Today’s featured business is part of our #StartSmall series, encouraging members of our region to start their holiday shopping with local small business first. Through the month of December, we’ll get to know the faces of small business through conversation with local business owners.
Today we meet Ross and Lauren of Eat The Frog Fitness. As two individuals who love fitness and Manhattan, we asked them to share about how they came to the Little Apple and we were not disappointed!
What’s your business backstory?
Eat the Frog Fitness owners, Ross and Lauren, posing in front of them gym wall. Learn more about the company as well as where to schedule your own workout here.
My wife, Lauren, and I met here in Manhattan in 2015 when we were both working for the Kansas State football team. I was coaching and Lauren was an Operation Assistant. My wife grew up in Manhattan, went to K-State, and this is home for her. In my two years coaching for Kansas State, I quickly came to understand how amazing this community is. I then took a couple different coaching opportunities and we moved around making pitstops in Alabama and Virginia. In 2018 I decided to leave coaching college football and I took a job in Atlanta, GA. It was in Atlanta where we found Eat The Frog Fitness. Lauren was working for the Eat The Frog Fitness in Cumming, GA as their head coach and we quickly fell in love with the brand, product, and environment that Eat The Frog produced.
From the time we left Manhattan there was one major aspect missing from our lives, and that was engagement in the community. Because of this, we always knew we wanted to end up back in Manhattan. Then our son, Jaxson, came along and we absolutely knew we wanted to raise him here. At the same time, we were also feeling called to lead people and become rooted in a community again.
Fitness is something my wife and I have always been passionate about, and we felt strongly that the differentiation Eat The Frog Fitness brings to the fitness market was able to fill a void in Manhattan. Our goal in bringing Eat The Frog Fitness to Manhattan is to give back to the community we love through the platform of fitness and we are SO excited to share it with you!
What makes your business unique?
There are many differentiations that set Eat The Frog Fitness apart.
1. Our personalization – We’re personalized small group training that’s heart rate based functional fitness. It’s a small group setting, but our technology allows our live coach to walk the room and motivate the small group as a whole, but then also come off the mic & give individual coaching to the members 1-on-1. So, we get to mesh the best of personal training with the community & environment of the small group! With being heart rate based, we also do Fit Assessments for each member and find their individual max heart rate so we can be assured they’re working as effectively and efficiently as possible!
2. Our technology – We have two huge IMAX screens that are our co-coaches and help lead the workout. Our members book ahead of time on our App for what session they want to attend and also receive a summary of all their data from each workout! In addition, we have a rewards program that members can trade in “Frog Points” they earn during workouts for discounts with local businesses!
3. Low Impact – All of our equipment and workouts are designed to be low impact! We specifically design our programming to be easy on the joints so our members can push themselves, but protect themselves. We’re also VIP training (Variable Intensity Performance) which is different than HIIT training. Our programming varies heart rate intensity throughout the sessions to help with longevity and ensure effectiveness.
4. 24/7 Access – We’re the first small group training studio in the world that’s 24/7 access! We have a block of live coach lead sessions in the mornings and evening, but then every hour on the hour that’s not live coach led our IMAX screens sync with the lights and music in the studio and a virtual in-studio session begins! Pretty cool.
5. Our Community! – This is the biggest difference for us! Our members are more than just a number. We strive to build relationships, community, and a welcoming environment. We’re here to help encourage a healthy lifestyle, not just be a place to go workout and we’ll have member engagement events to help build rapport outside the studio.
What experience do you want people to have in your shop? How do you want people to feel interacting with you and your services?
We want our members to feel loved! We want people to be drawn to the positive energy that will be flowing through our studio and have the hour that they spend with us at Eat The Frog Fitness to be the highlight of their day. Working out can do so much good, not only physically, but mentally as well and we’re so excited to provide that space for people to achieve their health and wellness goals!
We love to see former Little Apple residents return and raise their families here in the Flint Hills while pursuing their dreams.
