Lexington, KY - With the current economic malaise officially on the books as one of the worst in our country's modern history, for most people, Plan B has been shelved.
Remember Plan B? It was to be the new chapter in your life. After working for years in a less-than-perfect job, you would begin a new career, doing exactly what you wanted, writing your own story.
Fifty-year-old Steve Mansfield believes that Plan B still has a fighting chance - and he is not only a believer, but a larger-than-life, action-figure-type doer.
Mansfield, a serial entrepreneur focusing on Internet companies, co-founded an Internet technology company based in Mount Sterling, Ky. Within 45 days of conception, the business was sold.
While he was a highly regarded speaker and writer on technology issues who was quoted in media including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, he decided to leave technology and start Plan B.
The idea that excited him was to start a unique business that would both sustain and outrun a weakened economy. It would also build upon his love of extreme sports, including mountain climbing, scuba diving, and skydiving, among others.
The result is Legion Fitness, a unique fitness training facility, which Mansfield promises is different from any other gym, fitness studio or personal training facility in the country. This month, Mansfield will begin to franchise his concept.
"I have a background in extreme sports that demand you have to be really fit," Mansfield said. "I wanted to bring that knowledge and create a whole other way of approaching fitness."
His current facility at 839 National Avenue reflects that approach. Unlike a typical gym or fitness club, there are no weight machines, no dumb bells, no treadmills and no trendy workout shorts and tank tops. Instead, the look is Spartan, appearing more like "an old-time boxing gym," according to Mansfield. There are punching bags, pull-up bars and Russian kettle bells.
If the austerity seems intense, so is the training. People are trained in a semi-private, class environment, with class size ranging from one to six. The focus is on body-weight resistance exercises with a military-oriented affect.
Mansfield drew inspiration from the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, "300." The movie retells the blood-and-thunder Battle of Thermopylae. It depicts this final battle of King Leonidas and 300 Spartans against a massive Persian army.
He also developed his techniques as a reaction to current fitness facilities. While fitness centers have been popular for years, we are more obese than ever, Mansfield said. Fitness today is too often defined by physical appearance, rather than ability and endurance. Reading a magazine while walking on a treadmill will not make anyone fit, he said.
Legion focuses on Elite Fitness classes, but also offers basic self-defense; Commando Krav Maga, an Israeli fighting system; and MMA Grapling, a martial arts combat done on the ground. Many students become involved in fitness as well as defense.
Students include professional athletes and local military recruits of the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as law enforcement and emergency response team members. They also include individuals who want to challenge their personal best or deal more effectively with stress, Mansfield said.
"With the economy the way it is, people are more worried," he said. "Being fit can really help you manage change."
"I was looking for something more challenging than the run-of-the-mill gyms; most are geared as social meeting places," said Kerry W. Robertson, a health care therapist. "I'm serious about it."
Serious enough to drive an hour each way three times a week from her Harrodsburg Thoroughbred farm to attend sessions, Robertson, at five foot, five inches tall and 120 pounds, may not appear to be the type of individual you would associate with Commando fitness, but Legion has helped in her daily life.
"There were things I couldn't do around my farm," she said. "Like lifting a bale of hay; now that has changed."
"As a female, there is a level of self-confidence created," she said. "You really increase your self-esteem."
Noel Caldwell, prosecutor in the Fayette County Attorney's Office, saw Legion Fitness as a unique personal challenge. At age 24 in his second year of law school, he was diagnosed with cancer and a poor prognosis for recovery.
Now 29, Caldwell is cancer-free and says that each time he completes a workout, he feels like he has accomplished something.
"Today, it is a big challenge to stay healthy," Caldwell said. "It's even a bigger challenge to work full-time and maintain your health. On a daily basis, I feel great. I'm sold on this."
Business owner Arthur Rouse, of Video Editing Services and the Media Collaboratory, said he found regular exercise boring - and he rarely broke a sweat. His first night at Legion Fitness, however, was grueling.
"I couldn't do half of what Steve asked me to do," he admitted. " It was brutal, and I was very sore. I definitely broke a sweat."
There were other benefits that kept the 58-year-old Rouse coming back, taking both the fitness and Krav Maga classes.
"It really brings you more into the present, brings your mind to the surface," Rouse said.
"I found it was great for my body as well as for my mind; it's a great way to blow off some of the pressure of today's world."
For Rouse, the technique of "max reps," in physical training also applies to Mansfield's entrepreneurial endeavors.
"He approaches his entrepreneurial goal like his training," Rouse said. "He works it very hard. His technique is extreme, but he is really there for you."
Mansfield's goal is to establish hundreds of Legion Fitness centers at a national level. Individuals interested in starting one must pass a three-day boot camp, he said, as well as do enhancement training every two years.
Dates for the initial boot camp will be announced this summer, Mansfield said.