Getting into shape, military-style - Business - The Olympian ...

ROLF BOONE | Staff writer ? Published January 13, 2013 Modified January 12, 2013

Owners: Michael and Amanda Wilhelm

Service: Gym and lounge

Years in business: Opened Jan. 5.

Location: 4706 Pacific Ave., Lacey. The business is near the corner of Pacific Avenue and College Street, behind a new Starbucks in the Pacific Business Park.

Hours: The gym is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; the lounge is open after 6 p.m. Special requests also can be made to use the lounge space.

Online: facebook.com/theracketIR

Cost: $80 a month. The cost is discounted to $50 for those in the military, as well as for police, fire and EMTs. The business also offers a three-day pass to try the gym. Memberships are month-to-month, Amanda Wilhelm said.

Did you know? In addition to running the new gym, Michael is active-duty Air Force and Amanda is working toward a career in law enforcement. The gym also is dedicated to friend Sean Carson, a Navy explosives ordinance disposal specialist who died in a helicopter accident. The husband-and-wife team of Michael and Amanda Wilhelm have launched a new venture in Lacey, a business that is part gym and part lounge, and one they hope will appeal to the South Sound military community as a place where service members can work out, unwind and decompress.

Their creation is the Team house Gym, which occupies a two-story building near the corner of Pacific Avenue and College Street.

The gym is downstairs while the lounge is upstairs, a destination they hope customers will use to watch TV, play pool, eat snacks, play cards or watch the latest UFC fight. They plan to charge a $5 cover fee for pay-per-view UFC fights, Amanda Wilhelm said.

The gym has a spartan arrangement, but is guaranteed to produce a full-body workout and result in a sore body, she said.

The gym has free weights, kettle bells, a floor-to-ceiling climbing rope and gravity boots for some serious sit-ups. But the centerpiece of the gym is called an ?infinity rig,? which looks a bit like an adult jungle gym for pull-ups, or body dips or ring dips.

They also plan to add a rock-climbing wall, resistance bands, rowing machines, a treadmill and more floor mats. The gym also has 50-pound sandbags and wooden boxes, about 3 feet off the ground, that are used to jump onto and off of for an aerobic workout.

They were initially going to use the space for her husband?s screenprinting business, a business called International Racket, but then Michael, 30, who serves in the Air Force, decided to expand on the idea by adding the gym and lounge.

They signed a two-year lease for the space, and then got the keys after Christmas, she said.

About 100 people gathered for its opening day on Jan. 5, and they also have dedicated the gym to friend and Navy veteran Sean Carson. He was killed in a helicopter accident, Wilhelm said. Amanda, 25, is from Roy and Michael is from New York, she said. They met about five years ago on the social networking website MySpace ?when it was still cool,? Wilhelm said.

Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403 rboone@theolympian.com theolympian.com/bizblog @rolf_boone

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/01/13/2382656/getting-into-shape-military-style.html

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