Here’s What’s Happening in Davidson County: A new gym with uncommon features, such as red light therapy, has opened, and repairs are needed on Interstate 85.

Red light, meal prep, and muscle

Anyone who thinks a gym is a gym is a gym hasn’t been to a Workout Anytime, according to Matt Pogue and Katie Flowers, a Kernersville couple who have opened their second franchise of the gym in Thomasville.

Sure, it has cardio machines such as treadmills, rowing machines and recumbent bicycles, as well Selectorized equipment, free weights and a personal trainer. But the new gym that opened at 1404 National Highway on Sept. 12 also has a red-light therapy bed in a recovery suite along with massage chairs, a stand-up tanning booth and a traditional tanning bed. Red-light therapy can help build skin’s collagen for a more youthful look and help dissipate a scar’s appearance, treat muscle pain and inflammation.

Additionally, the gym has partnered with Long Life Meal Prep in Greensboro to provide healthy, ready-made meals such as a low-carb turkey taco bowl and wraps, and honey mustard chicken bowls. All meals are sold for under $10. Anytime Fitness also has partnered with Thomasville’s Get Up & Glo Spa; spa owner Athena Brummett and her staff will offer IV drops at the gym, and the gym is offering the spa’s GLP1 customers a discount on personal training to retain muscle.

“Our goal is to make the biggest impact in the area with people’s health,” Pogue said. “When people think wellness, fitness and change, I want them to think about this place.”

Flowers, who is the on-site manager and Pogue’s wife, knows what it’s like to start a journey to better fitness. She’ll share that when she met Matt and he was managing a Workout Anytime gym in Guilford County, she would stop by Maxie B’s Bakery, which was beside the gym, buy a piece of cake and sit and talk with him. As their relationship grew, she began to want to start a journey to better health.

“I did not look like this when we started dating,” said the petite blonde. “I’ve lost 80 pounds. I can relate to the person who is coming here the first time and doesn’t know anything about the machines or how to start. The staff and I want people like that to walk in the door. We want to help.”

This is the second Anytime Fitness the couple has opened. They opened their first in Mocksville two years ago. Pogue still works outside the gym as a financial analyst, but they hope to open more gyms and make this his full-time job as well.

Pogue became familiar with Anytime Fitness when he was a college student in Guilford County. He worked at and worked his way up to managing an Anytime Fitness. He always wanted to open his own franchise.

“I really liked the high value with the low cost that Anytime Fitness provides,” he said. “I like the principles that the company has to always do right by members. … Katie really made this possible,” he said. “She does all the managerial and operations of this.”

Memberships are $17.50 bi-weekly with a contract or $19.50 bi-weekly with no contract. Memberships include access to all amenities, from the recovery room to the locker rooms.

Most of the exercise equipment has QR codes that a gym member can scan to find a video on how to use them. Members can also pay for sessions with the gym’s personal trainer, Janae Dillman. In the first month since opening, 800 memberships have already been purchased. Pogue said he attributes that to marketing and the great location. 

“This roadway is very busy that goes by the gym,” he said. “It’s perfectly situated between several communities. The other gyms in Thomasville are located on the other side of town, too. This is convenient for many of the people who live on this side of town.”

Anytime Fitness will hold its grand opening celebration Monday, Nov. 3, from 4-8 p.m. It will include food trucks, vendors, a DJ, a boot camp class, giveaways and more.

Repairs needed on interstate

A section of the shoulder on Interstate 85 in Davidson County will be closed for 12 hours in November so crews can perform repairs.

Repairs are needed for a broken concrete slab at the entrance to the exit ramp at mile marker 102. The right shoulder will remain closed until the concrete cures the following day, according to information from the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The section of I-85 near Lake Road that needs repair is near Lake Road in Thomasville. Crews will work from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 6.