Decade-long partner of popular downtown Sacramento gym gains full ownership
Many people have the entrepreneurial ambition of one day owning their own business. But in a world with more employees than employers, it’s a goal that relatively few see through.
After a decade as a trainer and fitness instructor, Bryan Washington reached that feat earlier this month, gaining full ownership of The Academy Fitness and Performance Center.
“It’s been a journey,” Washington said. “The idea about this place was to start a space that everyone in the community had, a place they can come in and work out no matter what they look like, what their religion, race or background was.”
Washington, a Black man, takes pride in having full ownership of the gym and fitness club, but said that “just because it’s ‘Black-owned’ doesn’t mean that it’s ‘Black-only.’”
“We want to let people know that Black-owned is just what the space happens to be. I happen to be a Black person that owns this gym,” he said. “But my overall goal is for anyone who feels like they need a space to work out, to get better, to get to their goal. Whatever that goal may be, this is a space for them.”
The Academy, located at 1116 F St. near downtown Sacramento, offers four strength and conditioning training classes Monday through Friday between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday classes start at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Washington said classes are broken into separate days, with emphasis on different muscle groups throughout the week.
“On Mondays, we do upper bodies. Wednesdays, we do lower bodies, and on Friday, we do a full body,” he said. “On Tuesday, Thursday, Saturdays, we do conditioning. So we run up and down the turf. We use our skiers, our bikes, our rowers, body weight sliders, and on those days, we try to target muscle groups that we didn’t use the day before. But if we do happen to hit some of those same muscle groups, we’ll be doing it with exercises that won’t really have you using weights, so still beneficial to you.”
Washington said he plans to include future classes such as a 6 p.m. class this summer and “specific classes for people who like choreographed movements.”
“We really try to bring all of our hyphenated experiences to this space,” Washington said. “So some of us do more than one thing besides training, myself included. So I want to bring some of those different talents and experiences to the space to give people a better vibe in the gym when they’re here.”
Washington’s focus remains on spending the next year focusing on clients, he said, “making sure they feel comfortable in the space.”
“It’s a really good community-based space,” he said. “If you want to come in and get a workout, you want to be pushed by other people or the trainers themselves, this is the space to be.”
