A VIBRANT APPROACH TO FITNESS: Tryon Well being and Health Membership
Printed 1:30 pm Tuesday, April 16, 2024
- Tryon Well being and Health is painted “agreeable blue.”(Picture by Zia Terhune)
By Zia Terhune
TRYON—If you’re on the Tryon Hearth Division or Rogers Park and occur to lookup, you’ll not miss a sprawling, 14,000-square-foot blue metallic constructing that may in all probability be seen from outer area.
The constructing’s shade has been referred to as “cheerful,” “garish,” and huh?” The paint firm calls it “agreeable blue.” It’s the house of Tryon Well being and Health Membership and has been owned by Tina Durbin for twenty-four years. Tina is a self-confident, inspirational lady who began with $200, a giant dream and just a little assist from this neighborhood.
In 1998, Tina was almost 50 years previous, working on the gymnasium part-time and nonetheless elevating three school-aged kids. Someday, Tina realized that the enterprise was in deep monetary bother. Earlier than lengthy she was provided half possession of the enterprise.
What would anybody do with an unbelievable alternative like that? Tina turned it flat down. She knew that it was all or nothing.
Quickly, she had negotiated full possession plus a large mortgage—not a leap of religion as a lot as an excessive pole vault into new territory. Tina’s husband was busy along with his profession, so he was supportive of her shopping for “a pleasant little gymnasium.” He wasn’t actually concerned till months later when he noticed the constructing and nearly fainted.
Throughout the first six months after Tina took the helm, Tryon Well being grew from 88 to over 500 members. Since then, Tina has confronted big challenges, like in 2008 when the economic system suffered. And once more throughout the covid pandemic, when she was pressured to shut for 3 months (this was when the constructing went from drab grey to blue). However Tina acquired via it with willpower and all the time centered on serving to her purchasers meet their health objectives.
Tina Durbin (proper) works with Nancy, a gymnasium member. (Picture by Zia Terhune)
Half of the constructing is dedicated to yoga, dance, physique sculpting, weight coaching, private coaching and cardio. A separate enterprise, Sizemore Gymnastics Academy, shares the opposite half. Tina is a private coach with purchasers like Nancy, whose flexibility and power are certainly that of a lady half her age.
From a toddler of a North Carolina sharecropper household to a profitable businesswoman, Tina Durbin is a task mannequin for a lot of. Whether or not you agree or disagree with the blue paint on the ability, like Tina, it’s right here to remain. When requested if she is able to decelerate, she responds, “No, health is a present to myself. It might be enjoyable whether or not I used to be paid or not.”