Fear can be our greatest motivator. More often than we’d like, it’s our biggest obstacle.
Whether it’s the nerves of walking into a gym filled with heavy dumbbells and intimidating weightlifters or the hesitation to try a new workout routine using muscles that haven’t been stretched in years, fear persistently creeps into everyone’s fitness journey and creates barriers.
However, Ashley Mentzer is on a mission to break these barriers and challenge what a stereotypical gym session and body looks like.
“I started this studio because I wanted a place where people could feel good about themselves and move their body in a safe space that invites all different walks of life to experience fitness and feel included,” she says.
Ashley is the owner of Thrive Fit Co in Camp Hill. She says she started the fitness studio out of the back of her car in 2017, testing interest with pop-up classes all throughout the city of Harrisburg. Now, she has her own facility, dedicated to inclusivity.
She says this means providing classes for everybody and every body and focusing on goals that go beyond weight loss. Thrive offers traditional classes like strength training, HIIT and yoga, but also offers some unconventional ways to explore fitness beyond studio walls like group hiking and retreats, even once taking a trip to Costa Rica.
With a variety of workout options comes a variety of gymgoers, and Ashley says it’s not unusual for a first-time visitor and three-year member to be working out alongside each other in a Friday morning class.
“Our goal is to have anybody that walks through our doors, no matter what their fitness level is, to be able to get a great workout,” she says. “Whether you’re an ex-athlete or a fitness newbie, we adjust to the level you’re at.”
To achieve this goal, Thrive also offers small-group personal training sessions and recently launched an app that allows trainers to offer more one-on-one communication and motivation in and out of classes.
“We’re checking in and asking if they’re coming to class and pairing them with buddies to hold each other accountable,” Ashley says. “It starts with the coach and walking in the door and the app, and it gets carried on through the community, which is really awesome.”
Community, after all, is the core of Thrive, according to Ashley. She says she believes by giving each individual in a community the tools and access to physical fitness and health, it can improve the overall area, which is what Thrive strives to do.
“Our goal right now is to be able to be in the blue zone in Central PA, meaning we help people and communities live longer through nutrition and activities,” Ashley says. “Together, we can start to see the lifespan of people in our area and activity level increase, and then the quality of life overall goes up.”
1801 Market St, Suite 105, Camp Hill, PA | thrivefit.co
1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
Community is also the center of another Susquehanna Valley gym: emPower Training Systems. In fact, the Lancaster fitness facility offers a free class, Sparta, every Saturday just to encourage people in the community to come out and get active.
“We have people who come every Saturday just to come and don’t come for the rest of the week, and we love that,” emPower manager Carla Beam says. “It’s so fun. Everyone’s welcome.”
Carla has been with emPower since they opened 13 years ago. She says the facility mainly focuses on small-group personal training, and everyone who walks through their doors gets a custom workout written for them based on their abilities and goals.
“We do a lot of work with recoveries from injuries, surgeries or physical therapy, to beginners who are just starting and are kind of nervous to walk in, to seasoned athletes,” Carla says. “We love everyone.”
And inclusivity at emPower isn’t limited to skill level. Carla says they work with people of all ages, with their current youngest client being 11 years old and their oldest 77.
They also have an autism fitness program, in which Autism Fitness Certified coaches work one-on-one with clients on all different levels of the spectrum.
“One of our coolest success stories was getting a child to jump … who couldn’t pick their feet up off the floor to jump before,” Carla says. “There’s just so many opportunities here for our clients, and we found that they respond here differently because it’s not a clinical setting. It’s just a fun, positive environment.”
Carla says she believes the ability for all abilities to take fitness classes in a space like emPower is important because fitness can “save your life.”
“People need to exercise. The body is meant to move, that’s how it thrives. One of my favorite quotes is, ‘When you rest, you rust,’” she says. “Everyone can do something. Whether it’s coming in and walking around or just playing with the small light medicine ball to get your nervous system going, there’s many benefits of exercise.”
276 Granite Run Dr, Lancaster, PA | empowertrainingsystems.com
1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
Julie Aha also emphasizes the benefits of movement for all bodies. That’s why she opened Gettysburg yoga studio Gettyoga.
At Gettyoga, yoga beginners and enthusiasts alike are encouraged to push through their own barriers, with the goal of feeling empowered.
“I think we’ve all been in a yoga class before where you’re just kind of in the pose and wondering what to do. I help people find where they can push in the pose because when you push, then you’re starting to work,” she says. “I tell students to go at their own pace and find their own internal rhythm.”
Gettyoga offers group classes, as well as private sessions, and Julie says people who come through her doors have a range of abilities and goals. She works with everyone from those with conditions like scoliosis to people training for a marathon to karate students in need of a stretching.
“It’s like a respite for everyone because we all get so busy chasing our tails around,” she says. “It’s a quiet place where people can come and just let down.”
Julie says taking a yoga class at Gettyoga means feeling welcomed, included and genuinely seen.
“I always say it’s very courageous to walk through the studio door,” she says. “We all want to be learning in a place where we matter, so I try to make everyone feel like they matter.”
304 York St, Suite G, Gettysburg, PA | julieaha.com
1 of 3
2 of 3
3 of 3
Burn30 is another fitness space dedicated to making everyone feel like they matter, and personal trainer Becky Liesch says they’ve been building a family with everyone who walks in their doors since day one.
“It’s a small environment, so you really get to know everybody. People come in and say they feel like they found a home,” she says.
Burn30, located in Lemoyne, is a personal training facility that Becky says is meant to be a “more affordable, inclusive” option for personal training. A typical session consists of strength training with a trainer for the first half and cardio for the remaining half, though Becky says each program is geared specifically toward each person’s goals.
“It can work for everybody because you’re not going to be worrying about doing something that’s too hard or too easy or doing it incorrectly,” she says. “The personal trainer is there to monitor you and gear your workout toward you.”
Becky says having personal trainers to be able to guide people through each exercise means Burn30 has the ability to work with people of all ages. As a result, many of their older gymgoers are able to partake in individual programs devoted and designed to ensure their safety and productivity in movements and exercises.
“We have clients here in their late 20s all the way up through their mid-80s. You might have a mix of like three different generations all working out together here. It’s a lot of fun,” she says.
Regardless of whatever age, ability or condition someone is in, Becky says it's Burn30’s goal, and should be every fitness facility's goal, to meet people where they’re at.
“Every person has value. Everybody can exercise, even if it doesn’t look the same,” she says. “That’s why I feel like places like this are so important … to take the stigma away so people can come in here and know that even if they’re just rolling off the couch after five years of doing nothing … we’re here to help them and get them to where they want to be.”
836 Market St, Lemoyne, PA | burn30.net
1 of 3
2 of 3
3 of 3
