South Australia’s best gym of 2024 revealed: PEAQ Conditioning Centre in Port Adelaide

This dynamic fitness duo chased their dreams after falling in love with fitness – but now six years on they have only their team and each other to thank for their accomplishment.

Leah Smith

2 min read

January 22, 2024 - 5:30AM

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Sometimes in life you find yourself at a fork in the road, and for this well loved western suburbs gym owner, taking a chance at the fork has led to something “beautifully surprising”.

For high school sweethearts Sean and Jaimi Baker, gym ownership “came out of left field”, but PEAQ Conditioning Centre in Port Adelaide has now become a loved passion project.

Mr Baker, 32, originally went to university to become a Physical Education teacher, but after work experience opportunities showed him a different side of the fence, the path forked.

“I ended up doing some part time work with Port Adelaide Football Club and some of their development squads, all the while doing private sessions on the side,” Mr Baker said.

PEAQ Conditioning Centre owners, Sean and Jaimi Baker, said being crowned The Advertiser’s 2024 Best Gym was a “beautiful surprise”. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“It got to the end of 2018 and I felt I had done a really long apprenticeship in the sporting world and things in the private side had really grown and we got to a bit of a fork in the road.

“That’s when we dived in head first into opening PEAQ and take all the lessons I had learned working with athletes and make then appropriate and achievable for anybody and everybody.”

Ms Baker, 29, moved into yoga instructing after completing her Masters degree in psychology and enjoys bringing mindfulness and movement together, planning to return to the gym once life with their two young children settles.

The Bakers have now celebrated five years since their opening, and Mr Baker said being voted The Advertiser’s Best Gym of 2024 “meant the world”.

“We’re really grateful for our people and there are a lot of things that go together into making a great gym,” he said.

“Some people believe it’s just leasing a space and chucking shiny equipment in it.

“But for us, it’s the people, both members and the personnel we have on board.

“It’s the motto and the principles to coach and program off of and it's the culture – do you have a space people want to go to.

Mr Baker said the people make PEAQ the best gym of 2024 – The staff (celebrating above) and the members. Picture: Russell Millard Photography

“I think as well as this being amazing, and we are super grateful, I hope that our community take just as much pride in the fact they are a massive part of this win as well.”

As the year continues, PEAQ is set to expand moving into a new premises close to 4x the size of its current site.

“I’m very grateful that we’ve got to a point where we thought to ourselves that we still want to be able to provide care to everybody and give them enough space to work in,” Mr Baker explained.

“We looked at a number of different methods of what expansion could look like, but we never want to lose our community feel and become ‘just another chain’.

“So we are moving to a new site on West Lakes Blvd … Its about three minutes away from our current location and should be completed around April.”