Military-style gym to open in Mineola

The Island Now
Brian Gomez (left) and Michael Mark discuss the Military Style Training Academy of New York's planned gym at 80 Herricks Road. (Photo by Ted Ryan)

By Ted Ryan

A gym specializing in military boot camp-style training classes is set to open in Mineola following approval from the village board on Wednesday.

The gym at 80 Herricks Road will be the second location for the Military Style Training Academy of New York, which has had a gym in Hempstead for a year and a half.

The planned location is a vacant facility that was formerly a dollar store and a pool hall, Michael Mark, an architect for the gym, told the Mineola village board.

Also representing the gym was Brian Gomez, an active duty U.S. Marine and recruiter from Garden City.

Changing the vacant space to a military-style gym would benefit both the Military Style Training Academy of New York and the Village of Mineola, Mark said.

“I think it’s a great endeavor for the village, it’s a nice fit for the community. And certainly with the influx of new residents and development that’s happening here, something like this will fit in beautifully,” he said.

The gym will have a large, open carpeted space with tire runs and military-style obstacles, Mark said. Active and veteran military service members will teach the classes.

Classes will be small, and hours of operation will be outside of the hours of the adjacent daycare facility.

Gomez said he thinks Mineola is the perfect place to open a new gym and that the community will be receptive to the unconventional fitness training.

“We’re already close, we have a good base out of Hempstead, so we were looking for an area where we can attract different clients,” Gomez said. “You’ve also got the train station here, which has people coming in from the city. You have Nassau County … there’s a lot of good things happening within the area.”

 

Music plays during classes, but instructors need to give commands to members of their classes, so the volume won’t be loud and there shouldn’t be any noise disruptions outside the building, Gomez said.

“This is a kind of training that says we’re trying to bring a mindset to train, not necessarily from the fitness aspect, but from the mental aspect.”

Where one would usually see weights and treadmills, there will be obstacle courses and logs.

“Everything is focused on body weight and high intensity training, not necessarily weights,” said Gomez. “The weights we use will be logs and tires, nothing that you would see at a gym; it’s different and unique.”

The Mineola village board unanimously approved a permit for the gym Wednesday night.

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