Workout Anytime Under New Ownership

By DON SERGENT don.sergent@bgdailynews.com Sep 20, 2023

The Workout Anytime Bowling Green location is now owned by Kyle Shirley and John Hammers, who purchased it earlier this year from Jared Saltsman.

For Kyle Shirley and John Hammers, pumping iron and sweating on treadmills has come with benefits beyond fitness.

Longtime partners in real estate development and other ventures, Shirley and Hammers have beefed up their business portfolio as an outgrowth of their commitment to getting fit, purchasing in July the Workout Anytime fitness center in Bowling Green’s Greenwood Square shopping center.

“John and I started working out, trying to get in shape,” Shirley said. “My friend Jared (Saltsman) was the owner. He said he was looking to sell it, and he thought this might be a good fit for us.”

Saltsman, who lives in Glasgow, was looking for a buyer because he was making a transition from fitness center owner to emergency medical technician.

He sat down with Shirley and Hammers, who quickly saw how owning a fitness center could improve the health of their business partnership.

“Both of us have real estate backgrounds and saw this as an investment,” Hammers said, “but now we enjoy it. It’s real gratifying for both of us.

“Three or four months ago, I wasn’t expecting to be here. We were just regular gym members. It’s the family business now.”

Although they still have other business ventures, Shirley and Hammers have been hands-on owners.

“We’re here probably six days a week,” Shirley said. “We’ve been moving some equipment around, trying to make it more spacious.”

As its name implies, the Workout Anytime gym can be accessed by members 24 hours a day. It also has a staff of five people, including a licensed personal trainer, available during daytime hours.

The new owners have been to the Workout Anytime corporate headquarters in Atlanta, learning how to best utilize the treadmills, exercise bicycles, free weights and other equipment at the gym.

Established in the 1970s, Workout Anytime has grown to nearly 200 locations throughout the country and has been in Bowling Green for 10 years.

Saltsman said he and his father Lorne Saltsman bought the Bowling Green location as well as Workout Anytime locations in Glasgow and Campbellsville nearly six years ago.

Lorne Saltsman still has the Glasgow and Campbellsville gyms, but his son said his change in careers meant the Bowling Green location had to be sold.

“He (Lorne Saltsman) can’t manage three locations by himself,” Jared Saltsman said. “All have been successful, and Bowling Green is busier than the other two.”

Although there’s plenty of competition from other fitness centers, Saltsman believes there’s enough workout business in Bowling Green for Shirley and Hammers to make their new venture work.

“There’s always a need for gyms, with Bowling Green growing as fast as it is,” he said.