Converted West End space becomes new model for fitness: Foundation Fitness

Speak with Patrick Hitches for one minute and you’ll understand that you are talking to a man with vision. Hitches, a Cincinnati native currently splitting time between Cincinnati and Washington, D.C., is a consummate entrepreneur and owner of the newly opened Foundation Fitness located in a converted West End warehouse space.
 
In addition to being an entrepreneur, Hitches has long been a fitness enthusiast (to put it lightly).
 
“Fitness has been in my veins since about 6th grade,” says Hitches. “It’s one thing that’s always stuck with me, it’s been my safe haven.”
 
After earning a degree in nutrition science, Hitches became a personal trainer for many years, working in several locations such as Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C. As time went on, though, he began to hear more and more good things about his hometown.
 
“I’ve got a great setup in D.C., but hearing about the shift going on in Cincinnati really inspired me to go back to my roots and be a part of what’s happening here,” Hitches says.
 
About a year ago, he began exploring the option of finding a space for a gym in Cincinnati.
 
“Within 10 minutes of looking online, I found a warehouse space that caught my attention,” Hitches says. “That week, I flew out to take a look at it, and six months later Foundation Fitness had its soft opening.”
 
Foundation Fitness is not your average gym, nor is it trying to be. Hitches feels strongly that most chain gyms are set up on a sales model that benefits more from members not coming to the gym and has only a bottom line in mind, rather than members' actual health goals.
 
“What gyms really should be is a place where you’re able to execute your fitness training, have access to knowledge that can get you to the point you want to be at, find that perfect blend where body, spirit and mind all collide and create the best possible version of you,” Hitches says.
 
To that end, Hitches has set up his gym on an invitation/recommendation basis only, preferring to bootstrap his business, grow slowly and bring in only people who are serious about their fitness goals.
 
“My opinion is that the industry shift should be towards small pockets of little communities, training together,” Hitches says. “That’s what we’re building at Foundation Fitness. 

By Mike Sarason