HOW THE A-LIST WILL WORK OUT
POPULAR with actors and Olympic athletes, AMP serves a glamorous clientele. Still, I’m expecting my first post-lockdown visit to this 6,500 sq ft luxury gym to be joyless, exercising inside a cling-filmed box and no chitchat allowed.
Thankfully, Steve Mellor, founder of AMP, greets me from a sensible distance with a wide smile — and neither mask nor thermometer. A poll of members revealed that over three-quarters didn’t want temperature checks (although staff will still have their temperatures checked daily).
AMP, hidden away in a cobbled London mews, specialises in group personal training, with sessions on the hour every hour — and up to four people with each PT training in a ‘pod’ — an area containing all the necessary equipment. Postpandemic, the space given to each pod has doubled. Steve, who used to run the gym at Claridge’s, says: ‘UK Active, the industry body, has recommended 100 sq ft per person. This is double that.’
Apart from giving members more space, and trusting them to use common sense, he adds: ‘It’s easy for us to manage the way the gym is used — you can’t come unless you’ve booked — but the key for us is building confidence.’
The sense of normality is a relief, though many subtle changes have been made. ‘In every pod there are anti-viral wipes, and after you use any equipment you wipe it down,’ says Steve. ‘There’s handsanitiser in every pod and they’re cleaned every hour.’
The key service here is bespoke personal training, though now coaches are restricted to demonstrating and explaining exercises.
The training remains top-notch, but will the pampering be scaled back? Fruit from a shared bowl is no longer an option at AMP, ‘but we still have our complimentary coffees,’ says Steve.
A few luscious shared products in the changing rooms will be absent — such as the facial toner — but the hair straighteners will stay and be cleaned after every use. And, essentially, the club still looks fabulous.
AMP trial £149 a month. Monthly membership, £329, amp.fit