BELLEFONTE — State College’s Victory Sports & Fitness opened a new “boot camp” location on June 28 at 102 E. Bishop St., Bellefonte, where the workouts won’t come from a cookie cutter mold.
“We’d show you what we want you to do and if you can’t do it we’ll change it up so you can,” owner Jackie Oshinskie said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Oshinskie and her husband, Rob, live in Bellefonte and had the vision for the new location a year ago. “It’s exciting from the standpoint that when we started we originally wanted multiple (locations),” Rob Oshinskie said. “We think there’s a lot of potential to help so many people.”
A few hard years in the beginning paid off for the couple — who didn’t want to water down their approach to fitness — because they were able to solidify their program.
Body weight is the main component of how the new gym will operate. Jackie Oshinskie said if a clients can’t handle their own body weights, there’s not much point in putting more stress on their spines. The goal of the boot camp approach to fitness is to enable clients to be comfortable in their own bodies, and the first step is to enable them to manage their own bodies.
Ryan Thompson was a college boxer and graduated from Lock Haven University. He now works for Victory and said if a client has a bad wrist and is unable to do a regular pushup, the trainers can adjust the workout to get the same muscle groups working with no pressure on the joints.
Victory Fitness is all about approaching health in a customized way, he said. They’ll work clients hard, but at the end of the day understand that fitness is relative, and every client will have unique, personal milestones to reach. The workouts will generally consist of circuit training, meaning multiple rounds of predominantly bodyweight exercises. Using bands, medicine balls and the trustworthy hill outside, Victory is looking to make people sweat.
Client’s schedules, like physical well-being, also are unique. The gym’s co-director, Danielle McHenry, said people don’t have to call to cancel. “If you can’t come in the morning, just come at night,” she said.
While the Oshinskies own the gym, both said it wouldn’t have been possible without help.
“This wouldn’t be a reality with the staff. Danielle, Ryan and Lauryn really towed the load,” Rob Oshinksie said.
McHenry and fellow co-director Lauryn Weaver did all of the groundwork inside the building.
“They did the paint and all of the other work (inside),” Thompson said. What used to be a green and yellow toy store is now an orange and red fitness center. Not exactly the same clientele, but the Oshinskies are hoping people still leave as happy as if they had just been given a toy.
The couple is celebrating their 19th anniversary in August and have been working together for 14 years.
“It’s the hardest thing we’ve done, but the best. We’ve grown martially, professionally and personally,” Jackie Oshinskie said.
