Full Range is More Than “Just a Gym”
We have a tagline that has appeared on our website since our very first days:
"Full Range is more than just a gym"
Rather than saying that we are better than other gyms (though we're not totally above tooting our own horn from time to time), this message is more intended to convey what we feel a training space CAN or SHOULD be, which is more than what many people might think of when they think of a "typical" gym.
For the Ancient Greeks, the "gymnasium" was not only a place of training for competitors in the public games, but also a venue for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. Along with physical exercise, the gym also held lectures and discussions on philosophy, literature, and music, and there were public libraries nearby.
And, while culture has certainly changed since antiquity (these gymnasia only trained men, and I'm pretty sure most of it was done naked?), the idea of a gym being MORE than just a place to complete sets and reps lives on in the space that we've created, and those like it.
The gym, to us, is a place of exploration, where we can try new things, and challenge ourselves without all of the risk inherent in the outside world. Failure here is not something to be feared, but an inevitable part of the process of discovering where our limitations lie, in an effort to remove or push past them.
The gym is a place of learning, not just about health and fitness, but about what it's like to work hard, and how our minds and bodies are intricately connected. We call our sessions "classes" for a reason, and we aim to help everyone understand both what good training is, and why we do what we do.
And, perhaps most importantly, the gym is a place for connection. When the landscape of fitness saw many people walking into a huge building full of machines, putting on their headphones, and toiling away on the treadmill amidst a bunch of strangers, we wanted others to experience what we've been fortunate to, which is a community of people that are kind, humble, and willing to work hard to reach their goals. Then, through COVID, we saw even moreso how the gym was a vital place to connect with others, and to be social while we work on ourselves.
There are surely other ways that Full Range (and places like it) function as more than "just a gym," but what I'm hoping to convey to you today is that the way we choose to view our favorite training place can largely determine what we get out of our time spent there. If we want to get in, shut off our brains, and move from machine to machine as we work one muscle group at a time, then there are certainly places to do that (and, by the way, there's nothing inherently WRONG with this). But, we believe, if we want to maximize our health, fitness, and wellbeing, create a consistent routine that works for us in the long term, and, ultimately, grow to reach our truest potential, then we are probably going to need something that is "more than just a gym."
