LIFT gym to expand to Marshfield amid member increase

RIB MOUNTAIN, Wis. (WSAW) - LIFT gym in the Wausau area is seeing an extreme jump in memberships since reopening after the safer at home order ended this summer.

Now they’re looking to expand their business.

After fitness fanatics were cooped up inside while gyms were closed for over a month due to COVID-19, people are coming in for a workout now more than ever at LIFT which means having three gyms isn’t enough for the local owner or its members.

“When you don’t have the gym to go to then you realize how much you miss it and how much you need it and I think people realized that and when they came back they felt better,” LIFT General Manager Robin Pfaff said.

As businesses slowly reopened during the summer of COVID, people have been flocking to LIFT gym.

“We’ve got just about 500 new members since we reopened,” Pfaff said.

With an overload of members and more interest, it means expansion to another local city.

“We’ve been talking about it for a while, and so we chose to move forward with Marshfield, we saw an opportunity there, a lot of our members travel back and forth for work,” LIFT Co-Owner Korey Stern said.

By expanding to a fourth location in Marshfield, the owners believe it’s the right move for not on their business but for the customers.

“Everyone wants to stay healthy and build that immunity and work out, so we feel it’s pretty important to give them a place to go,” LIFT Co-Owner Eric Thomas said.

The new Marshfield LIFT Gym will include their claim to fame, which is signature high ceilings and spacious facilities to allow for social distancing and a safe workout while workers clean around the clock.

“There’s not a better gym around to attend in my opinion and I think that surge [from] the shutdown really gave everybody an option to re-look at what kind of memberships they want, [and] what kind of gym they want to go to,” 3-Year Member of LIFT Gym Frank Fisher said.

When LIFT first closed their doors back in March, they figured their business was on thin ice but now they’ve nearly doubled their numbers since the reopen.

“We weren’t sure what was going to happen and we just had to hang in there and then we got through it and now we’re even better,” Pfaff said.

The new Marshfield location of LIFT gym is currently in the process of renovation and they hope to have it fully open and running by the end of 2020.

Copyright 2020 WSAW. All rights reserved.