PANAMA CITY BEACH — Workout Anytime owners Larry Lock and Chris Gately completed their franchise agreement over a Skype call from Baghdad, Iraq.
The gym was their exit strategy.
The pair met in southern Iraq in 2006 while working personal security details for the High Threat Protection Division of the U.S. government, where one year quickly turned to seven years overseas.
“It’s a division within diplomatic security that’s much like Secret Service, but in a high-threat environment,” Lock said. “We pretty much worked in close proximity (to each other) for seven years. We were both in Israel, in Jerusalem, and we worked on the west bank of Israel, and then we both ended up back in Iraq after that.”
The Panama City Beach franchise opportunity was integral in getting their boots back on U.S. soil permanently.
Lock, a former SWAT sniper for the Panama City Police Department, and Gately, who served four years as a U.S. RECON Marine, were vetted for security positions in the Middle East based on their backgrounds. The division was responsible for escorting high-ranking government officials, diplomats and ambassadors.
“Typically, it would be done by a federal agent, but due to the demand, with all the wars going on, they would vet guys with our background to fill that position,” Gately said. “We had an advance team that would show up prior to the U.S. official and we would do a survey of the site to get everything ready.”
Gately moved to Panama City Beach from Idaho with his family after returning from the Middle East in late 2011. He and Lock opened Workout Anytime on Back Beach Road just east of Lyndell Lane after Lock returned home in the summer of 2012.
“We didn’t want to stay around there too much longer because you either get sucked into being there longer or you don’t make it,” Lock said of Iraq. “What’s unique about Iraq and Afghanistan is it’s not just during the day for your work hours. You live in a hostile environment that’s constantly receiving indirect fire from rockets, mortars … so you really never could just relax.”
Now Lock and Gately are doing what they can to provide others in similar situations a chance to return home.
“We assist the franchise in locating potential franchisees, getting them onboard and teaching them how to run it successfully,” said Lock, who added that many members of the protection division have gotten involved with Workout Anytime in the last few years. “We’re trying to get more guys out of there and involved to keep them home. It wasn’t a good place when we were there, and it’s sure not any better now.”
The franchise has been expanding rapidly, growing from just 33 locations when the Panama City Beach gym opened two years ago to more than 100 today. Owners expect to have 200 Workout Anytime gyms open by the end of next year.
Since returning home, Lock and Gately also have tried to give back to the community. This November, Workout Anytime is heading up Beards and Barbells, a spin-off of the popular men’s health movement No-Shave November. The month will culminate with a Shave the Date event in cooperation with Project Style, a hair salon next door to the gym.
Through Beards and Barbells, Workout Anytime encourages members to ditch their razors this month to raise awareness of men’s health issues such as prostate and testicular cancer. The gym also will take donations to benefit the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation.
“A lot of our members are cancer survivors,” Lock said. “We’re just trying to bring awareness.”