private Club focused on social connection, wellness and anti-ageing to help members live their ultimate life”. It has been imagined as a luxurious “sanctuary of wellness” that, for the first time in Australia, brings together eight pillars of health and wellness under one roof, including social connection, nutrition & supplementation, luxury, insights & tracking, ancient wisdom & modern science, recovery & anti-ageing, movement & mindfulness, strength, and conditioning. Most of these pillars are led by a respected collective of expert practitioners who are also renowned leaders in their respective fields. Memberships don’t come cheap, however, and reiterate the notion that ‘health costs’. Starting at $130 a week (with memberships reaching up to $2000 a week!), members can expect complete access to the use of a well-appointed training space, featuring state of the art Technogym equipment, custom stainless-steel dumbbells from Watson, and luxury lifting racks by PLAE. You will also have access to a spin studio, pilates studio, yoga studio and HIIT studio, all offering daily classes. Post-workout, you can access the dedicated recovery facilities, including an ice bath and traditional sauna, thermal pools, hammam steam room and meditation cave. Base members are offered several recovery treatments per month—unlimited for higher tiered members—which include infrared sauna, cryotherapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, red light therapy, PEMF therapy, IV drips, bio-hacking and anti-ageing technology, plus more.

Members are also given an Oura ring upon sign up, which includes personalised insights and tracking for Saint Haven trainers to monitor and tailor suggestions towards their personalised fitness and recovery journey, which is a nice touch. Moving away from the training and recovery facilities, you will find an organic wholefoods restaurant with a nourishing menu designed by Luke Hines, a leading Australian nutritionist and TV personality. Based on Saint Haven’s ‘food as medicine’ philosophy, the menu features nutrient-dense wholefoods with produce sourced from local Victorian suppliers.

Saint Haven is just the start of Gurner’s continued diversification across multiple verticals, with further clubs already in the works across Melbourne and other states. It really is a revolutionary concept, and comes at an opportune time as Australians, particularly Melburnians, look to incorporate and prioritise health, wellness and recovery
 this is certainly the place to do it all.

Memberships start from $130 per week.


Lockeroom Gym

Sydney, NSW

COURTESY

Non-business executives or high-flying corporates need not to apply for a membership at Sydney’s most exclusive private gym, Lockeroom Gym. For if you don’t fit the category of chief executive or director or company founder, you’re likely to be turned away. You see, for every 10 people who want to join Lockeroom Gym, it’ll turn away nine. It’s how it keeps its strict 100-member limit at all times, as well as its reputation as Sydney’s most exclusive members-only gym.

Founded by Lachlan Rowston and Raphael Freedman, Lockeroom Gym was created with one purpose in mind: to dramatically improve the health and fitness of the world’s top business executives. It’s certainly a niche offering, but one that has proven to be immensely successful. Designed together with a team of the best personal trainers, exercise physiologist, medical teams, and wearable technology and nutritionists, Lockeroom Gym offers a full 360 health service integrating a personalised, tailored approach for each member. Each session at Lockeroom is by appointment only and has a strict ratio of two clients to one coach, which is designed to help foster relationships and build valuable business connections between fellow members. Each session will run for 40 minutes incorporating either strength training, cardio or boxing, coupled with an individualised diet and supplement plan to help members reach their goals. As a result of this personalised approach—as well as consistent, hard work—the results of a Lockeroom Gym membership are quite extraordinary. You’ll hear personal reviews of members losing up to 30kg and putting on a ton of muscle in the process.

Really, the sky’s the limit at Lockeroom Gym, which has now branched off into two sites across Sydney.

Memberships start from $240 per week.


Hale Gym

Canberra, ACT

Hale Gym

Canberra’s first health and wellness destination is Hale Gym, a “sanctuary for the body and mind”. What a membership at Hale Gym entails is a dedicated fitness regime; a 12-week “Method” that incorporates mobility, strength, conditioning and rehabilitation to build long, lean, symmetrical bodies. This method, which was originally developed for the likes of elite athletes, incorporates the concept of General Physical Preparedness, which initiates and benefits the improvement of strength, speed, endurance, flexibility, and skill. This specific method also uses the scientific principles of periodisation—adapting the body to specific tasks to reach higher fitness goals. By the end of the 12-week block, members can expect an increase in metabolism, built muscle, body fat reduction, and an increase in aerobic and anaerobic capacity. This specific method requires participants to attend four sessions per week, with each session lasting one hour.

For those that require, personalised eating plans are also available at Hale Gym in order to help you achieve a complete body transformation, from weight loss to muscle gains. Ultimately, the goal of the Hale nutrition plan is to nourish the body with high-quality foods and to adequately fuel and train your body for long-term success. Alongside the Method fitness plan, members can also enjoy a host of luxurious amenities at Hale Gym, from the latest Technogym equipment, a dedicated yoga studio, reformer pilates studio, and cycle studio, as well as a traditional sauna, plunge pool, and spa lounge and treatment rooms. It’s a holistic approach to fitness and recovery, and one that members have been utilising since its opening in 2018.

Memberships from $99 per week.


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