Train for Gain

Run by a quite amazingly intense South African ex-pat, James Blumenthal, this basic-looking gym which offers small group training and nutrition advice has earned a notoriety in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs for its incredibly tough, challenging exercise classes, but also for the quite amazing results it gets. Personally, I've taken off nearly 27 kgs working out there, and others have lost even more. To be clear, though, you need to be the right personality - someone who is ok with being bossed around, and needs that external stimulation to want to exercise. You also need the requisite thick skin or the gym owner's psychological pressure approach will break you and you'll want to leave. For the right personality, though, you'd be hard pressed to do better for fitness and weight loss. Prices are reasonable, too, for what is, in effect, personal training in small groups: about $66 a week (for a min. of 3 sessions a week), charged every 8-9 weeks. It changed my life. It may change yours (if you can take it).