Fitness club owner shares his start-up’s history, challenges and dreams
By Sophia Izzo
On an early Saturday morning in March, when the sun is just starting to rise over the horizon, snow lightly falls from the sky and most people are still sleeping. But this is the time when the second class is already being held at a small local gym in Erie, Pennsylvania. A mixture of people of all ages wearing different workout gear rush through the gym doors to escape the bitter cold. A lady at the desk smiles and greets everyone as they scan their gym punch cards. It is a bit chilly inside the gym but not so cold that one might shiver or need a jacket.
The walls of the gym are a bright, hard yellow. Groups of people, wearing workout gear ranging from Nike shorts to sheer or printed workout leggings, stand around and talk to each other before the class starts. Ages range from high-school athletes between sports seasons to middle-aged men and women who come here before a workday or after dropping their children off at daycare. Despite their ages and backgrounds, this seems to be one place that brings them together. A large, black chalkboard displaying names of protein smoothies in different fonts is displayed in the back of the room. Next to the wall with the chalkboard is a bar with stools serving all the smoothies offered on the chalkboard.
A man in his 30s, wearing a white shirt that reads “ROCK” in yellow print, along with joggers and tennis shoes, walks around smiling and greeting everyone. He makes the scene more friendly and less tense. He is an owner of the gym and appears to know every customer’s name and personality. Indeed, everyone here seems to know each other. The scene is very family-like and connected. Music from the previous class is blaring through the door, a mixture of dance/club music along with the most profound rap music. A large sign is displayed on a grey wall towards the back of the gym lights up in changing colors ranging from a bright purple to blue to pink. The sign reads “iRock Fitness.”
The man with the ROCK shirt is Matt Pribonic, one of the owner-entrepreneur-instructors who founded iRock Fitness. In an interview, he says they created the gym to promote group fitness and help motivate people of all ages to work out as well as make exercise fun. He says he had always enjoyed being in the fitness industry and noticed it was changing.
iRock Fitness was opened in 2010 by Matt and his brother Anthony Pribonic. To accommodate the larger crowd that has since joined, the brothers moved the gyms location in March 2015 to become apart of a larger gym, Nautilus, now known as Fitness U. The larger building includes a daycare and swimming pool as well as an indoor track and gym equipment. A membership at iRock Fitness includes access to Fitness U. Access to Fitness U is an amenity for the customers of iRock Fitness because it allows them to have access to free childcare, showers and a larger gym.
The thing Matt Pribonic says he finds most enjoyable about running his own business is seeing his customers happy and having a business unlike other gyms. Pribonic is also thankful, he says, that the gym gives him the opportunity to use his imagination everyday because he feels it makes him a better person.
Bonnie Hedderick has been a member of iRock Fitness for five years now. She says the reason she chose to join was because she “needed high intensity workouts,” which she says are her favorite thing about iRock.
iRock Fitness is the only gym in Erie that offers strictly group fitness classes at almost every hour of the day. The trainers at iRock are obligated to be committed to the gym Monday through Saturday, according to Matt Pribonic. The gym is open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays it runs from 8 a.m. until 10 a.m.
“When you are a business owner, you are always thinking and focused,” says Matt Pribonic. The thing he finds hardest about running his business is the large amount of responsibility he has to the employees. Pribonic believes that if he doesn’t push volume into the gym with the correct type of marketing, his employees will become disgruntled because they will not be receiving the income they would like to make. He also finds time management challenging due to the commitment of teaching workout classes and running the business. Pribonic is still young at 38 and was not born into the business — he started it.
The Pribonic brothers market iRock Fitness through social media, news networks and radio. In the future, Matt Pribonic says he would also like to market it through the newspaper and emails. Rather than asking people to join through social media, Pribonic says he prefers to show people what iRock Fitness looks like inside so they can see the friendly environment. He wants people to know what iRock is like by watching videos of the classes on social media, so that when people come in to take a class for the first time, they are not nervous and know what to expect.
The main competitors iRock Fitness has in Erie include the seasons of the year, which bring outdoor activities in the summer. Shopping and holidays also compete for people’s time, along with family illness, bad weather, television and children’s activities.
iRocks biggest competitor is the gym Lecom, whose facility is newer and they also offer group classes. However, Pribonic proudly says “iRock has little to no competition because of how special it is.”
Erie County is made up of several different townships. iRock is located in Millcreek Township. The other gyms located in Millcreek are Joe’s Gym, Lecom, Snap Fitness, Planet Fitness and Real Training & Fitness. There are a total of 31 gyms located in the different parts of Erie.
In the future, Matt and Anthony Pribonic hope to own at least 10 gyms, according to Matt. As of now they own five. They plan to expand their businesses to Pittsburgh and Buffalo, since these locations are close to Erie. Level Red Boxing, one of the gyms Matt and Anthony currently own, recently expanded its franchise by opening in Pittsburgh.
