Love to Lift: A dream achieved
Love to Lift owners Stephanie Kollasch and Joe Blaekly stand in front of the Booty Room at their 120 Oakdale St. location. The Booty Room has become a hit in the early stages of their ownership, giving members a more private space to do vulnerable exercises. Staff photo by Johnnie Phillips
Owatonna’s newest gym, Love to Lift, had its soft-launch opening at 120 Oakdale St. on March 1, and for Stephanie Kollasch and her fiancé Joe Blaekly, the dream has only just begun.
Countless hours of moving equipment and preparing for necessary property inspections have finally resulted in the materialization of an idea that hit the couple almost out of the blue.
“Last November I was kind of just bored with my full-time job, and I’ve always wanted to be a business owner. I told Joe like, ‘I’m going to open a gym.’ And I kind of just kept saying that out loud. Then we actually just started taking the steps to do so,” said Kollasch.
The former Pine Island natives turned Steele County residents recognized an opportunity to fill a niche in the fitness market and are hoping to build a gym that values hard work and progress more than ego and looks.
The gym features multiple segmented rooms that provide members an opportunity to lift weights in a more private environment.
Free weights have their own room on the left as you walk in the front door, while the deadlift room sits in the back, pocketed behind the more open, main machine room.
While Kollasch and Blaekly mentioned that members have enjoyed the privacy of the separate rooms, no part of the gym has received more positive attention than the aptly titled “Booty Room.”
“My friend and I were in here and I told her, ‘I just want to visualize where everything is going to go.’ I told her that I wanted this room to be for glute-focused exercises, the ones you may be a little more uncomfortable doing in front of other people. She was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what if you called it the Booty Room?’ I loved it and we ran with it,” said Kollasch with a laugh.
Yet, even the larger, more exposed parts of the gym offer members the opportunity to work out in peace.
Spaces where machines, squat racks, and benches reside all face away from each other in angles where two members could be working out side-by-side but still maintain an aura of privacy.
All these components offer clientele the ability to work hard without the fear of judgement or anxiety of being watched.
That being said, Love to Lift is hardly an individual experience.
There is a personal best board in the center of the machine room where members can write down their new records and track their accomplishments.
According to Kollasch and Blaekly, the board was already present in the building when it was renovated and has been a fun addition that has seen plenty of use even in its early stages.
For those looking to join early, there are plenty of options for membership.
The gym offers a $10 day pass, $20 week pass, $45 month-to-month pass, and a $30-per-month yearly contract.
“At the end of the day, we want our gym to be comfortable, affordable and a great experience for everyone who comes in,” said Blaekly. “Gym anxiety is a real thing, and we want people to know that if they have questions or concerns about the gym, that we have set this place up to minimize that and maximize growth.”