goPerformance Fitness Goes for Success

Sometimes it takes time to find our passion in life. For Ryan Leffel, his passion was always fitness—even before he opened Parsippany’s in June 2011.

“For me, this is a career change," said the newly minted entrepreneur. "I was working at Yahoo! prior to this. I was doing design work for them on their ad-serving platform. Before that, I spent years working for advertising agencies doing interactive work."

Leffel did not dislike what he was doing. But ad agency work "wasn’t really what I was passionate about."

Following his passion led him to start a business.

"I was into the fitness type of thing and had the opportunity to get involved with this type of facility and figured to just take a chance and go after it. For me, it’s been really rewarding,” Leffel said.

How rewarding? Well, a few hundred members later and almost a year into its existence, Leffel's business continues to grow and to introduce new programs to its widening client base.

“It’s been challenging," he said. "When we first started down here, this was just a big cement box. This was nothing. We built this from scratch and we started with zero members.

"We’re growing pretty well and our membership’s ramping up pretty nicely.”

Leffel said giving back to the community is an important part of his business. Accordingly, goPerformance and Fitness is planning a fundraiser to help families affected by the September 11 attacks.  Over Memorial Day weekend, one of the center’s CrossFit members will take on the “100-Mile Marine,” in which participants run 100 miles—10 times around a 10-mile course encircling New York's Ground Zero—to benefit the 9-11 Memorial Fund.

The fundraiser at goPerformance takes place April 22. The event will feature indoor and outdoor workouts, as well as music, a game in which contestants try to pull a Porsche the farthest distance within 30 seconds, free refreshments, entertainment for children and more.

“It should be a good time, and it’s for a great cause,” Leffel said.

GoPerformance & Fitness is a CrossFit affiliate and runs a vast array of group and semi-private programs which promote speed, agility, balance, footwork, functional training and more.

“The group stuff is great, because it gets people together. Most people come into the group with a common goal,” Leffel said. “Working in a group brings a lot of energy to it. If you see the person next to you pushing along, it gets you moving. Plus, people start working together.”

Just six weeks ago, the center became affiliated with CrossFit kids, which offers the chance to discover physical fitness to children of all ages.

“It’s a lot of fun, and the idea is to show kids that fitness can be fun,” Leffel said.

The offerings at goPerformance & Fitness do not stop at group training. The facility is open 24 hours a day, and members are free to work out when they want, on their own. The center even posts workouts on several boards throughout the center to help members looking for new, challenging workout ideas.

Of course, even for those working on their own, help is always nearby.

“We’re happy to answer their questions, help people out and show them whatever we need to show them to get them going,” Leffel said. “It takes the thought process out of it and gets people up and moving around.”

The secret to this rising young business' upward movement: Leffel's service to his customers convinces them that goPerformance is committed to their success.

“We want people to come here, see results and be successful," he said. "Everyone who comes here has a goal, and there’s a reason why they come here and they’re not just going to any other gym.

“We’re really good at getting to know who our members are, how we can best help them, understanding what it is they want to get out of here and how we can help them be successful.”