GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A local personal fitness gym has moved near Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile.

REVfit has been operating in the Grand Rapids area for around 15 years. It made the move to 740 Michigan St. near Eastern Avenue to help “vaccinate the Medical Mile,” owner and personal trainer Autrey Stirgus said.

Stirgus said as a personal trainer, he works to help people serve themselves.

“For a lot of the people that I do work with, they have served their families, they’ve served their communities and then they are resentful that they haven’t served themselves,” he said. “So what we do is we come alongside them and just go, ‘Hey, let’s get you back, reintroduce you to yourself.'”

He said that’s true for many who work in the medical field — they make up a large part of his clientele.

“From the moment that they entered into medical school, to residency, to fellowship, by the time they start to get into their practice — mid-30s, if not later — and that whole time they’ve been told to serve everyone else and not themselves,” he said. “So what we do is just to say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. We know you’ve worked really hard to get where you are. We just want to come alongside you and reintroduce you to serve yourself first before you can serve everyone else.'”

When the 2,500-square-foot spot opened up near the Medical Mile, Stirgus jumped at the opportunity.

“It’s exciting to welcome another player in the fitness arena, particularly one located so conveniently close to downtown. REVfit will be a valuable addition to our thriving fitness community here in Grand Rapids,” Advantage Real Estate’s Mark Ansara, who represented Stirgus in the move, said in a release.

Stirgus, originally from Seattle, has been going to the gym all his life. After college, he started working in the TV industry and moved to Grand Rapids when he got a job as a sports anchor at Fox 17.

He eventually switched career paths and a 70-year-old at his gym encouraged him to pursue something he loved doing.

“I said, ‘Jack, if you could do it all over again, what would you do?'” Stirgus recalled. “And he goes, ‘Autrey, I would do something that I loved.’ And at that moment, I decided, why don’t I personal train? Rest is history.”

Stirgus said his love for personal training is what drives him, and being able to train people is a “blessing.”

“What sets us apart? We love what we do,” he said. “I love to serve people. I love to come alongside somebody and go, ‘Hey, you are amazing, but we got to start working.’ … Once the transformation takes place … that’s the fun part for me is when people actually start to see the results.”

He and his wife have been working 12- to 17-hour days getting the new location ready. It’s set to officially open up Oct. 1, though some clients have already stopped by for training.

REVfit is appointment-only. New clients start with a consolation, Stirgus said. He said if someone is interested in getting a personal trainer, they should ask lots of questions and make sure it’s the right fit. 

“If you’re going to personal train, it’s a relationship,” he explained. “So you’ve got to feel them out and … the personal trainer gets to feel you out. Not every relationship you’re going to like everybody, but do you respect them? That’s the most important thing. And are they going to be able to help you and assist you get where you are?”

He said Grand Rapids is a good market for the fitness industry, as it tends to be health-conscious.

“For us to come down here, the enormity of it, to be down on the Medical Mile, to be a minority on the Medical Mile, it’s a huge responsibility and I’m so ready for it,” he said.