Expand<\/a><\/p>\nJared Menne, a former professional wrestler and power lifter from Ashland, is a lifelong fitness enthusiast. He\u2019s been working out in gyms since he was 12, when he developed aspirations of becoming a pro wrestler.<\/p>\n
Menne recently retired from a 25-year career as a federal correctional officer and immediately set out to realize his dream of owning a gym.<\/p>\n
Menne, who competed as an independent pro wrestler for about 20 years, got a chance to work with future star wrestlers such as Gene Snitsky, Dave Bautista and Big Vito LoGrasso.<\/p>\n
As a student at the former Cardinal Brennan School, Menne\u2019s first love was the gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt taught me discipline, got me ready for sports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At some point in his young life, he knew he wanted one day to operate his own gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said the gym was my wife, wrestling was my girlfriend,\u201d Menne said. \u201cI could do without wrestling, but I could never do without the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and Touchinsky had talked about the venture earlier this year, and Touchinsky graciously agreed to cede ownership of The Cage to the Mennes.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe gave us free rein to get equipment we wanted, and do whatever we needed to do in here,\u201d said Menne, who has frequented the gym since its early days.<\/p>\n
The Mennes officially took over on Oct. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe former owner laid a very good groundwork for us here,\u201d Menne said, \u201cso we\u2019re trying to build off that. \u2026 She was ready to pass it on to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Menne said The Cage is a welcoming community with a diverse clientele.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have bodybuilders here, we have powerlifters, we have strongmen, weightlifters, and we have normal people who want to get healthier,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the main thing \u2014 we\u2019re trying to get the community more healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since taking over, the Mennes have added several pieces of weight training and cardio equipment, and started renovating the floors.<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s no shortage of quality local gyms, The Cage\u2019s calling card is its ability to offer an accessible \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for everyone\u2019s fitness goals, Menne said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have everything,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re open 20 hours a day. This is probably the biggest gym in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cage is very friendly to both veteran gym rats and newbies, Menne said, with a variety of support staff and trainers on hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing here, we have somebody that can help you,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we have a lot of resources here for new people who have never been to the gym, and we have all the equipment here that you need to get whatever your goals are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very friendly atmosphere,\u201d Cassandra Menne added.<\/p>\n
In contrast to her husband\u2019s physical fitness experience, Cassandra has a holistic medicine background. Trained in holistic healing, she specializes in treatment for women.<\/p>\n
Cassandra also works as an anesthesia technician at a local hospital.<\/p>\n
The Cage currently has two monthly membership rates: Gold ($40), for the general public; and Bronze ($30) for current and former military members, first responders and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Renee Covell, a IFBB Pro bodybuilder from Lake Wynonah, said she likes The Cage\u2019s welcoming atmosphere and family-like culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so different from other gyms,\u201d she said Monday, while training for an upcoming show.<\/p>\n
The Mennes lease the property from the local Miller family.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact The Cage Strength & Conditioning at (570) 933-0815 or visit its website, thecagestrengthandconditioning.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCHUYLKILL HAVEN \u2014 After recently changing hands, The Cage Strength and Conditioning LLC continues to thrive as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,99,538,137,2289,44,12274,155077,155078,12943],"class_list":{"0":"post-265081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-schuylkill-county","17":"tag-schuylkill-haven","18":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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