International: New fitness craze. Get ready to train on the ceiling.

Get ready to train on the ceiling.

When a former British Royal Marines’ head commando introduces a new gym  system into the market people take notice.

“Everyone who walks into the gym says ‘wow’,” says Ross Barbour, CEO of  Sydney’s Real Commando  Training, which has just opened the first Queenax gym in Australia, in a sports centre  in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.

According to Barbour, Queenax is the first gym system based on the notion of  using every possible space – the floor, the walls, the ceiling, as well as open  areas.

The Queenax gym system

The big difference between Queenax and other fitness concepts is its modular  structure. Says Barbour: “the modular nature of the system means you can use the  space to do anything really; it’s very adaptive.”

Indeed, the whole idea behind the system is making the best possible use of  any space in which it’s installed – it can go into a massive sporting facility  or into a garage.

“You can do weights, resistance work or an anti-gravity yoga class with  minimal change to the area,” Barbour says.

Ross Barbour is the Real Commando

For instance, Queenax has a boxing system on wheels that can be rolled away  when not in use so the space can be used for something else – pole dancing  classes, for example.

A huge part of the system is also devices that can be used for suspension or  ‘anti gravity’ training, which is the latest greatest fitness trend.

Barbour took 10 months to build the first gym, after initially seeing the  concept in the US 18 months ago. He developed the $250,000 facility with the  help of a number of investors.

Although Barbour’s gym is the first one in Australia in install Queenax, the  system has already turned heads among the global fitness community.

“Virgin [Active Heath] has just spent $15 million putting [Queenax] into gyms  in Europe and now we’re bringing it here,” he says, explaining that his business  owns the rights to roll out the concept around the country.

There are already 250 Queenax gyms around the world in the US, South Africa  and even India. It has also won the support of the Benetton Basketball team and  the Italian navy.

The system originated in Italy, where the soccer team AC Milan uses it in its  Milanello Sports Centre.  “It allows rehabilitation and means people recovering from injuries are not  separated from other athletes,” he says.

According to Barbour, it’s not necessary to have a large space in which to  construct the system. Although his Queenax gym is 160 square metres, it can be  built in a space as small as 60 square metres.

When it comes to fitness, Barbour knows what he’s talking about. His  background is the British military, where he served for 22 years as a Royal  Marine Commando, rising to become head lead commando in the physical training  school.

“You can’t actually serve after 22 yeas, so I came to Australia where I  worked with the Australian military for three years as the head physical trainer  at Holsworthy,” he says. Holsworthy is an area to the south west of Sydney that  operates as a military training area.

As for his plans to roll out the business around the country, he says his  idea is to bring trainers into his enterprise who can open Queenax gyms in  satellite areas.

He also wants to challenge the notion that bootcamp style training is about  screaming and shouting at clients to motivate them. “It’s more about  understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing,” he says.

Barbour says he’s interested in not just working with ultra-fit people and  athletes, who he says are quite easy to train and will do as their told, but  also with relatively unfit people. To this end he’s helped train a 240 kg blind  person no other trainer would take on.

“It’s all about how you can make a difference and change their lifestyle,” he  says. “People don’t want to go into a gym and jump on a spin machine. They want  to know how to train better.”

He’s betting that giving people access to the Queenax training system will  help them do just that.