9 Round Ocoee offers unique fitness alternative

OCOEE — It’s just before 6 a.m. on a Friday, and the sun has yet to come up.

The shopping center at the corner of Maguire and Old Winter Garden roads is empty, save for a few cars entering and clustering near the parking lot’s east end.

The week is almost over, but that doesn’t mean the 6 a.m. crew at 9 Round Ocoee is going to miss a workout. Moments later, the quiet inside the facility is replaced by pulsating music and the sound of the bell every three minutes as members maneuver from station to station. The workout will last just 30 minutes, with members moving to a different station every three minutes, but that’s more than enough time for each person to get in cardiovascular training, strength training and traditional routines associated with boxing and kickboxing.

People arrive when they like, maneuver through the routine and then leave. A trainer is always present to bounce around the nine stations and work with each person training.

The franchised facility, which opened in January 2014, is owned by Bill and Tracie Hentschel. When Bill lost his job with The Golf Channel a few years ago, the Dr. Phillips couple decided to invest in a franchise. Based in South Carolina, 9 Round proved to be the perfect fit for the couple’s desire to own a fitness-oriented business.

“The reason why it is so unique is the hours of availability … whenever it’s convenient for you, you come in and get your 30 minutes — there’s a trainer always here for you,” Bill said. “People who are busy, they don’t have a lot of time, they get in and walk right up to Round 1, and 30 minutes later, they walk out the door. We want to be convenient for people.”

As Tracie tells it, when Bill discovered the franchise and brought the idea to her, one of the factors that helped sell it to her was that the workouts each day are mapped out for the members — something she knew would appeal to people like her.

“It’s great for people like me, stay-at-home moms, who need that direction,” Tracie said. “Bill found it, and I quickly jumped on board. I said, ‘I am done with the big gyms.’”

Since its opening, those same factors that lured in Bill and Tracie have also lured in a staff of dedicated trainers and loyal clients. Priced at about $70 per month, with discounts available with the purchase of longer memberships, the gym costs more than a typical gym — but significantly less than many CrossFit gyms or a personal trainer — and offers some of the same benefits.

“We (as trainers) can cater to anybody,” said Karen West, a second-degree black belt in taekwondo who trains at 9 Round. “I can change the workout, I can modify it for anybody.”

The workouts are heavy with boxing concepts, which, for someone like Winter Garden resident Gigi Tabares — a client-turned-trainer — was a strong selling point.

“I love to get my aggression out; it’s my therapy,” Tabares said with a smile.

Clients at 9 Round range from young to old, professionals to stay-at-home moms. Bill remembers the time he had a former UCF football player training alongside an older woman.

For someone such as Kwesi Johnson, an Ocoee resident who is part of the “6 a.m. crew,” the appeal is truly rooted in the camaraderie and relationship clients have with the owners and trainers — as well as the direction they provide.

“(At other gyms) I’m usually spending more time on my phone looking at workouts — what to do and how to do it,” Johnson said. “When I come in here, I don’t even think about it. It’s all mapped out already.”

Business has been good — the Hentschels recently opened a second store near SeaWorld on Central Florida Parkway. Bill and Tracie are hopeful they can recreate the sense of community there they already have instilled in the Ocoee location.

“Everybody knows everybody,” Bill said. “I was always a ‘go-to-the-Y-with-my-headphones-on’ kind of guy — lift my weights and go home. This is completely different for me, and I love it.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].