Staten Island gym owner Rob LaRocca talks about his ever-evolving brand and what it means to be truly healthy

Editors Note: The author of this article is a Curtis High School student who participates in the Advance/SILive.com High School Journalism Immersion program. The initiative is designed to help young people explore the world of community journalism.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – LaRocca Fitness, which opened in Charleston amid the coronavirus pandemic under the leadership of Rob LaRocca, offers a sense of community built around fitness, while also promoting personal growth and mental well-being.

His facility, which is on Arthur Kill Road, is also home to IV Vitamin Infusion, which provides a drip of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients into the bloodstream through an intravenous line.

And the brand is not done with its transformation, as LaRocca explained that the fitness center is now moving into a focus on spirituality.

“We take a full-fledged look at fitness, and we focus on the mind, we focus on the heart, spirituality, and we focus on the body as well …,” said LaRocca, adding, “We’re called a gym, but we probably shouldn’t be called a gym. We should probably be called a life-coaching physical fitness center.”

We sat down with LaRocca recently to learn more about what sets his facility apart from other gyms in the area, the beginnings of his business during a global health crisis, and what the future holds.

Here’s what he had to say.

Q. Why did you open in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic?

I thought that people needed something positive in their lives, and the pandemic kind of opened everyone’s eyes to health and wellness, and a different realm of self-awareness around those issues. And I wanted to give people a safe space where they could work out and get healthy in a very unhealthy time.

Q. Of all the gyms on Staten Island, why should people come to you?

A lot of these other gyms are great, but they’re just working on the outside shell. … We take a full-fledged look at fitness, and we focus on the mind. We focus on the heart, spirituality, and we focus on the body as well. So, my gym is great because people who are going through rough patches in their life can come to us, and we’ll make sure that they’re taken care of physically. We’ll make sure that they’re taken care of mentally. We’ll make sure that they’re finding the right resources they need. And we want people to be actually healthy, and the word healthy is something that, you know, we define a little bit different in here. It’s not just how far you could run or how much, or how little, body fat you have. It’s how you feel. It’s how you’re dealing with your issues, how you handle stress. We’re called a gym, but we probably shouldn’t be called a gym. We should probably be called a life-coaching physical fitness center.

Q. Why do you think it’s important for people to work with a trainer?

There are gyms where you could work out yourself. But for us, it’s important because every trainer that’s in here took their education very seriously. The people who come through this gym, a lot of them have never worked out before. Some of them have worked out, but they don’t know the right way to do it ….

Q. So what are some of your future plans for your gym?

My future plans are probably another location. That’s probably in the works for later next year. We just started coming up with a plan for that. I would really love to continue to work on the mental health aspect, so we’re trying to come up with some type of program where we get people together, specifically young men who are struggling with different issues, and we want to give them a safe space to talk about those issues, to connect with older men who can maybe mentor them. We would try to give people a safe space to grow and to be held accountable, so that’s, that’s the thing I’m most excited about.

Q. What’s something you really like about your gym?

I like the community, I like how different we are, and I like that we’re not afraid to stand up and tell people who we are. I think in today’s day and age, there’s not a lot of people who are speaking for mental health. I think there’s not a lot of people who are speaking for religion, for spirituality, for just bringing back, you know, traditional values … everyone who comes through this gym shares kind of the same core beliefs as us, the same values, the same mission, and they support us in it. The support that we got from this community has been amazing, so that’s definitely my favorite part about this gym.