Meet Cole and Taryn Gilman | ARC Owner & Head Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cole and Taryn Gilman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cole and Taryn, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My wife and I have always been fitness enthusiasts concerned with our health and well-being. We are both former athletes and grew up in families where the importance of health was stressed. We both were involved, opened, and coached in the fitness franchise world but found it to be very limiting. We found that given such limitations, there was a much bigger need not being filled. In our community, nothing existed that focused beyond just fitness, such as recovery, youth based programs, and even more so anything faith based

A lot of youth identify with sports, especially in a very successful sports town, but often times they are lost outside of that identification means with no outlet. On top of that, we are both very involved in our church and discovered that opening our own facility would allow us to fill the needs of all age demographics, fitness levels, and base it in a more wholistic faith based approach.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a faith-based fitness organization, focusing our the body part of ‘Spirit, Soul and Body’. We do business as The ARC – Athlete & Recovery Center. Our primary focus is a wholistic approach to health and fitness, but most importantly building a solid community. We primarily focus on group training, youth development via proper introduction to correct training practices and habits, with the addition of everything that involves recovery. This includes nutrition, cold plunges, saunas, a full recovery area including Hyperice Products, Normatecs, a licensed massage therapist, licensed athletic trainer, and registered dietician, massage therapist, etc. I think what sets us apart more than anything is that we are based inside our church. We have developed a symbiotic relationship with our church and have come up with a way to use the facility more than on just Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Additionally we have begun to establish the positive relationship between fitness/health and our youth. Instilling a Christ-like mindset in our youth and the importance of health has been huge!

Was it easy? Not at all. We have started down the path of a completely new precedence with our partnership with the church. We looked far a wide for a program we could potentially mimic, as it pertains to a church partnership but came up short. In so, we have had to figure out what that looks like from the ground up. We have faced scrutiny from members who are not Christian, from a community that hasn’t seen this before and does not know how the feel about it, and from a more wholistic fitness world that exists minimally around the country. All in all we have learned that perseverance pays off and keeping the faith. Its been a huge learning curve but the fruits should eventually be ripe for the picking.

As far as what our brand says, we want to be a safe haven for every fitness level, age group, and walk of life. We have been given a platform to expand the Kingdom and build a better community with a side of fitness. Fitness and Faith can absolutely be intertwined and we are doing just that.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Love this question! Living in the metroplex provides so many opportunities to see and experience so much! First off we would drag them to the gym with us everyday! As far as what do do while they were here…

I would take them to visit all of our favorite eateries for sure! Breakfast spots would have to be ‘Ol South Pancake House, Montgomery Street Cafe, R&K Cafe, Snooze, Fixe, First Watch, etc. I could go on!

Depending on the season, we would catch a Stars game, Mavericks game, Cowboys game or Rangers game for sure. Try to make it to Frisco Rough Riders game as well. Dallas Aquarium, Dallas Arboretum(esp in fall), and Fort Worth Zoo would be musts. If an option, a TCU football game and tailgate would be a for sure.

A trip or 5 to Buccee’s would be in order as well!

For food around outside of the breakfast world we would have to probably visit, Joe T’s, Grace, Dayne’s Craft BBQ, Hurtado, Goldee’s (bc its Texas and we love BBQ). To catch some food and fun we would have to do a little Courtside Kitchen for some pickleball! Drinks would be had either around Sundance Square or the new and upcoming Southside! Additionally being from west of the metroplex we should love to take them to Antebellum Ale House, Northside Remedy, and Edgeweise Eight in Weatherford.

All in all there are so many places to visit around the area it would be hard to hit them all but those are our go to’s.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Our first shoutout would be to our church, HighRidge, and both of our families for the unanimous support in taking this leap of faith. Both sets of our parents, and the pastorship at HighRidge, namely Zach Gryder, Curtis Woodliff and Jeff Klingenberg, have been largely influential.

Website: www.thearcgym.com

Instagram: the.arcfit

Facebook: The ARC – Athlete & Recovery Center

Other: HighRidge Church