South Australia’s First Kieser Centre Offers a Gentler Approach to Strength Training

The first thing you notice on entering Kieser Norwood is the view. Instead of the mirrored walls you find in most gyms, this second storey clinic in the recently reopened Norwood Mall development is equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out past slender gums to the Mount Lofty Ranges and Adelaide skyline. It’s a magnificent backdrop, and it sets the tone for a space that is significantly more relaxing than most fitness facilities.

Kieser doesn’t just look different to a traditional gym; it also operates in an entirely different way. Clinic Leader and Senior Physiotherapist Sandan Inturrisi describes the approach as “medical strength training,” a combination of physiotherapy, exercise physiology and strength training.

“It will feel quite slow for people who have been to other gyms,” he explains. “But removing some of the momentum allows us to be a lot more specific and isolate the muscles we’re trying to train.” It also means that you can reach the same level of fatigue while using less weight, which significantly reduces the risk of injury.

Rather than extended repetitions of every exercise, the Kieser Method focuses on the concept of “time under load”, with just two minutes spent on each piece of equipment and workouts kept to a trim half hour. And by isolating individual muscles and adjusting the resistance of the equipment, Kieser creates a safe and controlled environment for strength training.

Recognisable pieces of equipment including chest presses and leg extension machines are augmented by highly specialised tools such as the Cervical Extensor and Lumbar Extensor that isolate the neck and lower back muscles respectively. As a result, Kieser Norwood has a footprint of almost 500 square metres, including eight physiotherapist consulting rooms and a space where the exercise physiology team runs pathology-specific small group classes for people with diabetes, balance issues and osteoporosis.

And the feedback has been so positive that the clinic is already expanding. “We’ve had a really good response from the community, especially the apartments above us,” says Inturrisi. “We opened with seven staff and by the end of the year we’ll have 16 working on our mission to make Australia stronger.”

See the facility for yourself at Kieser Norwood’s Christmas-themed opening party, with drinks and light refreshments served from 6 p.m. on December 1. Or mention this Parade Blog post for a 50% discount on your initial assessment.