Nadia Okonjo
Head coach · founded Kilo, 2017Came to coaching from thirteen years of competitive powerlifting and one badly rehabilitated shoulder. Takes most of the early sessions and every return-to-lifting programme.
Arch 9, Water Lane, Holbeck · since 2017
Everybody here started light
A coached barbell gym under the railway in Holbeck. Six racks, four platforms, and a coach on the floor every hour we are open — whether you have a competition in twelve weeks or have never held a bar.
- Membership from
- £42 a month
- Joining fee
- None, ever
- Minimum term
- 30 days' notice
- Class cap
- Six people
Three ways to train
Pick the amount of coaching you want
Open gym
The floor, the racks and the platforms, on your own programme. A coach is on the floor every staffed hour — ask them anything, or don't. No induction required if you already train.
£42 a month · rolling · £9 day pass
Coached sessions
Block-periodised strength work in a group capped at six, three times a week. The programme is written for the group and scaled to you on the day. Squat, press, hinge, pull, carry.
£96 a month · includes open gym
One to one
An hour with one coach and a programme written only for you. Most people use it for a technical problem — a squat that shifts, a first competition, coming back from a shoulder.
£48 an hour · £264 for six
What is on the floor
The load index
Everything in the building, counted. If a rack is busy at six o'clock it is because five other people also want it, not because there are two of them.
6
Combo racks
IPF-spec uprights, safety arms, competition bench
4
Deadlift platforms
2.4 × 2.4 m, hardwood centre, rubber wings
1
Monolift
For heavy singles and competition prep
20
Competition bars
14 × 20 kg men's, 6 × 15 kg women's, needle bearings
1,240 kg
Calibrated plates
IWF colour code, ±0.05% tolerance, 450 mm
3
Glute-ham developers
Posterior chain and accessory work
24 m
Sled track
Prowler, harness, turf, the full length of the arch
4
Concept2 ergs
2 × RowErg, 1 × BikeErg, 1 × SkiErg
2–50 kg
Dumbbells
In 2 kg steps, no gaps in the rack
The plate key
Every price, and every term
The fee schedule
Nothing here is behind a form. You should not have to give a gym your phone number to find out what it charges, so the minimum total you could ever be committed to is printed inside every tier below.
Open gym
£42
/ month
Floor access, staffed hours, no coaching.
- All racks, platforms and ergs
- Coach on the floor to ask
- Bring a guest once a month
- Joining fee
- £0
- Minimum term
- None
- Notice to cancel
- 30 days
- Minimum total payable
- £42
Coached
£96
/ month
Three capped sessions a week, plus open gym.
- Group capped at six
- Block-periodised programme
- Everything in open gym
- Joining fee
- £0
- Minimum term
- 3 months
- Notice to cancel
- 30 days
- Minimum total payable
- £288
Small group
£215
/ month
Three a week, capped at three, programme written for you.
- Group capped at three
- Individual programme, reviewed monthly
- Everything in coached
- Joining fee
- £0
- Minimum term
- 3 months
- Notice to cancel
- 30 days
- Minimum total payable
- £645
Foundation block
£165
once
Six weeks, twice a week, for people who have never lifted.
- Twelve sessions, fixed start date
- Squat, hinge, press, pull, carry
- Open gym included throughout
- Joining fee
- £0
- Minimum term
- Not a subscription
- Notice to cancel
- 14 days
- Minimum total payable
- £165
This week
Coached sessions, and what is left in them
Every coached session is capped at six. Open gym runs from 06:00 to 21:00 on weekdays whether a session is on or not — the racks stay yours.
| Time | Session | Coach | Cap | Left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 06:30 | Strength — lower | Nadia | 6 | 2 free |
| Mon 18:00 | Strength — lower | Ade | 6 | Full |
| Tue 18:00 | Weightlifting | Tom | 6 | 1 free |
| Wed 06:30 | Strength — upper | Nadia | 6 | 4 free |
| Wed 19:15 | Foundation block | Ade | 6 | 3 free |
| Thu 18:00 | Strength — upper | Tom | 6 | 1 free |
| Fri 06:30 | Strength — full | Nadia | 6 | 5 free |
| Sat 09:00 | Weightlifting | Tom | 6 | 2 free |
| Sat 10:30 | Foundation block | Ade | 6 | Full |
Busiest hours are 06:30–08:00 and 17:30–20:00. If you can train between 10:00 and 16:00 you will usually have a platform to yourself. Updated Monday mornings.
Three coaches, named
Who is actually on the floor
Ade Marsden
Coach · programmingWrites the block for every group and reviews the small-group programmes each month. Sport scientist by training, which mostly means he is the one who says take a deload.
- Qualification
- Level 4 S&C
- Degree
- BSc Sport & Exercise Science
- CIMSPA
- CP1207554
- First aid
- EFAW to 08/2027
Members
In their words
I joined at 41 having never picked up a barbell. Fourteen months later I pulled 120 kg at the Yorkshire novice meet. Nobody at Kilo ever made that feel like an unusual thing to want.
I came off a big-chain membership because I could never get a rack after work. Here the timetable tells you what is free before you leave the house. That is the whole difference.
Nadia rebuilt my squat from the floor up after a disc injury, in twelve weeks, alongside my physio. She talked to my physio directly. I have never had a coach do that.
Your first hour
What actually happens
It is free, it takes an hour, and there is no sales conversation at the end of it — you will be told what it costs before you arrive, because it is on this page.
Book
Pick an hour that suits. You will get a text with the arch number and where to park.
Screen
Fifteen minutes on how you move, what hurts and what you have done before. No body-fat calipers.
Lift
You train. An empty bar, then whatever is appropriate. Most people are surprised how light it starts.
Decide
We write down what a first block would look like and you go home with it. Join then, later, or not.
Come and pick up a bar
One free session, no card details, no obligation. Arch 9 is the one with the roller door and the chalk on the floor.