MODE Fitness Studio is a group training studio on Ponsonby Road in Auckland, built around a simple formula: every session pairs treadmill conditioning with strength work, led by coaches who know both. The session is the same for everyone in the room — the intensity is yours. That approach has earned the studio a 5.0-star rating across 68 Google reviews, and a community that describes it as the part of the week they look forward to.
Training runs on principle, not guesswork. Running happens on Technogym Skillruns across five heart-rate zones, from easy Zone 2 jogging through threshold work to max-effort HIIT, with parachute sprints and sled pushes for power and raw strength. Strength sessions open with heavy compound lifting while you're fresh, then move through unilateral work, power moves like dumbbell snatches and cleans, and a core and stability finish — with a coach on the floor so your form holds when the weight gets heavy.
There are three ways in: Foundation for learning the zones and the lifts with no experience assumed, Signature for the full two-to-six-round system on a structured weekly split, and Interval for a thirty-minute, treadmill-only session. Alongside group classes there's one-on-one personal training, and Nurture & Flow — a bring-your-baby class running four mornings a week for new parents.
The studio is led by co-owners Joash Fahitua and Tauvaga Siolo — the latter with more than 20 years in fitness, including facilitating instructor and trainer development for Les Mills and gyms around the world — along with PT Neil McAteer. Memberships carry no minimum term, with cancellation on two weeks' notice and pause options, while five- and ten-class packs let newcomers start light with no auto-renew and no lock-in.
On Ponsonby Road, in one of Auckland's most style-conscious neighbourhoods, MODE Fitness Studio has built its reputation on something more durable than gimmicks: coaching that knows what it's doing, and a room full of people who show up for each other. The studio describes itself as “your people, your place, every week” — and with a 5.0-star rating across 68 Google reviews, members seem to agree. One first-timer returning to exercise after nearly a year off wrote that they “completely fell in love”; another simply calls it “hands down the most beautiful studio in Auckland.”
The method is easy to sum up: run, lift, find your intensity. Every session pairs treadmill conditioning with strength work, both built on training principles rather than guesswork. The session is the same for everyone in the room; the intensity is yours.
Cardio happens on Technogym Skillruns, organised around five heart-rate zones. A session might open with a Zone 2 easy jog to warm up and hold steady state, move into Zones 3 and 4 for threshold work — a genuinely hard pace, held — then hit Zone 5 for HIIT at max effort. Parachute sprints add power measured in watts, and sled pushes build raw horizontal strength.
The logic matters: Zone 4 is a percentage of your capacity, so the same call from the coach means a different speed on every treadmill in the room. Training the full range, rather than living in one middle gear, builds the aerobic base and the top end together.
Strength work is sequenced by principle: heavy compound lifting comes first, while you're freshest, because mechanical tension is the primary driver of strength adaptation. From there, sessions move to unilateral work for balance and asymmetry, power through dumbbell snatches and cleans, and a finish on core and stability — band work, benches, and bodyweight. The order of a session is fixed; the exercises inside it aren't. And with a coach on the floor, your form holds up when the weight gets heavy.
MODE runs three formats on the same foundation. Foundation teaches what each zone feels like and how the lifts should move, with intensities scaled to whoever walks in — no experience assumed. Signature is the full system running hot: two, four, or six rounds of zone-based intervals paired with strength blocks, following a weekly split that moves from legs, glutes and core on Monday through to unilateral full-body work on Sunday, so each muscle group gets trained twice without stacking fatigue two days running. Interval is the thirty-minute, treadmill-only option — the whole session pointed at your top end, for the days you want to empty the tank and get on with it.
The studio is led by a small coaching team with deep experience. Joash Fahitua, co-owner and coach, brings years of coaching, a technical eye, and calm authority to the floor. Co-owner Tauvaga Siolo has spent more than 20 years in fitness, coaching, and leadership, including facilitating instructor and trainer development for Les Mills and gyms around the world; his approach is built around strength and conditioning for the everyday person, with a particular focus on men and women 40+. Neil McAteer, PT and coach, adds over a decade of experience across strength and conditioning, mobility, corrective exercise and injury rehabilitation, plus beginner-to-intermediate boxing pad sessions.
Reviews name the coaches often. “Tau and Joash are genuinely the most engaged and motivating coaches,” one member writes; another reports their strength climbing from 20kg to 65kg on well-structured, tailored sessions.
One-on-one personal training gives you an hour with a coach thinking only about your goals, your body, and your progress. For new parents, Nurture & Flow is a bring-your-baby class running four mornings a week — Tuesday and Thursday at 9:30am, Wednesday and Friday at 10am.
Getting started is deliberately low-friction. Memberships have no minimum term — cancel on two weeks' notice, pause anytime. All Access covers every class on the timetable; Premium All Access adds the MODE app, on-demand programs, home and travel workouts, member challenges, priority booking, and partner discounts. If you'd rather start light, five- and ten-class packs run on credits with no auto-renew and no lock-in. Bookings go through the Momence platform.
Whether you're easing back into training after a long break or chasing a new ceiling, the pitch is the same: structured training, real coaches in every session, and a community that makes this the part of your week you look forward to.