'Joes' Train Alongside Pros at New Phoenixville Gym

Johnny Carlisle, former director of Lightening Fast, opened the Athlete Factory opened in June.

The Athlete Factory, owner Johnny Carlisle insists, is not your average gym “In a normal gym you just don’t get certain things,” the mesomorphic, chrome-domed Carlisle explained from a strip of Astroturf in the center of his fitness center last week. “You don’t get Astroturf in an LA Fitness. You don’t get kettle bells in LA Fitness. You don’t get tires in an LA Fitness. You don’t get Olympic lifting platforms in an LA Fitness.“ At the Athlete Factory, of course, you do. Carlisle opened the Schuylkill Road gym in June after spending 15 years directing the Lightening Fast athletic centers with his brother Duane, who eventually moved on to take a position as the strength coach of the San Francisco 49ers. (He’s since taken a similar post with…

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