By Lisa Carolin
Country Spirit CrossFit is a gym on Jackson Road in Lima Township that is a destination for many local residents, and represents a second career for owner Cyril White.
White never imagined leaving the financial services business that he had spent 20 years in, including 13 with his own firm. But in 2013, he did just that.
“Since high school, I have always loved working out, pushing my physical and mental limits and staying in the best shape I could,” says White, who has studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, martial arts, and participated in a full Ironman Triathlon. “I went in to check out this CrossFit place and thought I would die during my first workout! But I loved it and was hooked.”
White enjoyed the community of people in his CrossFit classes, something he had never experienced in his previous years of working out.
“I felt this deep calling to do something that didn’t just deal with money but really helped people,” says White, who had always gone to Ann Arbor to work out and wanted to bring this level of training to the Chelsea area.
He says, “My CrossFit experience began to stir something inside me. I wanted to be an example and teach people how they can overcome anything they set their minds to and to simply be better all-around people. That is my calling.”
White enjoys the friendships he’s made through CrossFit and says it’s never boring.
“To generate business, we provide a great service that gets results for our athletes,” says White. “Their friends and family notice these results and ask them what they are doing, and they refer them to us.”
White employs some family members at Country Spirit CrossFit.
“The thing I like about working with family is that you don’t have to pay them when money is tight, you know you can trust them implicitly, and they always tell it like it is even when you don’t want them too,” he says.
As far as having his CrossFit business in the Chelsea area goes, White says, “It’s been awesome! The people are great!”
