About Us
Our Mission
To be leaders in strength & conditioning; providing exceptional high performance, science based fitness solutions for athletes of all abilities in an environment that fosters growth, builds capacity, and achieves remarkable results.
It’s quite a team feeling, everyone’s in it together. Steve and the team really push you along. He’s good at motivating you to achieve results.
Since MMX
Century Strength & Conditioning as we know it today, evolved from a hybrid background including the Australian Army, Licensee provider to a national bootcamp brand, resilience training at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), and educational pursuits in sports coaching and exercise science. The team behind Century have been training outdoors in Canberra since 2010 and is the largest and most successful of its kind here in the nation’s capital.
Century’s Co-Founder and Head Coach, Steve Bingley first realised the importance of Strength and Conditioning while serving in both the 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment as a Paratrooper and the 1st Armoured Regiment as an M113 Armoured crewman. The high performance tactical needs and regimented process of achieving optimal fitness as a soldier were very evident, especially in frontline combat units. Steve’s experience in the Army became the cornerstone of his disciplined coaching style and even in the earliest days as a fitness professional, his programming delivery.
Combining his Army background, with his wife Mel’s background in business and marketing and their shared fitness expertise, they returned to Steve’s home town of Canberra and became Licensee bootcamp providers in Woden & Gungahlin for a highly respected national brand. For almost 8 years they operated the largest and most successful outdoor bootcamp transformation program in Canberra, helping thousands of people (our athletes) achieve remarkable results.
While coaching bootcamp Steve met mentor and friend Dr. David T. Martin, former Senior Sports Physiologist with the AIS and current Director of Performance Research & Development with the Philadelphia 76ers NBA team. Along with Dr. Martin and a team of specialists and consultants at the AIS, Steve deployed training specific initiatives for talent identification and cultural development in line with Australia’s Winning Edge Strategy. Integral to the success of these initiatives was the tactical strength and conditioning programming that Steve developed and implemented.
While working with the AIS, Steve was offered the opportunity to build on his degree in sports coaching and exercise science by commencing a Masters degree in exercise science (research) in partnership with the AIS and University of Canberra. Steve’s research field is based around the use of traditional bodyweight exercises, like the burpee, and its role in a modern strength and conditioning environment.
Together, it dawned on Steve and Mel that there was an opportunity to combine their experience and drive to help others succeed by providing high performance, science-based fitness solutions to the community. This was the moment Century Strength & Conditioning was born.
Officially launching in July 2018, Century’s mission is to be leaders in strength & conditioning; providing exceptional high performance, science based fitness solutions for athletes of all abilities in an environment that fosters growth, builds capacity, and achieves remarkable results.
This is the dawn of a new century in athletic performance—one that will identify and unlock one’s infinitus potentia (infinite potential)
Behind the Brand
Integral to the Century brand is the value of excellence. In life, success is commonly measured against a percentage of 100, giving your 100% in life can be seen as the pursuit of excellence itself. Using the number 100 as our inspiration, the word Century comes from the Latin centum meaning 100; abbreviated to C.
The essence of a Century is a composite containing ideas of:
- Self-determination Independence
- Wholeness
- Self-sufficiency
- Infinite potential – our motto
The Century Difference
We are a family business, proud to be locally owned and operated in Canberra, working with the same team of coaches for many years and training the same group of athletes for just as long. Our difference lies in the strength of our programming, experience, commitment to athletic performance, and team spirit – our esprit de corps.
A key difference of our signature course in Canberra, Outdoor Group Conditioning, is our capacity for athletes of all abilities from deconditioned to elite, to work side by side and both experience immense athletic returns from their workout in a positive and supportive environment. The combination of these fitness levels inspires and motivates our athletes to excel and is fundamental to the success of the group as a whole. Century caters for those not local to our outdoor courses through the provision of remote, easy to access, fitness solutions that stay true to our coaching style and provide our remote athletes with the same calibre of training and satisfaction.
With our strong background in sports coaching and exercise science, we approach training the same way you would with a professional athlete. Our programs are periodised into weekly microcycles, monthly mesocycles, and as part of yearly macrocycles with targeted goals in each cycle to ensure continual improvement and allow for adequate recovery.
The Australian Army’s own values of courage, initiative, respect and teamwork are a source of inspiration to us and our head coaches’ military background means we deliver our science based programs in a regimented and disciplined way that upholds our own values of excellence, integrity, loyalty, camaraderie, education and performance.
We love what we do and are committed to our athletes and their goals—which are wonderfully different, brave and often incredibly adventurous! Century’s mission is to go beyond 6-packs and to provide our athletes with vastly improved athletic performance that will see long term changes in body composition. Century prides itself on providing the enabling environment to see holistic change from increased athletic performance and improved physiology that will see you through some of the toughest challenges and have positive long term impacts on your life and the goals you’ve always wanted to achieve.
We're Most Proud Of...
Something we are immensely proud of and another key difference here at Century, is the diversity of our athletes — mums, dads, grandparents, public servants, business owners, teachers, students, and more. They are the heart and soul of Century and many of them have been training with our team since 2010 when we first started coaching here in Canberra. The support and camaraderie that training together has fostered is very evident; life-long friendships have been established, valuable connections, opportunities, and memories made (even the odd wedding and baby!). Belonging to our group and training together inspires optimal performance and results, and when the ‘struggle is real’ helps get them through tougher times.
A fascinating read and akin to these observations of our athletes is Sebastian Junger’s, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging.
“Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered “intrinsic” to human happiness and far outweigh “extrinsic” values such as beauty, money and status.”
The team that train together
Working, training, and learning together has made our team one strong, dynamic unit. Coaching everyday athletes is our passion and what drives us to be the best version of ourselves. Every coach at Century is experienced, educated and an athlete themselves.
Our commitment to you:
- Consistency: In our coaching methods, including instruction, demonstration, motivation and correction. In providing sessions that deliver results and are executed with excellence.
- Care: For our athletes health, safety, and wellbeing. For our role in transforming lives, encouraging potential, and the responsibility of those in our charge.
- Cohesion: Within our team, amongst our athletes and in our community. Fostering camaraderie and inclusivity that is driven by a will to succeed.
You’re in good hands
Experience
They say variety is the spice of life… The Century coaching team is a literal buffet of experience. We have over 50 years of combined military service, backgrounds in martial arts, calisthenics, yoga, ultra-running, strongman, and resilience training. When we aren’t coaching, we are even skilled in interior architecture, I.T and communication systems, and digital media.
Knowledge
Here at Century we have a never-ending thirst for knowledge and pursuit of education. Whether it is seeking out tertiary qualifications in sports coaching and exercise science or attaining certifications in personal training, group fitness, yoga, kettlebells, bootcamp, and crossfit. We are committed to our growth as coaches through our continual learning and development.
Practice
… What we preach! Our team are always training for something to keep themselves motivated and our athletes inspired. Together we have participated in so many events including Ultra Trail Australia 50 & 100km, Sri Chimnoy 100km (team), Survival Run Australia, Canberra Strongman Series, Capital Fitness Challenge, and Battle in the Bay just to name a few.