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With great sadness, we learned of the unexpected passing of our long-time and esteemed ALPA photographer Werner Kieser. Werner has used ALPA cameras for his photography and photographic experiments since 2000. As with establishing his "Kieser Training" fitness chain with self-developed machines, he was also the meticulous explorer in photography, always coming up with new ideas to test and refine. For this reason, Werner was a regular guest and welcome guest with us.

We will keep Werner in honorable memory and send our warmest condolences to the mourning family. We will miss him.

The ALPAs

Translated from the official company website

Copyright text and image: kieser-training.com
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Werner Kieser died of heart failure yesterday night (Wednesday). On Tuesday, he visited the Kieser Training Studio in Zurich Enge together with his wife, Dr. Gabriela Kieser. It was the last strength training session of his exciting life.

Werner Kieser (* 18 October 1940 in Zurich; domiciled in Lenzburg) opened his first fitness studio in 1966 on Kanzleistrasse in Zurich. Today, the company operates more than 160 fitness studios focusing on Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Werner Kieser's wife, Dr. med. Gabriela Kieser is a formative co-developer of Kieser Training and gave the health-oriented company its medical backbone. Werner Kieser learned the carpenter trade as a young man and engaged in amateur boxing in the 1950s. In a boxing match, he suffered an extremely painful rupture of the pleura, after which a friend drew his attention to strength training possibilities, which was still almost unknown at the time. His pain disappeared within a few days with simple dumbbell training. For Werner Kieser, this experience was the impetus to offer strength training to friends - and later customers. First of all, he bought a book on welding to make simple dumbbells and metal benches. Step by step, he expanded what was initially an elementary dumbbell studio into a chain with innovative machines. In 2017, he and his wife sold the company to long-time managing director Michael Antonopoulos and board member Nils Planzer. Until the last day, he tinkered with new strengthening possibilities for the human body, even for muscles challenging to train, such as the pelvic floor, foot, hand, or shoulder muscles. The media gave him various titles, such as "back guru," "back pope," "strength apostle," "fitness pioneer," or - due to his "less is more" concept - also "Mies van der Rohe of fitness."

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