Before you start
Common questions
What actually happens in a session?
You walk in when it suits you - no booking, no class times - and sit down at the first machine. It knows you, and it sets itself for you: the seat, the range, the resistance. You move through the round, machine by machine, for twenty minutes, with the screens pacing you. Then you leave. The whole visit fits inside a lunch break.
What is E-Training?
Strength training on machines that are set up by computer instead of by hand. You are measured once, at a small station, in seconds; after that every machine recognises you, sets itself, and adjusts the resistance as you move. Like the E on a bike: the machine carries everything except the training itself.
How is this different from a normal gym?
In a gym, the plan is yours to carry: what weight, how many, how fast, whether it is time to move up. Here the room carries it. You are measured once, at a small station on your first visit; after that every machine sets itself for you, the screen paces every repetition, and the load rises visit by visit without you asking. What is left is the part only you can do: the training.
Why does it cost more than a discount gym?
Because of the machines. Equipment that sets itself, paces you, adjusts the resistance as you move and remembers where you got to costs several times what ordinary gym equipment costs - and it is the reason a session takes twenty minutes rather than an hour, and the reason nobody has to hand you a plan and hope. Each studio publishes its own price, so you can see it before you visit.
How does it feel?
Real work, not pain. The movements are slow and simple, and the odd part is how fast simple gets hard - by the last few repetitions you are working properly. When you have nothing left, the machine gives way exactly where you do. You can stop whenever you like.
Why twenty minutes, twice a week?
Because that is the dose this training is built around. The machines make the minutes count - nothing to set up, nothing to wait for, nothing to work out - so the session stays short enough to keep, twice a week, for years. There is no bigger package to move up to.
Will I ache the next day?
You might for a day or two after the first few, the way you would after any new exercise. That is why your first round is set lighter than you could manage.
What happens on my first visit?
Allow about an hour. You go through a few health questions with the person at the desk, stand at the measurement station for a few seconds, and then train a first round - lighter than you will later. You leave knowing when you plan to come next - and from then on, you walk in.
What do I wear, and what should I bring?
Come in ordinary clothes - most people train in what they came in. There is nothing to bring: no kit to rent, no shower bag, because there are no showers. Twenty minutes means twenty minutes.
Who is with me?
A person is at the desk whenever the studio is open - somebody who knows your name and your last visit. The training itself is guided by the machines: they hold your settings, pace the round and adjust as you go. And there are never more people than machines in the room.
I have not trained in years. Is that a problem?
No - it is the usual starting point. The resistance starts where you are, the first round is light, and there is no free-weights floor to walk across on the way in.
Is there a minimum age?
Eighteen. Whether this suits somebody younger is a question for a doctor rather than a studio.
Can everyone train this way?
No, and a list of conditions on a website is a poor way to find out. You go through a few health questions before your first session - nothing is signed before that conversation - and you will hear plainly if this is not right for you, or if it is worth asking your doctor first.
Is this medical treatment?
No. Robla is training. If something needs treating, that belongs with a doctor or a physiotherapist, and the studio will say so rather than train around it.
What does it cost?
Each Robla studio is independently run and sets its own price, and you will find it on their page rather than having to ring and ask. Everywhere: a month's notice ends your membership once the initial term is over, and there is no joining fee.
Where are the studios?
The first open in 2027 - and you can be first in line: leave your postcode and you hear the moment one opens near you.
Everything else is easier to answer in person.
Be first in your city