More than a decade ago, Ben Gervais made a discovery.
While training as a runner in Minnesota, his running coach advised him to get into strength training to improve his form.
As an athlete going back to his high school days, Gervais wasn’t new to exercise by any means when he first set foot in a Discover Strength studio up north. But at that studio, he said, he found something he hadn’t found anywhere else.
“I was always so passionate about the workout — I loved telling anybody who would listen about it,” he said. “There are a lot of people who’ve been long-term clients of Discover Strength that just believe in the mission of our organization so much that they want to bring this out to other parts of the country.”
After 13 years as a client himself, Gervais has become one of the Minnesota-based brand’s clients-turned-franchise owners himself. On Friday, he will open Johnson County’s first Discover Strength studio in Leawood.
Discover Strength is opening at 4957 W. 135th St.
- The fitness studio moved into a space just off 135th Street and Nall Avenue, where Leawood meets Overland Park.
- There, it will operate near Blooming Home Decor & Upholstery and Oomph Salon.
- Generally, Discover Strength will offer training from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
Discover Strength provides “evidence-backed” strength training
Each workout session at Discover Strength lasts 30 minutes, and it’s typically recommended that members come in for workouts twice a week.
During that time, members work with exercise physiologists on strength training with the help of various exercises and equipment — such as chest presses, knee plank presses and bench presses.
“We can literally fit these machines to fit every body type, no matter how tall or short,” Gervais said. “There are all these different ways that we can make it novel to the person, to continue to keep them motivated through every session they come in.”
Compared to other fitness brands, Gervais said one of the main things that sets Discover Strength apart in the market is its efficiency.
“What we find is that there are a lot of people out there, especially busy business professionals, who struggle to stick to a fitness routine especially when they think they have to be in the gym five days a week,” he said. “This is an amazing alternative to that.”
In addition to efficiency, he said two other distinguishing factors of the gym are the expertise of Discover Strength staff (who all hold degrees in exercise science) and the fact that all of its workouts are based on scientific evidence.
“Our large focus is creating an amazing environment while giving people what they expect out of fitness — which is reaching their goals, feeling better, looking better, and getting stronger,” added Jacob Peabody, general manager of the new Leawood studio. “(Even) when it’s a day that they don’t show up, we know we’re still impacting their everyday lives and the activities they want to do for themselves.”
This marks the first Discover Strength in Johnson County
The new Leawood studio also serves as the first in the wider Kansas City metro area.
Later on, Gervais said the goal is to eventually expand Discover Strength’s Johnson County presence with more locations.
Even preceding the studio’s opening, Gervais said the Johnson County community has been welcoming of Discover Strength’s arrival — and in many cases, eager to try it.
“Everything has just felt right about it,” he said. “The relationships that we’ve developed over the past year, it’s been humbling.”
Want more local business news? Swing 365, a new facility for year-round golfing, is coming to Overland Park
