Duo works to change environment of gyms with focus on trainers, clients

Don Larkin and Charlene Hinish

Business Name: Reach for More

Years in business: 11 years

Location: 3514 Trindle Road, Camp Hill

Contact: reachformore.fit or 717-219-3222

Q: Why did you want to start this kind of business?

A: We were dissatisfied with what many large gyms provided both customers and trainers. Gym members tended to be the targets of high pressure sales pitches, and trainers were not respected nor paid enough to make fitness their career. This created an environment where members were wary and distrustful of training staff, and there was a high turnover of trainers, resulting in lower quality of service. We wanted to create a place where neither clients nor staff were treated as numbers, both knew they were valued and appreciated, and the highest quality of care was provided. We believed there was an unsatisfied demand for someone to do it better.

Q: How did you get your start?

A: We started in a tiny studio space on Market Street in Camp Hill Borough in 2014 with only the two of us. We did literally everything ourselves, from training clients to mopping floors to shoveling snow. The business has grown steadily the last 11 years and we’ve built a reputation in the fitness, wellness and medical communities for having professional trainers with the highest levels of technical knowledge who take good care of people. In 2019 we moved into a much larger building on Trindle Road where we share interconnected space with several other businesses in the wellness sphere, including Zang Physical Therapy, Absolute Pilates and An Athletes Edge Sports Massage. We still mop the floors, but the larger space has enabled us to hire who we believe to be the best trainers available in the area.

Q: What does your business sell or provide?

A: The bulk of what we do is personal training, but we also offer wellness and nutrition coaching, and endurance coaching for amateur triathletes, runners and cyclists. We provide all of our services both in person in the studio and virtually via video chat and other applications. Our motto is Live Better Longer, so we frequently serve as the hub of our clients’ health and wellness networks, referring them to other care providers when they would be best served by something we are unable to provide.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now?

A: Our business has always been the tortoise rather than the hare. We’ve never grown quickly, but have always grown steadily. At times in the past we’ve had limited availability for new clients, so the slow steady growth was good, but increasing our staff means we have openings for new clients. Right now our biggest challenge is getting the word out to people we can help and filling those openings a little more quickly than the past.

Q: What is your favorite thing to do or place in Cumberland County?

A: We love Cumberland County because it has such a diversity of active things to do! As active outdoors people, we can bike, walk or run on the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail, fish or kayak in the Yellow Breeches, hike the Appalachian Trail, or engage in any number of adventures at the county’s three state parks.