Surf City Fitness offers a way for Topsail residents and visitors to work out close to home.
When Surf City Fitness opened in February 2020, the gym plugged a fitness gap in the Topsail community. Fitness enthusiasts used to have to drive 20 minutes to reach a full-service facility, but there now is a 24-hour, 5,000-square-foot gym within a five-minute drive for many area residents.
Surf City Fitness is well equipped with rows of stationary bicycles, treadmills, elliptical machines and racks of free weights. A 750-square-foot room offers a place for group classes like yoga and Pilates.
Manager Brooke LeBeouf, who started going to gyms in middle school with her professional body-builder mother, says the owners and staff are pleased at the way the community has responded since they opened and also at the family atmosphere of the gym.
“We have members from ages 13 to 95,” she says. “I wanted this gym to be something people would love, and I think we hit the mark.”
She notes that only 10 percent of members are serious weightlifters, with the others looking for a place they can work out yet feel like they fit in and are comfortable.
Those looking for a cardio workout can enjoy a run, row or bike on indoor equipment. Weightlifters have their choice among barbells, free weights and weight machines to tone their bodies. Group classes supply togetherness and a push for those needing a little extra incentive.
Although LeBeouf says most of the gym’s equipment was selected because it is user friendly, personal trainers are available for those wanting instruction or workout assistance. Group classes include kickboxing, boot camp, barre, TRX and others.
Owned by local entrepreneurs Brian Blackman and Edward Smith, the gym employs a staff of 18 full and part-time workers, including trainers and group-class instructors.
The gym offers childcare, and LeBeouf says she knows it is important that parents feel their young children are safe there.
“That’s why we offer the 24-hour childcare option and a closed-circuit monitor, so parents watch the children’s room from throughout the facility,” she says.
The childcare room is staffed Monday through Thursday from 8:30 to 11:30 am and 5:30 to 7:30 pm, Friday from 8:30 to 11:30 am and Saturday from 8 to 11 am.
LeBeouf says peak hours are from 4:30 to 7 am and 5 to 7 pm. Although members have access to the gym 24 hours a day, she estimates that only about 15 people per night use it from midnight to 4:30 am.
Want to go?
Surf City Fitness
2770 N.C. Highway 210, Suite 104, Walmart Plaza, Surf City
(910) 803-0223
surfcity.fitness
Monthly rates: $34 a month. Police, fire, nurses, teachers and other first responders receive a $5 per month discount.
Open 24 hours for members. The gym is staffed between 7:30 am and 7:30 pm Monday to Thursday, 7:30 am to 3:30 pm on Friday and 9 am to 1 pm on Saturday.
