After nearly 40 years, beloved gym, fitness-research center in Fircrest to close
A gym and fitness-research facility in Fircrest is closing this week after nearly 40 years in business.
The Exercise Science Center, 1101 Regents Blvd., will close its doors permanently Thursday, and owner Blake Surina finally will get to take some time off.
“I’ve probably worked 12- to 15-hour shifts my whole life and never had days off or had a vacation. So this is my first,” Surina said.
Along with providing gym memberships, the Exercise Science Center offers fitness-testing services — local police and fire departments routinely partner with the gym to assess candidates.
Surina, a Tacoma native, said he first found his love for exercise science following a difficult period in his early teens.
His parents abandoned him while he was in junior high school, and he ended up homeless before moving in with his grandparents.
While his home life was chaotic, Surina said, he found solace in the straightforward nature of his preferred sport, track and field.
“I thought well, gosh, this is one of the few things in life I’ve ever seen that’s fair. The fastest guy wins,” Surina said.
Eventually, a friend asked Surina to help him lose weight. He developed an after-school fitness routine for the friend, who ended up losing 180 pounds.
That led Surina to study exercise physiology in college and get a job at a physical therapy center in Fircrest.
After a year, he decided to open his own gym, the Exercise Science Center, in 1987.
Surina’s mission was to apply individualized, science-backed techniques to help people reach their fitness goals.
“If you do the work, it’ll pay off for you,” Surina said.
Many of the early gym members stayed for decades, especially since Surina tried to keep memberships affordable.
Even if members couldn’t come up with the money, Surina would come up with a compromise.
“This young man, he doesn’t have a lot of money …. He pays me with a pair of shoes so he can work out here,” Surina said.
Gym member Janne Hutchins said she’s witnessed Surina’s kindness toward his members, calling him a “terrific person.”
Plus, the generosity goes both ways.
When the gym was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchins said members would slip money under the door to make sure Surina could pay his bills.
“He’s embraced the community, and they’ve kind of embraced him back,” Hutchins said.
Surina served on the Fircrest City Council for four years, spearheading a successful project to build a new rec center.
While the Exercise Science Center is closing, Surina plans to stay active, continuing to help out with local fitness tests and employee pre-screens.
When reflecting on 39 years in business, it’s clear that helping others was always the priority.
“Everybody’s got a story,” Surina said. “When I’m going through my database, looking at 30,000 people, I go, ‘Wow, there’s that kid that we helped get into the Air Force Academy,’ and, ‘Oh, here’s that kid that became a preseason All-American in football as a freshman in college.’”
Gym members past and present recently came together for a party at the gym, one last hurrah before it closes. They didn’t let Surina leave empty-handed — he said he received $4,500 in gas money for his upcoming road trip.
“I’ve been with these people for 40 years,” Surina said. “[I] didn’t have a family growing up, but I got one here.”
