Train hard, rest in good light
Samuel Kearsley spent eight years coaching at a commercial fitness chain before he got tired of the fluorescent lights and the membership-mill mentality. He'd trained seriously since his early twenties, mostly in strength and movement work, and by 2018 he was sketching floor plans on the back of programming notebooks. Gnarl Lab Zone opened in spring 2019 in a converted light-industrial unit he found through a local property listing. He still coaches the 6 a.m. Slot most mornings, partly because he likes the quiet, and partly because he takes a long walk before every session to think through the day's programming. He drinks his coffee black and keeps a whiteboard above the squat rack that he updates every Monday.