Reaching out for fitness

"There's plenty of people to go around," said Cliff Haskins, who purchased The Firm on Jan. 4.

The 30,000-square-foot gym, at 1217 S. Kansas Ave., has 900 members and eventually will be partially renovated to include a new steam room and hot tub area.

The acquisition was the latest in a series of buy-outs the Haskins have made in the past year under their Crittenden Perryman Corp., which now serves nearly 5,000 members and has 40 employees at its three gyms in Topeka.

In June, they purchased White Lakes Family Fitness Center, at White Lakes Mall, and Wynmor Family Fitness Center, at 2940 S.W. Wanamaker.

Upon leaving their jobs in the information technology sector to become business owners, the two said they were struck by the divisiveness within the fitness center industry in Topeka.

Although he said it sounded "kind of corny," Cliff Haskins said the city's fitness centers should work together to promote good health rather than compete for each other's business.

"It's just a matter of reaching out to people and letting them know it's important to have a healthy lifestyle," he said.

Each fitness center has a personality of its own, and very little customer loyalty exists within the industry, Haskins said. People don't hesitate changing centers just for the sake of change, he said.

On the other hand, when bad news strikes one fitness center, all of the others suffer as well, Haskins said.

Cliff Haskins is a former employee at Sprint Corp. Linda Haskins served years as an information technology trainer for several local companies and governmental agencies.

"Basically, we're both into information technology by trade, but we both have lifted for years," Linda Haskins said.

Cliff Haskins, a lifelong Topekan, began lifting weights after his freshman year at Highland Park High School. He returned for his sophomore year 40 pounds heavier -- all in muscle mass. He ran track throughout high school.

"I just got tired of being skinny," said Haskins, now 36.

He has kept at it. Two years ago, he qualified for the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation, a drug-free bodybuilding circuit.

Linda Haskins, 43, has been lifting weights for the past 15 years.

They said they had wanted to own their own gym for years. Now they want to help people live healthy at an affordable price. A year's membership at their gyms costs $198, they said.

"He's in it for fitness and to help people and to make it affordable," Linda Haskins said. "Why should just the rich or the upper middle class be able to afford good health and not everybody else?"