Gym members join forces with trainer to relaunch business

A few weeks after Tropical Storm Helene, personal trainer Eric Simpson and his client Monica Krider geared up in white Tyvek suits, rather than the typical workout apparel they normally wore when entering Reconstruct Personal Fitness Training.

Reconstruct had been one of four gyms located inside the Asheville Training Hub, situated on the bank of the Swannanoa River. The site, like many neighboring properties in East Asheville, was completely ravaged by floodwaters.

As Simpson and Krider sunk into the muddied floor, flashlights from their phones illuminated what salvageable equipment remained. There wasn’t much — only one workout bench and a couple of workout bars.

Krider had been training with Simpson twice a week since he launched the business in 2022. When the storm hit, she immediately volunteered to help him retrieve whatever equipment he could from the wreckage.

“I just wanted to take charge of helping something come back to normal,” Krider says.

In Goldilocks fashion

Krider, a real estate agent, used her professional contacts to then help Simpson begin his search for a new location.

In Goldilocks fashion — substituting bowls of porridge for square footage — Simpson spent three weeks touring gym spaces around town. Throughout the process he a had a list of criteria that had to be met, including a centralized location for his clients who come from Asheville, Leicester, Candler, Black Mountain and Fairview.

“I would sometimes text clients, ‘How do you feel about a property being located here?’” Simpson says. “The big thing is this is their gym, and this is really their place.”

On some site visits, Simpson was joined by Krider and fellow client Dan Hague for their immediate input.

“There are those people who are motivated, who do well because they want to be the best. Then there are those who do well for the fear of failure,” says Simpson, quoting an adage that stuck with him from his time in the military. For him, it was the fear of failure — both to himself and to the people he trained every week — that kept him pushing forward.

‘You investing in you’

Then on Oct. 17, he found “the” spot on Tunnel Road, which used to be a dance studio, complete with a wall of mirrors — an ideal amenity for checking workout form.

Several clients pitched in to clean up the space and “reconstruct” Reconstruct.

“Each of us has had some skills that were helpful in getting his space ready for him to open,” says Hague, who tapped into his experience restoring homes to help outfit the new space.

Meanwhile, Krider painted the gym’s baseboards and Lawrence Hines broke down the piles of cardboard boxes that new equipment arrived in.

“Each time I put something together, I know it sounds kind of silly and small, but that would build my confidence that this is happening. This is taking place,” Simpson says.

By Nov. 4, the crew opened its new training space.

The gym’s purple accents — Simpson’s favorite color — were gifts from his clients, ranging from the grape-colored clock to a purple yoga mat.

The group effort, Simpson says, reaffirmed the symbiotic relationship he and his clients have developed over the previous three years.

“It works both ways,” Simpson says. “We work hard in here, but we have good conversations. A lot of times there are personal conversations. And that feels good to know that they share, and I share, a good two-way communication.”

The gym’s motto  — “You investing in you” — echoes this sentiment.

“It seemed like everybody wanted to get back to some sort of routine. And in a small kind of way, I think that’s what happened here,” Simpson says.