RAVENNA, Ohio — Kurt Oboczky, the owner of Patriot Fitness in Ravenna, is thrilled his gym survived the shutdown last year.

Although Oboczky has achieved his dream of owning a successful gym, 2020 brought along its challenges.

"We were scared but we made it through it,” he said, referring to the shutdown that left his gym closed for several months. "Instead of charging everybody, even though they signed contracts, through the pandemic, when we were closed down we shut everyone’s banking information off.” 

Oboczky said during the shutdown he had to find other ways to make ends meet.

“I was starting to panic ... I was pulling a lot of money from my own personal home stuff,” he said.

Oboczky wasn't the only one panicking when news of the lockdown hit.

“A lot of people who come to this hometown gym, this is like their daily routine. This is their outlet. This is like their second home. They were calling me. My phone was ringing off the hook ... My whole goal for that shut down was to make sure I could keep the doors open,” he said.

Now that the shutdown is over and new safety precautions are in place, Oboczky said gym-goers are happy to be back.

"It’s an outlet for people, it’s a stress reliever. It might be something they focus their energy into,” he said.

Normally, the start of the new year brings lots of new people into the gym, Oboczky said.

"We usually have a huge boom the first couple days after the new year, or actually a month or two,” he said.

But this year has been different.

“They are kind of just trickling in here and there but another thing is that we are trying our best not to overfill the gym.”

Patriot Fitness is open 24/7, which the owner says is helpful when it comes to social distancing.