RADIQAL'S MISSION

To cultivate a community where queer and gender-diverse folk can experience holistic wellness, connection, and tūrangawaewae through joyful community-based movement - empowering people to engage in movement confidently on their own terms, together.

WHO ARE WE?

We are Radiqal Movement - a rainbow-led, community-driven charity formed in November 2021, dedicated to creating affirming, joyful movement spaces where queer and gender-diverse folk can move, connect, and thrive. We are one of the first and only organisations in Aotearoa to offer gender-affirming exercise experiences tailored to our LGBTQ+ whānau.

Through queer-affirming fitness, social experiences, and community initiatives, we empower our members to embrace movement on their own terms, supporting holistic wellbeing and challenging health inequities. We currently offer weekly group fitness classes, personal training, facilitate community groups and run events.

We have a vast team of instructors and facilitators who are all queer. They bring with them unique lived experiences of disability and/or neurodivergence, varied gender identities and expressions, diverse sexualities, and other facets that have shaped them into the incredible individuals they are today.

We currently run our services at various locations throughout Tāmaki Makaurau. With continued engagement and support, it is our goal to have our own permanent space and expand our services throughout Aotearoa.

Although Radiqal Movement is one of the only 'gym'-like spaces in Aotearoa dedicated to our LGBTQ+ communities, we also welcome keen allies who share our values (see below).

OUR FOUNDATIONAL VALUES

BODY
NEUTRALITY

ALL BODIES ARE WORTHY

We ensure the use of body-neutral language, teaching of non-gendered fitness, provide services that cater to all fitness levels, experience, and confidence, and are proudly anti-diet.

MANĀKITANGA

INTERGENERATIONAL & COMMUNITY PEER-SUPPORT

Prioritising community and peer support with manaakitanga, we create non-judgmental spaces that respect everyone's journey while fostering collective strength and affirmation for all identities.

HAUORA

HOLISITIC APPROACH

We take positive, holistic approaches to movement and wellness, with inspiration from holistic models of health such as Te Whare Tapa Whā. We use exercise and movement to help combat body dysphoria and enhance gender euphoria and positive mental health.

AUTONOMY

SELF DETERMINATION & JOYFUL MOVEMENT

We celebrate autonomy and joyful movement, empowering individuals to move in ways that feel good for their bodies and align with their unique needs and desires.

OUR WHY

Mainstream gym culture and conventional exercise narratives often perpetuate harm toward LGBTQ+ communities by fostering exclusion, unrealistic body standards, and environments that feel unsafe or unwelcoming. Gyms are a wide-reaching public resource which should, by definition, improve the health of their members, rather than create more barriers to mental and physical wellness.

Our rainbow communities lack safe, low-cost spaces to gather and move their bodies joyfully. As a result, LGBTQIA+ folk are exercising less than their cis-het peers, and face disproportionately poorer health outcomes, including higher rates of mental illness.

Radiqal Movement aims to reduce inequities and improve the wellbeing of our communities.

LAUREN HARTRIDGE

Founder, Director,

Exercise Specialist.

Kia ora e te whānau,

I am the founder and director of Radiqal Movement. Radiqal was built to provide joyful exercise opportunities for LGBTQ+ folk and other communities underrepresented and often omitted from mainstream fitness spaces.

I believe that to better serve our communities and reduce intersectional inequities, the narrative(s) surrounding exercise needs to change. A whole new landscape of movement, one that takes holistic, body-liberating, community peer support approaches to hauora, is the way forward.

I am an Inspiring Stories Impact Awards Finalist (2023), Health Sciences and Exercise Sciences graduate, two-time National Futsal Champion, former International Waka Ama competitor, and have 12+ years of gym training experience.

Trans, gender diverse, and queer folk deserve to have positive, healthy and happy relationships with movement and their communities.

~ Lauren Hartridge (she/they) ~

Frequently asked questions

General Q&A

Personal Training

Classes

Our main goal is to provide the best possible service to our clients. Our late/no-show policy: Radiqal Movement works on an appointment-based schedule to allow you the time required for your session. Personal training sessions will generally be 30 minutes to 1 hour. Group fitness classes tend to be 45 minutes in duration. Please be on time for your appointments. If you are late for any session it will still end at the scheduled time. If you are more than 15 minutes late for a personal training session, it will be considered a no-show and you will be required to pay the fee for the session. If you are more than 15 minutes late to a group fitness class, you may be asked to abstain from joining late as the risk of injuries is increased.

Yes, however, it is important that you give us sufficient notice when you need to cancel an appointment. This means a cancellation should be made at least 24 hours before the scheduled appointment. To cancel an appointment, please contact us. Failure to cancel a training session within this time will result in you being charged for the session. This helps offset income lost due to being unable to find a new client in time. Should you wish to reschedule an appointment, a minimum of 24 hours' notice is required. We will do our best to accommodate this - we understand that emergencies happen.

We currently hire out various spaces around Tāmaki Makaurau for our group fitness classes and have a home-gym set up in Grey Lynn. It is our goal to one day have a fully functioning health and wellness centre where queer, gender diverse, and takatāpui individuals are able to access all types of gender/queer-affirming healthcare, including physios, doctors, therapists, and of course, our gym. We are working towards this. If you do have a million dollars wanting to be shared, please know our hands are wide open ;)