Vitality Fitness: Tailor-made workouts in Lansing from a reality show winner 

Sawyer Brown, owner of the new Vitality Fitness gym in Lansing, wants residents of Lansing and the greater Tompkins County area to learn the lessons he learned in Indonesia while filming a reality TV show.

Brown, a longtime Tompkins County resident, starred in and emerged victorious from the reality TV show “Castaways” on ABC in 2018.

“Going through that experience, it made me realize how far grit and determination can take you,” he said. Brown was one of the survivors who was rescued from an island in Indonesia, thus winning the reality TV show. 

“Just put your head down to work and just never quit,” he added. “And it really applies to fitness, as well.”

Now, seven years later, Brown owns and operates Vitality — a one-of-a-kind gym located at 1939 E. Shore Dr. #6. Vitality, Brown said, is “pretty unique” in that members get custom programming every time they come in.

“So, say for instance you’re dealing with an injury or something, you will have a customized workout before you come in,” he said. “That is tailored to your needs so we can work around that injury.”

Brown also tailors programming around specific goals, he noted. 

“Or, say for instance you’re looking to build more muscle and you want to focus on strength. We will have a workout designed for you for that day that is catered to just building muscle and strength,” Brown said. “And then we can do the same thing for cardio and everything else. Whatever your specific need is or your goal, we kind of cater to that person and design them a workout each day that is different for whatever their goal is.”

Vitality is open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., and then later from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The gym is also open from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday for a circuit class, a form of fitness training that involves performing a series of different exercises in a sequence, with minimal rest between exercises. All of Vitality’s offerings are available to members. Monthly membership is $140 a month, Brown said.

The gym also has a recovery lounge and is an affiliate of HYROX, an indoor fitness competition that combines 8 kilometers of running and eight functional workout stations, alternating between running and functional exercises. The competition bills itself as “the World Series of fitness racing.”

“It’s going pretty good. We have gotten a lot of good feedback from all the members who have joined so far,” Brown said of the community’s reception to Vitality. “So, things are growing pretty steadily.”

Beyond his foray into reality TV, Brown is a veteran of  the fitness industry, where he was mostly a personal trainer for eight years. He also worked delivering group fitness classes.

“I was just trying to find a way that I could combine both those things together, and this is the model that I came up with,” Brown said. “It just seemed to hit all the targets I was looking for. I can still help clients one-on-one, while still having multiple people in the room. I’m making sure everyone is safe and effective with their workout. But I’m doing basically personal training on a larger scale.”

In the next five years, Brown said he wants Vitality to be a staple in the community. 

“I want to work with Lansing schools and help out some of the sports teams,” he said. “I just want to grow the gym and put on events here, and just be a place where the community can come together and get a great workout.”

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter): @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Lansing Community Library will host a self-portrait exhibit by sixth-grade artists titled “In a World Full of Problems, Be a Solution,” which will run May 5-16. An art reception is expected May 7 at 7 p.m.

“We’re thrilled to host an inspiring new exhibit featuring self-portraits created by the sixth-grade students of Lansing Middle School,” reads a post on the library’s website. “Each piece expresses the students’ thoughts on pressing global issues — like climate change — and their visions for a better future through renewable energy and personal action.”

The project is a collaboration between Lansing Central School District art teacher Lee Iannone and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.