Shelly and Jason Rowell have always had an interest in staying fit, but an illness in 1997 that left Jason severely underweight and feeling weak consolidated that interest into a lifestyle.“I lost a lot of weight. I weighed like 137 pounds and I was six-one. It didn’t look good. So I got on a regimen,” said Jason, adding how Shelly joined him in working out soon thereafter. “We could just tell a difference in the way it made us feel.”
In the summer of 2007, after time spent in Georgia and South Carolina, they gave in to Shelly’s urge to move home.
“I have enjoyed living in Calhoun County better than I have anywhere. It’s a wonderful place to be. I had been pushing Jason to get me “home” for 10 years. Moving back has been terrific and owning the gym has just put icing on the cake,” said Shelly.
She grew up in Glencoe and has close ties to Jacksonville because of the years she spent there earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in special education. Once the couple came back to Calhoun County, they began looking for a way to own a gym.
“We actually approached the previous owner six years ago,” said Jason. “He had already bought this property and had started the renovations to put this gym in. So we wanted it back then.”
On Jan. 10 their wish came true when they became the new owners of Club Fitness. Longtime members of the gym, they saw things to improve and felt it would take a team of owner/managers to do it right.
The gym is one of three business interests owned and operated by the couple and their office there gives them a new base of operations for the other two businesses – private investigations and indoor air-quality services.
“We like helping people. Whether it’s their health or their overall well being we’re just geared toward helping people,” said Shelly.
Club Fitness offers a variety of workout options for all levels of fitness. Their circuit training machines are popular with their senior citizen members as well as those undergoing physical therapy, but are useful for anyone wanting a smooth, fluid motion in their strength-training workout.
The gym also has saunas, a juice bar, a cardio center full of treadmills and elliptical machines, tanning beds, a nursery and 50,000 pounds of free weights.
They offer six different group fitness classes at various times throughout the week and will add another in April, Body Jam.
“The group fitness is really where it is as far as getting in shape and losing weight it offers so many different varieties. You can do the spin or you can do the flow, which is like yoga or you can do weights,” said Shelly.
Club Fitness currently offers karate, but Shelly would love to have gymnastics classes as well.
Because of the years Shelly spent as a teacher and Jason spent as a policeman, they offer discounts to people in community service jobs like teachers, firefighters, the military and police. Senior citizen and student discounts are also available.
The gym’s hours are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 7 on Friday, 8 to 5 on Saturday and 1 to 5 on Sunday. For more information, call 782-9797.
