The Material Girl heads down under with “Hard Candy Fitness”

There are many tough regimes in the world – the Russian military, The Situation’s famed “GTL” (gym, tan, laundry) but none are as frightening as Madonna and her quest for peak physical condition.

While the Material Girl will not be bringing her latest tour down under she has instead chosen to expand her luxury gym empire, Hard Candy Fitness and share her love of sweat with Sydney.

The Druitt Street (Sydney) energy emporium opened its doors this week and introduced the Harbour City to Madonna’s “harder is better” motto.

“She’s very involved. This isn’t just her name on a gym. She is personally involved, she knows what she wants, she knows the experience that she wants people to have and for them to be really motivated,” Hard Candy Fitness Sydney CEO Selena Short told Fairfax.

“She has an incredible work ethic and I think that’s what she wants this gym to stand for. Somewhere where you are motivated to work hard and enjoy the benefits of working as hard as she does because it’s the only way she lives her life.

“When you do the Addicted to Sweat class you experience it exactly how she does it and she has all her little rules and she’s very particular, very, very particular,” she added possibly referring to how Madonna introduced the world to Hard Candy Fitness back in 2010 when the first doors opened in Mexico.

“No sweat, no candy!” the singer-songwriter, author, movie director and long time yoga, running and cycling enthusiast yelled as she instructed a dance class.

Her first Australian gym follows similar ventures in Russia and Chile and boasts four floors of exercise equipment, locker rooms complete with communal curling irons and seven studios made for gruelling group fitness classes.

According to Short there are over 150 different types of dance, Pilates, hot yoga, barre, pole dancing and cycling classes on offer every week and during peak hours a new class starts every 15 minutes.

A word of warning if you seek a gentle and genteel work out – Madge’s high-intensity dance cardio program Addicted to Sweat, which has also just been released on DVD, won’t be for you.

The hour-long routine developed by the 54-year-old and her personal trainer Nicole Winhoffer is better suited to your inner Navy Seal or Tough Mudder alter ego.

It offers a small insight into how hard the Like A Virgin star works out every day and involves a lot of dancing, offers minimal recovery time and focuses on fast-paced functional exercises. All that is required is your body weight, a towel, a sturdy chair and serious stamina.

At the core of these dance inspired sessions is Winhoffer who replaced Madonna’s former trainer Tracey Anderson in 2009. She is also responsible for morphing the Papa Don’t Preach singer’s highly scrutinised sinewy and skeletal physique into a more Michelle Obama-esque naturally toned look.

She is a trained classical, modern, jazz and musical theatre dancer who has starred in three Broadway shows (including Wicked), has danced in Maybelline and Mattel commercials and performed with Shakira.

“I was brought on to assist on her last tour [the 2008 Sticky & Sweet shows]. When the tour ended, I immersed myself in understand anatomy, physiology and the latest fitness trends while continuing my dance training,” Winhoffer told Shape magazine.

It is not known when or if Madonna and her trainer will visit Hard Candy’s Australian bureau of beauty and brawn but “it’s definitely our hope,” Short said.