Lift More Fitness opens in Spring Hill
A year ago, Morris and Pauline Porton said goodbye to their daughter, Lisa Marrone, who fought ocular melanoma for six years. They thought she had beaten the odds. But it spread to her liver with such force, there was no time to plan the next fight.
Joe Johnson was county champion in 2012 for power lifting. He was the mastermind behind Lift More Fitness, which opened in honor of his mother who lost her battle with cancer last year. KIM DAME
The Portons think of her every day. Morris Porton, a recently retired banker, seems lost for words when his daughter’s name is mentioned. Pauline Porton’s eyes pool with fresh tears.
But her legacy lives on in what her family did to preserve her memory.
Her parents, her sister, Michelle Murphy, and her oldest child, Joe Johnson, pulled together and built a family business that will promote healthy lifestyles while unleashing the human spirit to “push the threshold” in fitness.
Lift More Fitness, 5190 Mariner Blvd., opened Monday to provide a unique fitness gym experience for members of all fitness levels and goals. It was named for Lisa, who inspired this tight family to take their sadness and transform it into healing.
Johnson pointed out the significance in the name: Lift More for Lisa Marrone.
“I talk with her every day,” he said.
The gym promotes healthy lifestyles for prevention of disease, for enhanced energy, and faster recovery from ailments or injuries.
“She lost her fight,” said Johnson. But the message she left the world with was clear: She didn’t give up.
And that is what Lift More is all about.
Centered on weight lifting and building muscle tone that generates a healthier body mass, the premise behind Lift More is to push the boundaries toward a healthier lifestyle. Johnson is an award-winning athlete, county power lifting champion in 2002 for the Springstead Eagles.
Fitness was his life from the time he was a young teen. His grandfather, Morris Porton, got him into it, he said. Now 30, Johnson provides can testify to the benefits of fitness. He is buff with taught muscle tone. He lives what he teaches.
The state-of-the-art, highly-functional gym offers weight lifting, cardio, and strength training in a clean atmosphere where every detail has a purpose. The gym’s color scheme — red and black — is intended to trigger emotions like aggression, which aid in workouts. A chain-link fence on the wall challenges patrons to push through challenges.
It is all about building a stronger, healthier, leaner body.
“The more muscle mass, the more calories you burn,” Johnson said.
It comes down to basic physics, yet society still finds ways to skip the techniques that are proven to work in hopes of finding a faster fix.
“They don’t exist,” Johnson said.
The gym was built with many traditional elements. But Lift More has a few unique benefits not found in competing facilities.
“We didn’t want any rules,” Johnson said. Members are encouraged to feel unleashed when they work out. For instance, they are allowed to drop their weights.
“It’s a safety issue,” Murphy said. Yet most gyms discourage it because the noise might be disruptive to other members. Joe also insisted on including chalk to promote a stronger, slip-free grip on the weight bars. Other gyms prefer to eliminate the potential for mess.
And they up tempo music that inspires movement.
Lift More Fitness is open seven days a week. It offers discounts to students, seniors, police, firefigters and vets. A monthly package starts at $25. Personal training is also available.
Johnson said his mother was well aware of the family’s plan to open the gym.
“We were talking about it for three years before she passed away,” he said.
Still, the opening is bittersweet for the family. So many little details in the facility remind them of her. And that is a good thing, they said. Everyone needs a way to mourn and this family chose to do it by promoting the positives in health and fitness.
Lisa was diagnosed on Memorial Day six years ago, Pauline Porton said. She said she sank deep into depression, found refuge on her living room couch, and drowned her pain in Diet Coke.
The opening of the gym inspired her to change those habits. She now comes in every day, works out on the equipment and has been soda free for weeks.
For the family, fitness takes on a deeper meaning. It is also helping them heal.
Email Hernando Today correspondent By Kim Dame at [email protected].
Biz at a Glance
Name: Lift More Fitness
Address: 5190 Mariner Blvd.; Spring Hill, FL 34609
Phone: (352) 610-3152
Website: liftmorefitness.com
