Viva Fitness named SA’s best gym of 2025
A family run, community-centric gym has been named South Australia’s best gym of 2025. Here’s why it’s so special.
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Nestled in the western suburbs there is a gym that will not only help you achieve your fitness goals but also provide a community to support you every step of the way.
Viva Fitness have been treating their clients as “more than just a number” since the 1980s.
The family-owned business offers group training, personal training, group fitness, open gym facilities, kids classes and an over 50s program.
Sharon Mychalyn and Dennis O’Donnell originally attended the venue as members before deciding to buy into the business in the late 90s.
“I have done some sort of fitness all my life and I had a passion for it, an absolute passion,” Ms Mychalyn said.
Over their 40 years of business, the pair bought out the other partners while welcoming Ms Mychalyn’s children, Dion Mychalyn and Laryssa Tarasenko, and Mr Mychalyn’s wife, Kristy Mychalyn on board.
The younger generation have now taken over the reins, with Ms Mychalyn commending them for doing an “amazing job”.
Mr O’Donnell has continued to run three aerobics-style classes a week as part of the Strength for Life program aimed at senior members, which combines fitness and socialising.
The program, which is run in various gyms across the country has been so successful at Viva Fitness that they now boast the largest cohort of participants in Australia.
“It’s all well and good for them to train but it’s nice for them to get together and to get out and be a part of something,” Mrs Mychalyn said.
“(My classes) all last three to four hours (because) every class I take there is coffee, lunch after, every time,” Mr O’Donnell added.
The strength of Viva Fitness’ community spirit really proved itself during the Covid-19 pandemic when they were forced to close their doors.
“We were ready to pack up … and 800 of our members started messaging all of us, saying, keep taking our money … we support you,” Mrs Mychalyn said.
After their members’ kind gesture the team knew they needed to give back so busied themselves setting up online classes, recording workouts and even leasing out their equipment for people to use at home.
“(It) didn’t matter, we were always there for the members and that’s what’s come back tenfold now,” Mrs Mychalyn said.
While gym memberships can often be criticised for being pricey or restrictive, Mrs Mychalyn said each package is “tailored to the member”.
“We’re not competitive and we don’t argue that point,” Mrs Mychalyn said.
“We don’t try and price match, we’re never going to match (corporate gyms) … keeping our prices where they are and backing ourselves, that’s what we’ve done well.”
The community-minded concepts fuelling this Kidman Park gym are clearly working with Viva Fitness being voted South Australia’s best gym for 2025.
With over a thousand members, including babies, teens, working mums and those in their nineties, this tight-knit team look forward to welcoming more people into the Viva Fitness family.
“The whole idea (of Viva Fitness) is that we want it to be somewhere you can start at and stay for the rest of your life,” Ms Tarasenko said.
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