Walking into a quaint gym between 12th street and Lamar Boulevard, members were warmly greeted by Castle Hill Fitness employees in balloon and paper crowns who served them an array of snacks, cake, free classes and chair massages.

Locally-owned Austin fitness and wellness center Castle Hill Fitness Gym & Spa celebrated its 20th anniversary Oct. 12. As a small business, Castle Hill also commemorated its resilience throughout the pandemic.

“As Austin changes, grows and expands, we’ve been very consistent and constant,” general manager Lori Johnson said. “When you go inside the building, it feels like Austin from 2002.”

Aside from providing members a space for fitness and wellness, Celeste Knickerbocker, a pilates instructor since 2017, said Castle Hill best serves Austin through the relationships and community it fosters. 

“I love the camaraderie between all the trainers. Everyone has each other’s back,” Knickerbocker said. “It’s just like a family. We have created a really warm and welcoming community for the patrons.”

Johnson worked as Castle Hill’s general manager since 2019, helping the center persevere through the pandemic. To facilitate a safe workout space in the midst of the pandemic, owner Clayton Aynesworth said he reconfigured the gym into 50 workout pods, each pod containing an air purifier to filter out viruses and bacteria. 

“We’ve all worked together so closely, (and so) we have a much deeper connection than we did prior to COVID (and) had to pull together to keep the gym going,” Johnson said. “We have a strong owner, management team and a dedicated group of trainers, so we better learned the value of community both professionally and personally.”

Knickerbocker said she previously worked at big franchise gyms, and she expressed her admiration for smaller gyms over big gyms in Austin. Knickerbocker said Castle Hill doesn’t use the traditional corporate model that bigger gyms use.

“There was always a quota we filled every month of getting new clients to sign X amount of packages, so we can get X amount of dollars every month,” Knickerbocker said. “To me, that’s not what my job is about. I’m here to make people feel good and help them work on their mind-body connection. I’m not here to be a sales person, pilates sells itself.”

Long-time customer and former employee Vlad Glouchkov said Castle Hill Fitness’ versatility makes exercising more fun. Glouchkov, a UT alumnus, began working out at Castle Hill as a student since its opening 20 years ago. 

“There aren’t many gyms in town that offer this versatility of different things you can do,” Glouchkov said. “If you want to take a class, you can take a class. If you need a trainer, you can train with a trainer.”

Johnson said celebrating 20 years of Castle Hill makes her look forward to the next 20 years in the gym’s future. Johnson said she would like to see Castle Hill have more diverse alternatives and complimentary healthcare offerings. Johnson said she also encourages families to bring in their children to become members, so that the Castle Hill family grows further.

“Austin is a really special place in Texas, and I think that we do a great job representing that,” Johnson said.