Crosstrainers Fitness Forum is a bright, open and completely accessible facility that represents how gyms and fitness centers could be. Christopher Grobbel and business partner Randell Carver promote their gym as "quality and service without limits." Everything is accessible from the elevator to non-skid flooring materials to wide aisles and state-of-the-art workout equipment valued at around $250,000. The locker rooms have accessible showers with benches, sinks and lockers of appropriate heights, and hooks on a variety of levels to store towels.
Seven hundred members have signed up since the gym opened five months ago. Grobbel believes the best part is seeing patrons with and without disabilities work out together, with no stupid remarks, stares or whispers. Grobbel, who uses a wheelchair, makes a distinction between places being wheelchair accessible but not wheelchair friendly. Carver, who is a personal trainer of Paralympic athletes, offers customized workouts that utilize a person's capabilities. People with disabilities are still often viewed as sick or a liability; Carver wants to change those perceptions and empower people with disabilities to have confidence in their own abilities.
The facility is part traditional gym and part rehabilitation facility, serving clients who have recently finished physical therapy due to an injury or disability. Clients include individuals who use wheelchairs, people with amputations, those who are blind, and others coping with cancer, diabetes, and arthritis.
All personnel have experience with people with disabilities and some have knowledge of adaptive technology. Patrons are welcome to bring personal assistants or request assistance from staff.
Repeatedly transferring out of wheelchairs to exercise drains energy; Crosstrainer's patrons benefit from using The Equalizer, a specialized piece of roll-in equipment that works all major muscle groups, and saves strength for working out. People with limited lower-body movement use The Power Trainer, a hand cycle that allows the user to strap in his or her legs. Pedaling with arms also moves the legs to improve circulation. In the gym's aerobics studio, patrons participate in classes ranging from kickboxing to wheelchair aerobics. Crosstrainers also offers massage, tanning, nutritional advice and body fat analysis.
The facility's prices are compatible with other gyms in the area, and it offers free trial memberships. About 10 percent of the gym's patrons have a disability and the owners would like to see that rise to a targeted 25 percent. Transportation issues and limited income still stand in the way for some potential members. The club is trying to find solutions to these obstacles to make fitness accessible to all.
Grobbel and Carver hope to expand their idea nationwide and possibly offer franchises.