A Tarentum man couldn’t let the gym he loves go away, so he bought it.
Men and women, young and old; those who lift weights or just walk the indoor track have been coming back since Billy Cheesman fixed up the gym in the upper level of the Pittsburgh Ice Arena on Craigdell Road in New Kensington and opened it as his Elite Fitness Center.
“We didn’t want to lose the gym,” he said. “The people didn’t want to go anywhere else. It was worth saving.”
A welder by trade, Cheesman, 64, has two passions, motorcycles and health and fitness. A former competitive bodybuilder, he also builds custom motorcycles under his other business, Royal Street Customs.
The gym has been part of the ice arena since its opening, first as USA Fitness owned by Dr. Lawrence York, who has his chiropractic office there. It had been Factory Sports Training for a few years before going out of business in late 2020 under the weight of the covid pandemic.
Cheesman has an agreement to buy the gym’s equipment from York, Both are tenants of the arena.
“He is very diligent on making things run properly,” York said. “He keeps it immaculate. It’s very clean. The prices are extremely affordable, and everything that’s happening there is going in a positive direction.”
A Tarentum native, Cheesman had been a member of the gym and did maintenance work for the previous owners, and had managed three gyms that were part of a chain when he lived in Sarasota, Fla. in the early 1990s.
Larry Shaffer, 67, of Allegheny Township was among five of Cheesman’s friends — the others being his girlfriend, Diana Kadunce, Gary Myers, Randy Calcagno and Danny Lynch — who helped Cheesman get the gym in shape. That included painting the entire place, cleaning and reupholstering cushions, and putting new foam in the benches and machines.
Cheesman had been coming to the gym since 2002. Shaffer met him there after joining in 2004, and started seeing him more after retiring from ATI in December 2019.
A competitive weightlifter, Shaffer has won state and national bench-press titles.
“Whenever the rumor started surfacing that the gym was going to close, and then it actually did, Bill was the one that stepped forward, negotiating all the financial and whatever arrangements he made to keep the place open,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer said Cheesman never liked how the last owners ran the gym, which he said was getting rundown and losing members.
“We knew if we could get the place cleaned up, we’d get people back,” he said.
Out-of-order signs had been common. But now, “There’s nothing in here that’s not working,” said gym member John Falcione, 63, of New Kensington.
The gym has free weights, weight machines, treadmills and stationary bikes. Eleven laps of the track comes to one mile.
Cheesman took the pandemic into account in the layout of the gym, which is cleaned twice daily.
“We’re taking every precaution to keep things disinfected and sanitized,” he said. “People feel pretty comfortable.”
Falcione, who lives a couple miles away, said he came back as soon as the gym reopened.
“They have everything I need. There’s nothing they don’t have,” he said. “I’m glad he reopened. I hope he starts getting more people in here. He deserves it.”
At 83, Nick Cunich of Lower Burrell may be the gym’s oldest member. He comes to walk the indoor track and work on his core and legs, and doesn’t want to go anywhere else.
“This is the nicest I’ve seen it,” he said. “I like it a lot. Bill’s done an excellent job. He’s a really nice guy to boot.”
Cheesman wants Elite Fitness to have a friendly, family atmosphere, and be a gym where all feel welcome. Membership is nearing 200, and Cheesman said he’d like to get it to 500.
“I’m not looking to be the biggest in the area,” he said. “I would like it to be one of the most comfortable gyms anyone can come to.”
Cheesman said he’s looking to offer spin and aerobics classes. He plans to hire help at some point, but so far is running the place himself.
“This is fulltime. I’m working 16 hour days,” he said. “I can’t keep this pace up. I’ll figure that out as we go.”
Shaffer said he and Cheesman get along so well because they are both meticulous and want to do things right, which includes keeping the gym neat, orderly and clean.
“I’ll do anything for the man because he saved the gym,” Shaffer said.
