The evolution of the gymnasium — from service to product

It was 1994. A skinny, hesitant nineteen-year-old man stepped into the nightclub-like darkness of a popular inner-city Melbourne gymnasium. Dimly lit and overcrowded with the early evening traffic, its long, arched hallways reverberated with heavy bass and the frequent overpassing of trains. Staff and members moved about the cramped spaces with energy and purpose. They were fit, muscular, fashionable, and confident. The Underworld was the training ground of competitive bodybuilders and kickboxers, the gentlemen’s industry’s models and dancers, and a host of…