Groundwork began the way a lot of calisthenics journeys do — one founder, a pull-up bar at East Coast Park, and a stubborn goal of a muscle-up that took far longer than it should have because nobody was coaching the steps.
Daryl realised the missing piece wasn’t effort, it was structure: a clear ladder of milestones, eyes on your technique, and the patience to build strength that lasts. So in 2019 he opened a small studio in Paya Lebar and started coaching the people everyone else overlooked — the ones who couldn’t yet do a pull-up.
Today Groundwork coaches over 600 members across the studio and the East Coast bars, from total beginners to athletes chasing the planche. The bars are bigger and the community is louder, but the philosophy hasn’t changed: meet people where they are, and walk them up the path one skill at a time.
Most fitness classes just tire you out. Ours move you along a named skill path with milestones you can measure — so every session has a point.
Our coaches own the muscle-ups, planches and handstands they teach, and they’re trained to coach them safely — not just demo them.
Can’t do a pull-up? Perfect — that’s exactly who Foundations is for. We meet you where you are, with zero ego in the room.
Train on rings and matted floors at our Paya Lebar studio, or on the bars at East Coast Park. One membership covers both.
Junior Groundwork channels everything kids love — climbing, swinging, balancing — into coached strength and confidence.
Wrist, shoulder and tendon conditioning is built into the programming, because the goal is decades of training, not a fortnight of hype.
Started Groundwork after teaching himself the muscle-up the hard way and realising how much faster it would have been with real coaching. Earned his planche in his thirties to prove the skills aren’t just for the young. Still coaches the Foundations classes himself.
A former competitive gymnast who fell in love with adult calisthenics. The coach everyone wants for their first freestanding handstand — patient, precise, and obsessed with a clean line.
Owns the front lever and a deep straddle planche, and programmes the Advanced track. Famous for explaining the boring connective-tissue work in a way that finally makes you do it.
Paya Lebar and East Coast Park — one membership, both places. Book a trial and feel the room for yourself.
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