FIT FOR LIFE
Women’s-only facility stretching to Sydney River location
New gym opens in Sydney River.
A local women’s-only gym is flexing its muscles and expanding into a second location.
Fit for Life will soon be offering classes for women of all fitness levels at the Keltic Plaza in Sydney River, said owner Darlene Rankin, who expects the new gym to open later this month in the former Retro 67 deli building.
Rankin, a fitness instructor and personal trainer, said she opened the first Fit for Life in the former Schwartz building on Vulcan Avenue in December 2015 so women could have a supportive environment where they could feel comfortable while reaching their fitness goals.
Now, with about 400 members, the demand has grown to the point where she decided to add a second gym.
“I was actually asked — individuals messaged me from Sydney River, the Northside, all asking if I would take my business there,” said Rankin, who figures the two locations will employ about 15 people, including independent fitness instructors.
Rankin said Fit for Life has more than 30 different classes, ranging from candlelight yoga to high-intensity strength and cardio training.
She said exercise is only one part of a healthy lifestyle, so her club also emphasizes nutrition and has a holistic nutritionist on staff. The Sydney location also has a registered massage therapist and an esthetician working independently under the same roof.
“A big thing for me opening the business was to provide more than just one service because I feel like in order to be fully healthy, nutrition is a big part of that along with exercise,” said Rankin. “I find that you have to go to one place for nutrition and then you go to another place to go work out, so it made sense to me for convenience to have it all under the same roof.”
Rankin, 42, of New Waterford, said her fitness journey began shortly after she’d given birth to her first child and was attending her high school reunion.
“It was at the 10-year reunion and my friend was all fit and I wasn’t so I asked what she did and she said she ate healthy and she exercised through her whole pregnancy, so it kind of clicked for me then,” she said. “Then I
had my son, and after that it was full out.”
Rankin eventually decided she wanted to help other people feel as good as she did, so she became a certified personal trainer, and after making the rounds on the competitive bodybuilding circuit, started her own business, Get Fit with Darlene Rankin, renting community
halls in New Waterford, Reserve Mines and Sydney.
In 2015, she devoted herself to getting people healthy full time and left her human resources job to open Fit for Life.
And while she didn’t attend her 25th high school reunion last summer, she can’t believe how much healthier she feels since that 10-year reunion.
“Fifteen years later, I feel way better than I did in my teens, 20s — healthier, fit, feel a ton more energy, so overall I feel a hell of a lot better.”
For more information on Fit for Life visit www.fitforlifecb. com or search Fit for Life on Facebook.