OUR STORY & GIVING BACK
Over the past 11 years, Slash Fitness has gone from a local leader in the Delray Beach fitness scene to being a trusted industry leader throughout South Florida and beyond.
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Founders of Slash Fitness, Austin Brock and Joe Ardagna, have always had a passion for the industry. Despite the many obstacles thrown their way, they found the inner strength to pursue their vision of a state-of-the-art personalized fitness facility. After being forced to abandon their first studio then creating a temporary solution in Austin’s garage, they finally secured space for the Slash Fitness gym in 2012, and remain there today.
Slash Fitness has seen much growth since 2012, both in their membership and in their space. When Covid-19 shut down gyms across the country in 2020, Austin and Joe went back to the drawing board and had to get creative. They went on to reconfigure the entire Slash Fitness studio to be socially distanced and safe while still providing a top-notch fitness experience.
In a world moving on, but continuing to live with a pandemic, Slash Fitness debuted ‘The Turf’ in March 2021, where Slash members could finally return to the gym in a safe, outdoor atmosphere. The Turf offers 1800 sq. ft. of professional grade outdoor turf where individual personal training, small group and HIIT classes continue to be available under the South Florida sun today.
Always evolving and attune to the latest fitness trends, in Fall of 2022, Slash Fitness introduced their new signature ‘Fire & Ice’ classes. Becoming an immediate favorite among members and newcomers alike, the classes combine outdoor functional style training with a therapeutic ice plunge. Beginning with a 45-minute outdoor functional style workout underneath the South Florida sun, the sessions end with a therapeutic soak in a 300-gallon tank filled with 100lbs of ice water, which aids in exercise recovery by reducing inflammation and helping with pain relief and muscle healing including many other benefits.
In order to accommodate all ages, Slash recently teamed up with Premier Youth training to provide a fun and safe experience for kids to learn the basics of exercise while teaching them the importance of teamwork, effort, responsibility, and respect. The goal is to inspire and motivate young athletes of all ages and skill levels to be their best.
Slash Fitness recently won “Best Gym in Palm Beach County 2023” by the STAY FIT 305 community of South Florida workout enthusiasts for the third year in a row, following wins in 2021 and 2022.
“We are a group training facility that takes people through endurance training, personal training and group training for men and women of all ages,” said Ardagna. This next step entails taking clients on another journey, one that benefits those in the community who need help, and If you’ve been to Slash Fitness you know their workout experience is one part perspiration, one part motivation and one part invigoration, and the results have been outstanding!
SLASH FITNESS deciding to give back is their way of saying Thank You. It goes like this: Each month Slash picks a local charity that helps the community and donates money to that charity. Slash donates one dollar for each person who checks into Facebook when they enter. “When someone comes to here and signs in on Facebook, we donate a dollar to a local charity. We do this each month and donate up to $1000 per month for that particular cause,” said Austin. One cause was the Coastal Conservation Association, they work to conserve, promote and enhance coastal resources for the benefit of the general public. Another charity benefiting from Slash’s give back program is the Women’s Foundation of Palm Beach County. The women’s organization is made up of local leaders committed to investing in women and girls to encourage leadership and affect their economic, political, and social status in a positive way. For that month, anyone who goes to Slash and posts it on Facebook will result in a dollar donation to this charitable organization. “We like to keep the charities local because we want to give back to the community that has helped us grow so much,” said Ardagna. So far some of the recipients of their generosity have been the Tri-County Humane Society, Help Our Heroes, Delray Students First, and Runwell (a Slash Fitness sponsored Run helping those that are in recovery raise money to run the New York City Marathon). They get to train at Slash, and the owners and trainers of Slash help raise funds as well. “We help churches, schools and organizations.
We also volunteer for causes and local events, we let people warm-up at Slash before special events for free,” said Brock. The owners of Slash Fitness (and the trainers) helped organize a Beach Clean-Up event, and also sponsored a beach style workout, paddle boarding and full body workout at the beach. They also raised $19,000 for the organization called Help Our Military Heroes. The funds were raised to buy Handicap Accessible Vans for military vets. They had a car wash, donated an entire days proceeds to the organization (during the month) and did other in-house marketing events to raise money for that cause. Slash Fitness is also having a 21-Day Challenge for new members. The contest is to see who can make the biggest personal change in themselves in one month. “We have all been in fitness since college and are expanding our brand. Our plan is to change the fitness industry and are looking into new areas,” said Ardagna. They’re also offering corporate discounts and extending discounts to military personnel, police officers, fireman, teachers, students, and those who ae in recovery.
Each year the entire staff and membership base pairs with HomeSafe, a non profit dedicated to helping victims of domestic abuse have a safe and happy holiday season. We’ve teamed up with Homesafe each year for the past six years. Last year Slash Fitness provide Christmas for 60+ families in the palm beach area.
