Fitness 24 is a locally owned and operated family gym at Abacus House on Thames Street, right in the heart of Oamaru. It is run day to day by the people whose names are on the door — co-owners Karen Clement, Mel Lewis and Bill Clement, alongside personal trainer and gym manager Toby Lewis — with a simple stated aim: helping members achieve their health and fitness goals.
The facility is fully equipped for every kind of training, with a free weights area, machine weights, a power floor, a cardio area and a dedicated boxing room. True to its 'a gym for everyone' ethos, it caters to complete beginners and experienced trainers alike, and its classes welcome everyone from first-timers to aspiring high-school athletes.
Group classes give the gym its personality: Wednesday night's spin session (free for members), Bill's B&B with its guaranteed bag-punching finish, Mel's Extreme Fit for a hard-out high-intensity workout, and Sunday evening's Core class. Lunchtime mobility classes and Toby's High Performance Academy for high-school athletes are marked as coming soon.
Membership options range from casual visits during staffed hours to a term-based student plan and six- or 12-month memberships with 24-hour key access, a free access tag and a free program. Personal training and massage therapy are also available through the team.
Step inside Fitness 24 on Thames Street and you'll quickly work out what kind of gym this is. The equipment is serious — free weights, machine weights, a power floor, a cardio area and a boxing room — but the welcome is small-town warm. Fitness 24 is a locally owned and operated family business in the heart of Oamaru, and its stated aim is a refreshingly simple one: helping members achieve their health and fitness goals.
That phrase 'a gym for everyone' sits at the top of the website, and the setup backs it up. Beginners and experienced trainers share the same floor, and the class programme explicitly invites everyone from first-timers to aspiring athletes. There are no franchise formulas here — just a hands-on team, a well-equipped facility and a timetable built around when Oamaru people actually train.
Four names run the show. Karen Clement is co-owner and office manager; Mel Lewis is co-owner, personal trainer, massage therapist and instructor; Bill Clement is co-owner and instructor; and Toby Lewis is the gym's manager and a personal trainer. In other words, the people who own Fitness 24 are the same people you'll see on the floor — teaching classes, writing programs and keeping the place humming.
That owner-on-the-floor dynamic shapes the class timetable, where sessions carry the names of the trainers who lead them. Bill's B&B is Bill Clement's signature workout: you might be on a bike, doing weights, body weight or band work, but one thing is guaranteed — you'll be punching a bag. It runs on Monday evenings at 5:15pm and, for early risers, Thursday mornings at 6:15am.
Mel's Extreme Fit lives up to its name. The gym's own blurb calls it a hard-out, high-intensity workout 'not for the faint hearted', designed to leave you fitter, faster and stronger. Sessions run on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 5:30pm. On Sunday evenings, Core takes over the same slot with a core-shattering ab workout for anyone chasing midsection strength. Booking is required for all three classes.
The midweek highlight is the Wednesday Night Spin Class at 5:15pm — heart rate fired up, legs pumping and, in the gym's words, bodyfat cut away 'to our thumping soundtracks'. It's free for members, making it one of the easiest ways to sample the gym's group-energy atmosphere.
Two more offerings are in the pipeline and marked as coming soon: lunchtime mobility classes to improve flexibility and body control (beginners to experienced welcome), and Toby's High Performance Academy, aimed at high-school athletes wanting to take the next step in fitness or sporting ability.
Fitness 24's structure reflects its name. Six- and twelve-month members get 24-hour key access, with a personal access tag and a free training program included, so early mornings, late nights and weekend sessions are all on the table — conditions apply. Students have their own term-based plan with access from 6am to 7pm, an access tag and classes. Casual visitors are welcome too, during staffed hours.
Those staffed hours are worth noting if you're dropping in: Monday 9:30am–1:30pm and 4–6pm, Tuesday 9:30am–12pm, Wednesday 10:30am–2:30pm and 4–6pm, Thursday 10:30am–2:30pm, and Friday 9:30am–1:30pm. Outside those windows, it's key holders only.
The gym occupies Abacus House at 139 Thames Street, Oamaru Central — central enough to swing by on a lunch break or on the way home. Enquiries go through the contact form at fitness24.co.nz, by email to [email protected], or by phone on 03 434 5777 or 021 525 388, and the gym also keeps a Facebook page. Whether you're after a spin class with a proper soundtrack, a boxing workout with a guaranteed bag session, or simply a friendly local gym that's open when you are, Fitness 24 has built itself around delivering exactly that.