Syphus Training, a gym with four locations across metro Detroit, is expanding with a gym opening in Royal Oak next week. The specialized exercise program offers an hour-long workout using body weights.
Mike Hackett, founder and CEO of Syphus Training, first developed the exercise when he was training with former Detroit Red Wings player Kirk Maltby at Pointe Fitness and Training Center in Harper Woods.
“People took notice I was training (Maltby) and noticed we were doing some different exercises that involved agility exercises and plyometrics, and it was all done on turf,” Hackett says. “Eventually, I had a few members of the gym … looking at what we were doing in this separate room and they also wanted to do a similar workout.”
He says he began offering private classes at the gym before opening Syphus Training’s first fitness center in St. Clair Shores in 2012. Since then, he’s opened up gyms in Harrison Township, Brownstown, Shelby Township, and now Royal Oak.
Hackett says the gyms, which range in size from about 4,000 to 5,000 square feet, look like a miniature football field with lanes and end zones.
“You have one hour to complete as many exercises — which we call tasks — and then based on how many exercises you do and how difficult those exercises are, you get a score,” he says. “That score is from zero to 1,000, and it’s like a fitness credit score or a fitness IQ.”
Hackett says Syphus Training keeps track of members’ workout statistics. He says the average customer is about 35 years old and female, although he says kids as young as 13 years old to adults in their 70s are members.
The Royal Oak gym, to be located at 30371 Woodward Ave., between 12 and 13 Mile Roads, will offer 10 lanes. Memberships range from $150 for a 10-class package to $200 per month for 30 classes a month.
Hackett says he plans to begin franchising Syphus Training in 2017, and will target Grand Rapids and the Chicago area. ​
