The Exercise Room

Overview

Built on the ethos that 'what doesn't challenge you simply won't change you', The Exercise Room is an intimate, private boutique gym found in Auckland's inner-city suburb of Parnell. Owned and run by Hayley Feaver, who is both an accountant and personal trainer, The Exercise Room takes pride in taking a holistic approach to health - checking in on not just your fitness, but also your diet and daily health and fitness-related habits.

The small scale gym is a halfway point between having a personal trainer and a regular gym membership, with a couple of group fitness classes and a boot camp option available to keep things interesting. Gear-wise, the small gym is well stocked: providing dumbbells of up to 40kg in weight, barbells and weight plates, treadmills, rowing machines, cross trainers, spin bikes, a squat rack, medicine balls, bosu balls, swiss balls, kettle bells, box jumps, suspension trainers, cables, a lat pull-down, exercise mats and foam rollers to clients.

Experienced trainers are available to supervise your sessions to make sure you don't injure yourself as well as to help plan your workout regime and ensure you "train clever". According to Jason Phillips, one of the trainers at The Exercise Room, helping a client train clever means to "create a personalised program that [they] actually look forward to completing each time [they] train, and provide all the support, monitoring and motivation [they] need until [their] goals are reached."

Besides providing a heavily personalised gym experience, The Exercise Room is also very flexible: 24-hour swipe access to the gym and free undercover parking means that nearby night shift-working nurses or other folk who work insane hours can easily be accommodated. Membership is also strictly limited to ensure you never have to wait for a machine or feel self-conscious having other people watch you grunt your way through a tough session.

Private bathroom suites stocked with complimentary bath towels, organic Triumph and Disaster shower products, GHD hairdryers and straighteners means none would be the wiser if you snuck off between meetings to do a bit of exercise for the sake of your health.