Strive Fit Club, 2520 Walton Blvd., Warsaw, hosted an open house Friday with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce. Shown from left are coaches Janelle Rhodes and Jessica Olson, coach and administrative assistant Rachel Snow and Strive owner Cameron Deckard. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Inside Strive Fit Club on Friday, it was darker than most people might be used to inside a gym or fitness club. The music pulsated with energy as coaches got clients to sweat from one station to the next.

Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce members were there, observing an afternoon class demonstrate the workout in progress, as Strive, 2520 Walton Blvd., Warsaw, also was hosting an open house.

Strive owner Cameron Deckard, 28, said he opened a Columbia City location about seven years ago, with the Warsaw club opening in October.

“It’s class-based, so each client books their class throughout the day. We have classes early in the morning and in the evening. Each session is led by a personal trainer that guides the class through the workout. The workout is the same all day, but changes every single day so clients never get the same workout twice,” he explained.

There are different focuses each day. One day may be arms and abs, while another day may be lower body. “It just changes every day,” Deckard stated.

While it’s similar to CrossFit, he said CrossFit is more performance based while Strive is more based on helping clients lose fat.

“So clients come to us typically wanting to lose anywhere between 10 to 20 pounds, on average, but it can be more than that for sure,” he said. “We have clients of all different age ranges and body types.”

There are 20 people per class at capacity at the Warsaw location, but Deckard said they are looking to expand that in the near future.

“We have the capability of expanding that, actually by double, but probably in the near future we’ll be expanding that a little bit from there.”

He said classes are Monday through Saturday, as early as 5 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m.

Clients download the Strive Fit Club app so they access the class schedule and see what times work best for them. They can book their class and starting spot through the app.

Deckard said clients typically will start to see results within two to three weeks. If they stick with it, he said they can start to see a pretty decent change within six weeks, with more substantial results within a three-month to 12-month period.

Recurring memberships range from $109 to $159 a month, depending on if a client wants twice a week or unlimited. There’s also drop-in classes available for people who might have a membership to somewhere else but want to drop in at Strive on occasion.

“Where we kind of come in is kind of where the personal training pricing – so if you were to go get a personal trainer and work out with them for two or three times a week, it would be anywhere between $300 and $500 a month. This here gives you access to that personal trainer, but you’re working out in that group setting and sharing that personal trainer with other participants,” Deckard said.

There are four trainers at the Warsaw location currently, including Deckard, but he said they are still looking to expand from that. The Columbia City location has four trainers as well.

Trainers have to have a personal training certificate and CPR certification, and Deckard said he also wants them to get additional certifications on top of that, but that’s not required to start as a trainer at Strive.

Diets and nutrition are a big part for anyone to lose weight.

“So we usually do like an initial meeting with a new client to go through their nutrition, and then we run challenges periodically throughout the year where we’ll do nutrition plans with them. If they’re struggling with their nutrition or struggling with the results that they’re looking for, we absolutely meet with them and help them,” Deckard said.

Strive has an in-body scale on site at both locations. That scale reads muscle, body fat and water weight.

“What that does is, that gives us a good idea to show clients their results, more than just body weight on a scale,” he said.

The Strive Fit Club app – where a person can create an account, check out pricing, sign up for classes and more – can be found on PlayStore or the App Store under Strive Fit Club. The website is at strivefitclub.com.

“We offer three free classes to come try us out and see if it’s a good fit, and then they can actually sign up for a membership at that point, or we’ll be more than happy to go over membership options with people,” Deckard said.

Strive Fit Club is a “community of people with like-minded goals,” he said. “It’s a non-intimidating atmosphere. It’s dark lit, that actually started in 2020. So we dim the studio down, that reduces the intimidation. We get a lot of questions about that. Most people feel self-conscious when working out in a group environment. So by working out in the dark, it makes it feel like ‘nobody’s watching me, I’m not in this bright-lit room.’ And then the music’s energetic, it’s fun and it’s not like your typical workout class.”

Deckard said Strive really is for any fitness level.

“On the treadmill, we have walkers, joggers and runners. … Most of our clients, I would say 90% of them, have not worked out in years, since high school if not ever. So, taking somebody from ‘Oh my gosh, I’m nervous,’ to – you can actually see it out there in our open house, people helping each other and we’ve got clients volunteering and saying, ‘hey, do this with me.’ That’s actually my favorite part about owning the gym – more than just the weight loss, we get a lot of great results for our clients, but that transformation personally that I see from our members is real exciting,” Deckard concluded.