Mi Fitness held its ribbon cutting ceremony Sept. 19 after nearly a year of renovation. Friends, family and Amherst County fitness enthusiasts gathered to celebrate the opening.
Mi Fitness, located at 3106 S Amherst Highway, defines itself as an accessible, affordable and community-driven traditional gym, according to its website. Aside from the brand-new gym equipment, Mi Fitness features multi-lane batting cages for softball and baseball practice. The gym also has men’s and women’s locker rooms and showers, as well as tanning beds.
Jonathan Scruggs, who owns the gym along with his wife, April Scruggs, and business partner Neil Crowder, said that God was constantly at work throughout the process of opening Mi Fitness.
“Everything that we’d run into — even we didn’t know where we were going to get the money or what we were going to do — always, within a day or two, something came up and made it happen,” Scruggs said.
Scruggs said he knew he wanted to open his own gym in Amherst after he and his wife had a positive community experience at CrossFit Madison Heights in 2020. Additionally, he felt Amherst lacked a traditional gym. He said the building, which was originally a skating rink he and his wife frequented while they were growing up, was perfect in both location and size for what the team was looking for.
Scruggs said he was grateful for the encouragement he and his team received along the way.
“Me, my wife and Neil were born and raised in Amherst County, so we wanted to invest and (give) back to our hometown. And we’ve received a ton of support throughout the neighborhood and community since we started,” Scruggs said.
According to Scruggs, the toughest part in opening the gym was the renovation, as they renovated themselves with the help of friends and family. He recalled a terrifying moment when a piece of metal fell and sliced Crowder’s arm while they were working on the ceiling. He said he had to make a tourniquet with his belt to stop the bleeding. Thankfully, Crowder only needed three stitches for the wound.
“I think the process that we had to go through creates the best value that we have now: all of the hard work, all of the nights and weekends and all that,” Scruggs said. “Once we start getting people in here, start building that community, being part of those people’s lives, it makes it all worth it.”
CrossFit Madison Heights will move its program over to Mi Fitness beginning in Spring 2026.
Mi Fitness is open 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday every week. Individual memberships cost $40 per month, while hour-long batting cage reservations are $15. Unlimited use of all gym equipment and amenities is included in the monthly membership.
For more information, visit www.mifitnessmyway.com.
Sturek is the off-campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.