Fitness Roadtest: CIT Fit and Well
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I’ll be honest with you: Canberra Institute of Technology wouldn’t be the first place I would have thought to go to for either a personal training session or a remedial massage.
Not for any negative reason, but purely because I thought its facilities would be available only to students.
How wrong I was. CIT Fit & Well is open to the public – anyone can join! And I’m kicking myself for not discovering it earlier because as it turns out, it’s actually pretty amazing.
I got invited along for a fitness assessment and remedial massage. I was just a touch nervous – mostly about the massage. While I have sore muscles pretty frequently from the gym, I’m usually more of a ‘relaxation’ massage kind of girl – but, as always, I was keen to give it a go.
I turned up to CIT Bruce on a Tuesday afternoon and was greeted by the very friendly Simon Evans, the CIT Fit & Well Manager who introduced me to my personal trainer for the day, Daniel. Daniel was chatty and lovely and handed me a free bag of goodies on arrival – so he was already in the good books. Every member gets a gym bag packed with essentials like a CIT Fit & Well drink bottle and sweat towel, plus brochures on all the kinds of services and courses that are on offer.
Daniel took me into an assessment room, I filled out some forms and he asked me about my training history and goals. I told him that I primarily have strength-based goals. Daniel said that usually the fitness assessment has aerobic type testing to fit more common goals like weight loss, but he was happy to tailor my fitness assessment around my goals – specifically, my squat goal (it’s 100 kilograms, in case you were wondering).
Next, Daniel ran me through some tests to see how strong my muscles were. He told that he suspected that I was ‘hamstring dominant’, which could affect my squat, and talked about some ways I could engage my glutes more. I found this really interesting as I’d never received that feedback before!
Next, we moved into the gym where we did some squat variations as well as some ab exercises, and Daniel gave me plenty of practical tips to improve my squat technique. I was really impressed with the gym itself: there’s a pretty good range of equipment but I especially liked the studio where Daniel ran our session. It’s huge, with squat racks, barbells, Swiss balls, kettle bells and plenty of floor space – not to mention light streaming through the windows.
It’s worth noting that CIT Fit & Well also run a range of fitness classes, including Group PT, Heartmoves, Osteocise, Yoga and Heart Health. It doesn’t matter if you’re a gym bunny or you haven’t exercised for years, they cater to every fitness level.
At the end of our session, Daniel helped me with some stretches and sent me on my way to get my massage.
I had absolutely no reason to be nervous about the remedial massage because as it turns out, it was absolutely heavenly. My masseuse was a CIT student in the final weeks of her study, so I knew I was in good hands. I explained that I had some tightness in my neck and shoulders (pretty common for us desk dwellers). She asked me to turn my head and body to both sides as a kind of initial test and then begun the oh-so-wonderful massage. I was actually surprised at how good it felt given the amount of pressure that was used – it was a kind of “hurts so good” feeling of getting rid of all the knots in my muscles.
My therapist explained what she was doing as she went so there weren’t any moments where I wasn’t sure what was going on or panicked. She also regularly checked in to see if anything was painful or uncomfortable – it wasn’t.
At the end of the massage I was able to turn and twist so much further than I could at the beginning. I wondered how long I’d been tight and restricted for without even realising!
In fact, I’ll 100% be going back for another massage (although I was told to book well in advance as they fill up very quickly). I actually enjoyed it even more than I usually enjoy a relaxation massage – and I gained the same benefit of stress relief and relaxation plus improved mobility and less muscle soreness.
My experience at CIT Fit & Well was very positive indeed. I’d have no qualms in going back or recommending it to family, friends and of course our lovely community of HerCanberra readers.
Find more information at CIT Fit & Well’s personal training, classes, membership and massage options, phone CIT Fit and Well on (02) 6207 4309 or email CITfitandwell@cit.edu.au
This is a sponsored post but opinions are the author’s own. It complies with the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission’s guidelines on Online Reviews. Read our Sponsored Post Policy if you would like more information. The author received her sessions free of charge.
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