HIIT Fitness is a boutique fitness centre on Main Street in Palmerston North's CBD, specialising in attentive, goal-specific training delivered in a group environment or one-to-one. Rather than chasing mass membership numbers, the gym is built on personal interaction — the team gets to know every member, building the rapport and accountability that help goals get met in realistic time frames and plateaus get overcome quickly.
The gym was founded by Richard, who discovered fitness during his years as a chef in the NZ Army and began running bootcamps in the park in 2012 before opening his own Palmerston North gym in 2014. His aim was a personable, affordable and homely environment, and that sense of community — purpose, intensity, camaraderie and togetherness — is still what keeps people coming back.
Training options include dedicated group classes running throughout the day to fit busy schedules — Bootcamp, Body Blitz and HIIT Boxfit — plus one-on-one personal training, solo or with a friend. Flexible arrangements include memberships combining gym access with unlimited classes, casual gym use, casual classes and concession cards. The floor is equipped with the latest Life Fitness machines, from half racks and a deadlift platform to rowers and treadmills, and members can track progress with the Fit3D body scanner or take on an 8-week challenge.
Whether you're starting out, getting back on track after a detour, or chasing a specific goal, the message is simple: we're all in this together.
Behind ACC on Main Street, in the middle of Palmerston North's CBD, HIIT Fitness runs on a simple promise: training should be personal. It's a boutique fitness centre specialising in attentive, goal-specific coaching, delivered in group sessions or one-to-one, and it measures success not by membership numbers but by how well it knows each person who walks through the door.
The gym is the work of Richard, the familiar face members see every day. He grew up in Otaki, a small town south of Palmerston North, raised by hard-working parents on the family market farm — an upbringing that instilled a strong work ethic early. After high school he enlisted in the NZ Army, training as a chef, and it was there that he was first introduced to the gym environment and bootcamps. Exercise became a passion.
In 2011 he gained his qualification in Exercise and Sports Performance. The following year came the humble beginnings: bootcamps run in the park, where one friend brought another and numbers grew steadily. In 2014 he took the plunge and opened HIIT Fitness, with a clear vision of a personable, affordable and homely gym environment — a goal, he says, the team has continued to achieve in the years since.
What sets HIIT Fitness apart from run-of-the-mill gyms is deliberately not being one. The team prides itself on getting to know every member, building the rapport that keeps people accountable and helps goals get met in realistic time frames. Plateaus, they find, are overcome quickly when someone is actually watching your progress.
That personal interaction creates a sense of community members describe as palpable — motivation, purpose, intensity and a camaraderie that keeps everyone returning. And because fitness journeys don't follow a straight line, the team is fluent in helping people get back on track after the inevitable detours.
Group training sits at the heart of the timetable. Bootcamp carries the spirit of those first park sessions, while Body Blitz and HIIT Boxfit round out a range of dedicated classes suited to different abilities and fitness levels. Classes run throughout the day to fit busy schedules, and your first group class is free.
Not ready to commit? A casual trial lets you train today, and casual gym use, casual classes, a 10x concession card and casual personal training mean you can build your own arrangement. Memberships can also combine gym access with unlimited classes.
The floor is equipped with the latest Life Fitness machines: a bench press, Smith machine, two half racks, a deadlift platform, leg press and dumbbells from 1kg to 40kg, plus four treadmills, five rowing machines, a cross trainer and three bikes. Yoga mats, skipping ropes, bars and weights, boxing equipment and medicine balls round out the functional kit.
Progress tracking gets serious here, too. The Fit3D body scanner generates an accurate, personalised body-composition report in under three minutes — weight, body fat percentage, measurements, fat mass, lean mass and more — sent straight to your device. Regular 8-week challenges add structure and healthy competition: clients complete a fitness test and a 3D scan at the beginning and end, then get to see and feel the changes over the course of the programme.
HIIT Fitness is at 549 Main Street, behind ACC, open Monday to Friday from 5:30am to 9pm and 6am to 7pm on weekends — early enough for pre-work training. For memberships, group class times or fees, call Richard on 027 696 8560 or email [email protected]. Whether you're starting out, restarting, or chasing a specific goal, the gym's own words make a fitting welcome: we're all in this together.