EXCLUSIVE: More Dumbbells and Kettles Than Parking Spaces - Sutherland Shire Council To Declare “Protected Muscle Zone” for Kirrawee and Taren Point.

Blake Curran | Investigative Journalist | Sutherland Shire Gazette

10 November 2025

TAREN POINT & KIRRAWEE - Council has officially declared Kirrawee and Taren Point as “Protected Muscle Zones,” after confirming what locals have long suspected - that the area’s gym density now rivals Vatican City for weekly attendance.

Once home to mechanics, lighting stores and the occasional lawnmower repairman, the industrial estates have been reborn as sanctuaries of self-improvement. “Behold: the Charcoal Corridor - proof that we’ve evolved from making things to sculpting ourselves,” one urban planner remarked while dodging a rogue medicine ball.

“It’s getting out of hand,” said Council spokesperson Tina Marlowe. “You can’t buy a screw from Bunnings anymore without accidentally joining a six-week transformation challenge next door”. 

The situation reached crisis point after yet another gym opened in a former plumbing warehouse directly opposite another gym built in a former daycare centre. Residents report the resulting dawn clash of bass-heavy “Ultimate Shred” playlists was audible from Kareela to Kurnell.

In response, Council is rumoured to be proposing a “Muscle Buffer Zone” - a neutral strip featuring a yoga studio, a juice bar, and small patch of grass where residents can recover from unsolicited fitness advice.

But trainers remain unmoved. “You can’t stop the pump,” said Blake “The Machine” Turner of Taren Point’s Flex Fortress Gym. “Progress doesn’t take a rest day.”