Small Gym Seeks to Open in Mineola

The Village of Mineola may be getting as part of its list of businesses.

Jamie Dreyer of Williston Park and Jean Yang recently approached the during its meeting on December 14 to obtain a special use permit to open a semi-private personal training facility at 153A Jericho Turnpike.

A number of other gyms have also opened in the village, including the on Jericho Turnpike and near the village pool.

The proposed gym at 153A Jericho Turnpike operates on a “monthly” membership basis and there would be three clients per trainer, which currently consist of Dryer and his business partner. As many as eight clients may be at the 1,800 sq. ft. facility for personal training session, but some classes could range from three or four people up to a maximum of 20.

The hours of operation would be Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with afternoon sessions on Monday through Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday the facility would be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There would be no selling of food on the premises, but while selling vitamins or supplements was “not on the plan right now,” Dreyer did not rule it out in the future. There are no plans to alter the building in any way or to install a shower. Rubberized flooring would be installed for the location’s use as a gym. The building does have a basement but not accessible from where side of the building where the gym would be located. While music would be played inside the space, Dreyer said that none would be heard outside the building. This is Dreyer’s first time opening a facility of his own. He has previously worked as a personal trainer for the past 14 1/2 years in Manhattan.

A typical workout session at the facility would last one hour and begin with five to 10 minutes of “tissue work” on rollers and exercise balls, four to 5 minutes of mobility drills to increase range of motion then “dynamic warmup” of 5 minutes. The focus is then on strength training with barbells, medicine balls, ropes, etc. until the final five minutes for a “cool down” and stretching.

“The one coach will basically be overseeing the training to make sure that people are doing things properly,” Dreyer said.

The gym does not plan on having the “typical machinery” found at other facilities. While they may be planning on installing a duel weight cable stack, “in the interim we don’t have any machinery at all,” Dreyer said, “it’s going to be a pretty simple, straightforward setup.”

The business plans to primarily focus on high school athletes and parents to start.

“We kind of figured that 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. would be great for mothers after they drop the kids off at school and the house is empty,” Dreyer said, “and then 3 o’clock when the kids get out of school.”

The location is in close to several village municipal parking lots with the closest being to the east on Willis Avenue. Dreyer said they would “take advantage” of the municipal parking in the location and that he had been looking for such a location to set up shop.

“We do feel that the municipal parking is enough to handle the amount of volume that we plan on having come through,” he said. “What’s kind of beautiful is we live a mile away and have bicycles. That was one of the draws that we don’t have to drive.”

While the village does not govern the placement of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), which are covered by regulations from the various departments of health at the county at state levels, the facility would have an AED in the building for safety purposes. Dreyer stated that both he and his business partner are trained in first aid and CPR.

The board reserved its decision until a later date.