PHOTO BY KIANA LICLICAN
Outdoor Fitness and Boutique Studios: The Evolution of In Motion Fitness
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Carl’s strong work ethic and determination to succeed began long before In Motion Fitness though. He grew up in a farming community, his dad a dairy farmer and his mother a stay-at-home mom. They lived in the downstairs level of a two-story house and rented out the upstairs portion. He shared a small bedroom with his two rowdy brothers. Carl’s entrepreneurship began early with a newspaper route, along with a lawn-mowing service in the summer, and snow shoveling in the winter. He graduated at the age of 19 from a junior college in Cobleskill, New York with a degree in business management and says he just wanted to put his love of athletics together with his business degree in some way. He moved to California and attended California State University Long Beach on a wrestling scholarship and then transferred to Chico State where he earned an additional degree in exercise physiology and a minor in nutrition. Once in California, he asked for
his parents’ help one time to which they responded, “We’ll send you $200 to help with rent. If you call us again we’ll send you a bus ticket home.” Determined to succeed in Chico, Carl proceeded to work many part time jobs in order to pay his own way through college. He may have been your waiter at Freduccine’s, LaSalles, or even Swensons. Marie smiles and says, “I love to tell his story to all the new hires so they understand they can do anything.” She first met Carl at Danz Aerobics in the early 80s when they both went through a training program with Tamilee Webb of Buns of Steel fame. Marie taught aerobics “through the big hair, headband, and leg warmer phase.” When Carl opened his first gym, The Body Shop, Marie was already very involved in another gym where she went from teaching aerobics to having a successful weight-management program, to eventually managing, and finally
WRITTEN BY SHELLY BRANDON
We’ve all heard of the benefits of journaling, of writing down our intentions, visualizing what we want to happen, and manifesting what we want in life. For Carl Sommer, the 19-year-old son of a dairy farmer in upstate New York, these written thoughts included a journal entry that said, “I’m going to open my own health club.” That note was the beginning of a journey that eventually led him to Chico where he opened In Motion Fitness in 1992 on little more than a shoestring budget. Luckily, what he lacked in resources he made up for in resourcefulness, determination, and a ceaseless work ethic. He also surrounded himself with plenty of talent, including his general managers Marie Phillips and Chris Conway. The business grew from its early years as a small gym of roughly half an acre to the expansive 6-acre premiere health club of today, and it continues to remain at the forefront of health, fitness, and design in Northern California.