Photo by Howard Owens
If you’ve ever wanted a little workout space to call your own where you can exercise in peace without worrying about anyone else watching, interrupting, or—please, no—offering unsolicited advice, then personal trainer and entrepreneur Macy Paradise has the Flex Space for you.
Paradise, who formerly operated The Brick, a community-based fitness center on Harvester Avenue, for the past four years, has moved into a 2,000-square-foot revamped site at 8 Batavia City Centre.
True to its name, Flex Space offers the flexibility for anyone to work out at any time — 24 hours a day — without the hassle of a membership or fellow members competing for equipment or privacy, he says.
“So the training space is a 24/7 exclusive gym. You would sign up for a time slot by the half-hour on my website and pay. It’s cashless, and it’s yours for however long you book it. The customer will receive a code to access the gym during that time for exclusive use,” Paradise said to The Batavian while preparing for his grand opening. “The goal was to give people a private space, to help the person who wants to come in and train on their own (or book with a friend at a discount).”
An adjacent but separate event room can accommodate up to 100 people for birthday parties and special events or exercise classes and seminars. He has 12 tables, more than 100 chairs, a prep table, a projector, a full-size refrigerator and security of an easy entrance/exit and nearby parking lot, he said.
He created a gym and event space out of what used to be there, he said, which required redoing all of the floors and part of the ceilings, stringing Edison lights, installing central air, and “recreating the space that was left” by the former tenant by opening the space up to get all of the exercise equipment in there.
The lobby has an old-school vibe, with vintage furniture, plus some plants and ivy growing off the walls to give it “an earthy vibe,” he said.
What does Paradise know about fitness? Well, there’s his own journey — once weighing in at 300 pounds, he finally decided to get right with his own well-being, and lost more than 100 pounds, and got into the physical, mental and nutritional aspects of fitness.
The 39-year-old is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine and offers nutritional counseling and meal planning. He said he still has some openings for personal training, given his busy schedule that starts in the morning at his longtime haunt, Elba's Backyard Barbell and ends in Batavia.
His new gym has a range of equipment, from cable machines, free weights, a Smith machine, squat rack, dumbbells, and leg press to a Stairmaster, recumbent bike, treadmill, elliptical, box jumps, medicine balls and resistance training items such as a sled.
Everyone has their own niche in terms of personal training, and his leans toward working with women ages 30 and up to his oldest client of 78, currently. He’s looking for trainers and instructors that may be interested in renting space for their clients or classes on a weekly or weekend basis.
After all, that’s what the name is all about — it’s a Flex Space open to accommodate one’s needs for fitness and recreational pursuits.
Paradise invites everyone to come check it out during his opening, which includes a ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. July 19, and then from 5 to 7 p.m. there’s “a big party” with a small group fitness class, a tour of the gym and event space, and food and refreshments from Everybody Eats.
If you park in the lot near the former Sunny’s restaurant, use the purple door next to Batavia Family Dental. For more information, go to macyparadisefit.com, and once he has his opening, bookings can be made at www.flxspce.com.
