Sturgeon Bay gets a new fitness center in a space vacant 22 years. Here's what to know.

STURGEON BAY - A new Door County fitness center not only offers a unique way for people to get into shape but also fills a business space that's been vacant since it was built more than 20 years ago.

FIRE Fitness Camp held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday, one day after welcoming its first clients for workouts in its newly built center on the outskirts of Sturgeon Bay. Here are a couple things to know about the center, its owners and its location.

What is FIRE Fitness?

The FIRE in the name stands for "Functional. Intensive. Resistance. Exercise." The program combines everyday functional movements with weightlifting and intense cardio training for full-body workouts for its members. The business was founded in 2014 by Hans Hartleben with a center in Plover and has expanded across Wisconsin and elsewhere through franchising.

The Sturgeon Bay location is FIRE Fitness' 23rd, owned and operated by Adam and Kristi Dorner. Both are FIRE certified coaches, and both worked as personal trainers before taking on other jobs – Adam operates Dorner's Cleaning Service out of Casco and Kristi is a nurse. They became members at the FIRE camp in New Franken about two years ago. Their experience there got them enthused about opening a center in Door County.

FIRE centers operate as fitness camps. It's not an open gym, and a coach always will be on hand to work with members and guide them through their workouts.

Members come in for a half-hour group workout of intense resistance training with short rest periods that FIRE websites say help boost metabolism. As many as 25 people can take part in a camp session.

The Dorners don't have familiar fitness center equipment such as weight machines, treadmills, stair climbers or cross trainers – though it does have rowing machines. Instead, the resistance comes from working with free weights, ropes, punching bags, one's own body weight and other elements. The Sturgeon Bay location also has weighted kegs to hoist and monster truck-size tires to flip.

Kristi Dorner said workouts are designed with a particular focus: one session may focus on arms and upper body, another on cardio, another on core, and so on. The end result is a total body regimen.

Where is FIRE Fitness?

That's a story in itself. The center is in Clearwater Plaza, the L-shaped mall and business center at 1449 Green Bay Road (State 42/57).

The plaza has held a variety of tenants over its 22 years – West Marine, Capital Credit Union and El Sazon Mexican Restaurant are among the current occupants – but FIRE Fitness is the very first one to take over the large central space under the clock in the crook of the "L." There were no floors, just dirt, when the Dorners started building the fitness center.

Incidentally, the Dorners are opening another business in the plaza, Dorner's Spin Cycle laundromat, in the space between their fitness center and West Marine that formerly housed offices. They hope to open that next week.

"We're glad we could finally build it up," Adam said.

An 'intensive' fitness camp sounds too hard. Is it?

The words "intensive" and "resistance" in the name may scare off some people who don't currently work out, or don't do it much, but Adam and Kristi say those people have nothing to fear.

It is intensive, but the coaches can modify the workouts based on the needs of the members. A coach will meet with clients to learn about their wants and needs, then adjust the plan if the workout proves too taxing.

"Absolutely not," Adam said when asked if people should be wary. "There's always a coach here. We can modify (the workout) if you're uncomfortable with it. … One of the first questions we ask is if you have any injuries, so we can plan ahead and modify the workout for them."

"We had a lot of first-timers here yesterday," Kristi said. "They kinda slowly got into it, and they finished the entire 30-minute workout. It's very customizable."

Krisiti said memberships are similarly customizable, from those who want to come in once a week to unlimited visits, for one month to two years. The larger memberships allow members to join workouts at other FIRE Fitness locations, she said, which could be important to a place with as many part-time residents as Door County.

"There's a lot of different options, based on your goals, your budget, frequency," she said.

Motivation is an important part

FIRE Fitness also strives to keep its members involved and motivated about their workouts, Adam said, instead of running into the stereotypical situation of the new gym member who starts out like a ball of fire but eventually sees their enthusiasm fade away and their workouts stop.

The coaches are there not just to plan workout regimens but also to encourage members, to help them maintain their motivation. Plus, he said, working out in a group can provide encouragement.

"An ordinary fitness center, you've got to rely on yourself to stay motivated," Adam said. "Here, you're working with a coach, you're around other members to help motivate you. You get that one-on-one personal training feeling without that cost."

FYI

Camps take place at 5:45 and 6:30 a.m., noon, and 4:30 and 5:15 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 7 a.m. Saturdays, with a 5 a.m. weekday camp likely to be added soon.

To learn more about FIRE Fitness, call 920-420-6477 or 920-419-6318, visit firefitnesscamp.com or email [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door County gets a new fitness center in a space vacant for 22 years