TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — Right near downtown Tarpon Springs on Lemon Street, you'll find the Tarpon Barbell Company.
It's a women, veteran and LGBT-owned gym that started just before the pandemic.
Melina Scally and Angela Scroggins saw a need in the community that they felt they had to fill.
The workouts are led by a trainer and focus on high-intensity interval training.
Tarpon Barbell opened a week before gyms were shut down in 2020 but have since found their success.
"We want people to feel like this is home, we want them to look forward to getting here, we want them to be excited about seeing the times on the board and seeing where they're, they're really growing and getting stronger. And then we also want to see that hunger for better times. And, and I think that we've, to this point, have done a pretty good job of that," explains owner Melina Scally.
In their words, they say the gym is like family.
"So when you come into the gym, it's kind of like the Cheers, you know, everyone knows their name. You know, and if you're new to the gym, they introduce themselves to you right away, they help you grab your equipment," Owner Angela Scroggins says."They definitely tried to guide you in where to go, a lot of our members hang out together on the weekends, the evenings. So we definitely have a very nice family-based gym, I would say."
