Winter Park Athletic Club

Winter Park Athletic Club sits along State Road 436 in Casselberry, tucked into a corridor of the city that mixes retail, medical offices, and small service businesses. Despite the name, the club’s physical address is in Casselberry, not Winter Park, a detail that surprises some first-time visitors searching for it. The business has been owned and operated by Dave and Eve Thomas since 1992, and both remain active as trainers at the facility today.

Unlike a typical open-floor gym, Winter Park Athletic Club is built around a private, appointment-based training model. The facility itself covers about 3,000 square feet, a size the owners have kept intentionally small so that sessions can stay one-on-one rather than shared across a crowded floor. Training is described in the club’s own materials as centered on efficient, focused sessions rather than long daily workouts, with clients typically scheduled for a small number of sessions each week rather than an open membership people are expected to use on their own.

The club’s approach folds together several pieces: personal training delivered directly by Dave or Eve Thomas, individualized nutrition planning, a service the club calls NU Spa Therapy, and functional fitness work led by staff trainer Amanda. Because the model is appointment-based, the training center itself does not keep standard walk-in hours. Monday through Saturday sessions run by appointment, and the facility is closed Sundays. A separate front-of-house operation the club calls its Nutrition Club keeps posted hours, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., also closed Sunday.

Owner-operated, appointment-driven gyms like this one are less common than the large chain fitness clubs that line much of State Road 436 in Seminole County, several of which sit within a mile or two of Winter Park Athletic Club’s own address. The club markets itself around avoiding the friction that can come with bigger box gyms, describing an approach without long-term contracts or sales pressure, and without competition for equipment since sessions are scheduled individually.

For Casselberry residents who want hands-on coaching rather than an unsupervised membership, or who are specifically looking for a personal training relationship with the same one or two trainers over time, Winter Park Athletic Club represents one of the few independently owned options of its kind in the city. It has operated under the same ownership for more than three decades, a notable run for a small, single-location fitness business in a market that has seen national chains open and close along the same stretch of road. Anyone interested in current rates or availability should call ahead, since sessions are by appointment only and the schedule is not posted publicly.