PRESS RELEASE
Following the success of 98 GYM and with demand for a digital app of the same caliber, the launch of 98 TRAINING serves as a natural extension of the 98 brand.
Tried and tested by the industry’s best, 98 TRAINING has been strength-tested by professional athletes. Names include the likes of famed All Black’s player Owen Franks and Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Wallaby icon Sekope Kepu, Roosters Captain Boyd Cordner and fellow teammate Lindsay Collin, and Australian Cricket legend David Warner.
Franks, who is currently playing for the Northampton Saints in the English Gallagher Premiership competition, shares: “This is one of the best field-and-sport training programs out there. It’s the perfect pre-season and in-season training program, guaranteed to improve your speed, power, strength and conditioning.”
While the program has earned itself a gold star by way of credibility amongst professionals, the 98 TRAINING app has been specifically designed to be accessible to everyday athletes of every fitness level – first timers, avid fitness goers and professional athletes alike.
Programmed by Kev Toonen, former Strength and Conditioning Coach for Australia’s Special Operations Command, 98 TRAINING has been designed to enable members effective and continual growth via daily workouts, in addition to meaningful, in-depth assistance, including exercise tutorials, nutrition education, mindset insights, expert content, and engagement with a like-minded active community.
Built on the foundation of three unique pillars – Physical, Mental and Social – 98 TRAINING app has been strategically designed to develop each of the core pillars to provide a well rounded, 360-approach to training and lifestyle.
98 GYM founder and owner, Chris Feather, has been backed since day one by Academy Award-winning actor, Russell Crowe, and for good reason.
On how the duo joined forces to launch the 98 brand, Feather shares: “One night over a couple of beers with Russell I explained my thinking. I explained how I thought [he] could open his gym to 50 members and run an exclusive members-only gym. Not only would it be a very cool asset, it would work well with his movie work and jobs that came into the gym.
Adding: “Immediately Russell said, ‘Put together a business plan, if the numbers stack up let’s do it. If it works, we’ll sponsor you as the manager.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
Beyond the program offering, the 98 GYM community – which includes the likes Hamish Blake, Candice Warner and Senator Briggs – has been integral to the success of the business and, now, its expansion into the digital space.
Feather explains: “We knew we had a great product because we were getting great results from the 250 members in the gym who followed the 98 Program – and we had professional athletes following it in their off season and getting really strong results.
Both inside and outside of the gym, the 98 program has members from every corner across the globe come together to grow their fitness skills, knowledge and abilities, and train like athletes. The 98 TRAINING app will serve as the missing puzzle piece of the growing brand, allowing the tight-knit community to interact even closer.
Feather adds: “We were getting a lot of requests for remote programming, too, so we were sending training programs out manually to people all over the world.
“With the 98 TRAINING app we’re able to replicate what we do in the gym but on a bigger scale — training, knowledge and community.”
