Rapp’s first full-service fitness center on horizon
It won’t be long before Rappahannock County’s first full-service “gym” opens in Sperryville, and the timing couldn’t be better.
As fitness experts and new proud owners Susan Huff and Gordon Wicks see it: “With so many new restaurants, bars and breweries building up in Sperryville, it may be a relief for local residents to know that soon they will be able to burn off those extra indulgent calories, with little excuse, having a gym in the center of town.”
In other words, it won’t take an hour out of the day just to get to the gym and back.
If you haven’t already observed the ongoing construction, the existing Stonewall Abbey Yoga & Qigong is expanding its facility to become “Stonewall Abbey Wellness,” an extensive state-of-the-art gym and martial arts center.
The 4,000-plus square foot facility at 44 Main Street will have its grand opening in early 2018 and be open to members 7 days a week.
The new gym, according to Huff and Wicks, will include among other features the most up to date cardio and strength equipment, personalized training, a far infrared sauna, Thai massage room (both Wicks and Huff are Thai certified), bathrooms, showers and towels.
The couple’s popular instruction in yoga, qigong and meditation will continue in the quaint Abbey space, while nationally certified personal weight training, Thai & Tui Na Massage, youth and adult martial arts instruction and programs, and plenty more will be offered in the new fitness building (there will even be seasonal outdoor fun offered, such as stand-up paddle boarding).
“The goal is to be the central hub for mind/ body health and fitness in Rappahannock,” says the Sperryville couple. “We want to provide our neighbors and friends an unrivaled holistic experience from training to regeneration. Finally, our community will have a gym that is close by.”
Huff opened Stonewall Abbey Yoga in 2012 in the iconic 1901 Episcopal Abbey, while still running her 2nd Floor Studio in Culpeper. She teamed up with Wicks and his Golden Harmony Fitness Studios in Culpeper in 2014 and the pair expanded their mind/body and fitness offerings in both Culpeper and Sperryville (truth be told they began working together back in 2004 at the Gold’s Gym in Warrenton).
The new addition is being built by Home Tech Construction Services, LLC.
“I am so grateful to be a part of the old and new history of Stonewall Abbey,” says company president Daniel D. Armor. “It is always a bit challenging to blend the old and the new while making it all look like it's
been there forever.
“This job has been no exception,” Armor continues. “The size of the property has had its own challenges, but thankfully the neighbors have gone out of their way to help us out. It makes such a difference to have the support of the neighborhood and I think everyone agrees that it is going to be a very special place.”
State-of-the-art Sperryville facility will be open 7 days a week