From a Guinness with Russell Crowe to a hardcore fitness biz

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From a Guinness with Russell Crowe to a hardcore fitness biz
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With his push-it-to-the-limits training regimen – and a few free kicks from the Hollywood star – Chris Feather has built an unlikely fitness cult.

at 98 Riley Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, winter sun pours through the window to illuminate a scene of physical exhaustion. Prone bodies are sprawled over the black rubber floor that’s speckled with chalk dust and sweat. A man with eight-pack abs rocks in a foetal position gasping for air, while his gym partner grimaces as he makes a forlorn attempt to shake the lactic acid from his legs.

One man with a shaved head stands out, mainly because he’s far bigger than the rest. This is Chris Feather, the 40-year-old co-founder of 98. At times, his progress seems laboured due to his heavyweight build, yet Feather moves with the relentless power of an icebreaker. Each move is tackled with methodical stoicism, every pull-up executed with the strictest form.

From a business perspective, 98 can feel wilfully uncommercial. Aside from the severity of the workouts, the emphasis on strength training requires the supervision of elite trainers who, for safety reasons, can only oversee small classes, impacting the financial returns. The knock-on effect is that 98 is pricey compared to mainstream gyms, with the all-access membership costing $89.95 a week.

magazine, Scott Henderson, trained at 98 for six years, often going to Riley Street twice a day. “I was obsessed,” he admits. Within the fitness community, revealing you work out at 98 is like a form of shorthand that shows you’re ultra-committed. “It’s almost like the exclusivity of 98 is the brand,” Henderson says. “It’s a badge of honour, for sure.

Growing up with his massive build in England’s rugby league heartland, Feather inevitably picked up an oval ball and signed his first professional contract for Wakefield in the Super League at 18. Between 2001 and 2009, Feather amassed 178 appearances playing for Wakefield, Leeds, Bradford and Castleford. Predictably, he insists he was “a very average player”, but always fared well in the gym. “You know those players who are shit at training, then go out in the park and are geniuses?” he says.

But Feather was ready for civilian life. He promptly moved in with Burgess, who was living in a spacious apartment owned by Crowe in Potts Point. Finding himself without a job, Feather promptly got himself a milk round. Every morning, he’d rise at 3.30am and run over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney, where he’d deliver crates of milk to cafes and office blocks, before strolling back past the Opera House and through the Botanical Gardens.

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