Colaw Fitness
Photos by Emma Highfill, Rose Wheat Photography
“To make Jesus famous and to change lives”
This is not your typical mission statement for a fitness center, but for Colaw Fitness owners Charles and Amber Colaw, fitness and spirituality both play important roles when it comes to achieving one’s full potential.
Impactful Platform
Giancario Sironi, president of marketing and culture for Colaw Fitness, said the Colaws opened the fitness center because they believe that everyone has a platform to impact people, and the gym was their platform.
“Charles and Amber believe it was their calling to get people to the gym and help them change their lives, whether it was to grow physically, mentally or spiritually,” Sironi said. “This was their ministry.”
The Colaws first began providing fitness training to individuals from their home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 2004. As their client base increased, it became obvious to the Colaws they needed an actual fitness center to take care of their clients. With a leap of faith, they opened their first Colaw Fitness Center. Recently they opened two more fitness centers, one in Joplin, Missouri, and the other here in Topeka.
“We want to have the most positive
uplifting environment for our members,
all within a Christian atmosphere.”
Right Place
“We saw a great opportunity in Topeka based on population, demographics and competition that was in town,” Sironi said. “Topeka is definitely our largest location.
It has been a long journey and a lot of hard work. We have been blessed with great members that love what we do and continue to come.”
Colaw Fitness is a 24-hour gym that offers memberships as low as $5 a month that includes free tanning, massages, trainer instruction and nutrition instruction, and all members can bring a friend for free each visit.
“Our members love the $5 reward membership because it keeps them motivated and encouraged to come. They start seeing results from going to the gym more and they get excited,” Sironi said.
Colaw Fitness offers small, more personalized classes for up to five people with a trainer. They give free orientation classes to instruct members on which machines to use and the proper way to use them. They also have a CF-30 program, which is a 30-day diet and workout plan that guarantees people can lose 10 to 30 pounds of body fat in the first 30 days as long as they follow the plan.
Dollars for Charity
In addition to helping members achieve their goals, Colaw Fitness donates the first dollar of every membership to two worthy causes: Water4Life Mozambique water well program, and a bullying prevention program, Fight for the Forgotten.
“We are super excited about our partnership with both of them. We like how being a member of Colaw Fitness also helps change people’s lives outside the gym,” Sironi said.
Sironi said the goal of Colaw Fitness is to create an atmosphere that makes the gym both friendly and uplifting.
“We want to have the most positive uplifting environment for our members, all within a Christian atmosphere,” Sironi said. “Members love it because it keeps them motivated and encouraged to come.”
