East Helena’s first 24-hour gym began with a napkin and a prayer.
Two years ago, while East Helena real estate agent and entrepreneur Amber Giulio was showing Boulder-area homes to a pastor looking to settle in Giulio’s hometown, a dreaded question kept popping up: “Is there a gym in town?”
Neither East Helena nor Boulder had a modern gym at the time. Folks looking to work out in a high-level facility needed to drive to Helena or Montana City. But on that day, the now 42-year-old Giulio voiced her long-held dream.
“He said, ‘What are your ideas?’ and I said, ‘I want a gym in East Helena. And I want one in Boulder,” recalled Giulio, who has two teenage children. She drew her dream fitness center on a napkin, joined hands with the pastor, and prayed.
A few days later, Giulio spied an undeveloped space behind Missouri River Brewing and reached out to property owner Paul Durrance. The two soon began working on designing a new building, which was built over 20 months. Giulioi now leases the 16,000-foot gym space.
Within a few weeks of her prayer with the pastor, she had also found and leased a Boulder facility. A much smaller space, the Boulder outlet required less work, and 406 Bridge Fitness 225 opened last August. Readying the sprawling East Helena facility has taken more time.
But Giulio got it all done, and 406 Bridge Fitness 227 opened March 9.
“I feel like this was an open door from God,” she said. “It makes me pretty emotional, actually, to be able to put a project together like this in two years and have the opportunity to really impact people and impact their lives.”
With two floors, five treatment spaces, lockers, saunas and steam rooms, East Helena’s 406 Bridge Fitness is among the largest gyms in Lewis & Clark County, and the town’s only 24-hour indoor facility. As at the Boulder location, after signing a waiver releasing the gym from liability, members can use the gym at any time, gaining entry via mobile app or key card.
East Helena members have access to free weights, circuit and functional training, group classes and challenges, a half basketball court, steam room, sauna, and smoothie bar. For a fee, members can enjoy additional services, including a red light therapy capsule, mindset and personal training, a Styku 3-D body scan that assesses body composition, and more (visit 406bridgefitness.com for a complete list).
Many amenities, such as the smoothie bar, are open only from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. when a trainer or desk clerk is on hand. And members of one 406 Bridge Fitness facility are unable to freely use the other. Monthly memberships at Bridge 227 start at $64 for an individual, $114 for couples, and $134 for the family plan (up to four people).
These rates are about on par with premium gyms in the Helena area, like Broadwater Hot Springs and Capital City Health, although few offer the same breadth of experiences. Jenny Wolf-Bell, the gym’s director of impact, is thrilled to see her friend’s vision become a reality.
“We always used to joke around and say our ideal job would be to work out and wear leggings all day and get paid,” Wolf said at the gym’s March 4 open house. “Now we’re getting to live our dreams.”
East Helena residents seem ready to live their own fitness dreams as well. “I just like to get up early to work out,” said Kooper Jones, who had been driving nearly 15 minutes to Helena’s Planet Fitness, which closes early on weekends. “But also late at night if I need.”
The enthusiasm stretches beyond the city limits. Josie Mergenthaler, a Helena resident who attended the open house with Jones, was excited about the once-a-week IV infusions that Bridge Fitness members can purchase in collaboration with Rocky Mountain Health and Healing, a Helena holistic wellness clinic.
IV infusions are an increasingly popular method of injecting micronutrients into the bloodstream to address deficiencies (one Bridge Fitness trainer swears by it as a solution to her seasonal depression). The new facility and its amenities weren’t the only attraction; some looked forward to a friendly third space.
“I work out at home right now, and so I’m excited to actually get into the gym,” said Helena resident Jordyn Melo.
Bridge Fitness plans to host pickleball tournaments and intramural basketball and volleyball. Reflecting her own path to health and gym ownership, Giulio’s vision was never just about working out, but also about socializing, connecting, and being revived in a welcoming space.
She grew up playing sports, but, like so many women, began to struggle with her body image. By high school, Giulio had started a pattern of yo-yo dieting and buying any product she thought might help her stay small. She found that staying active helped her stay “level-headed through a lot of turmoil.”
When she took a coaching course through a company run by renowned speaker, author, and recipient of the Mother Teresa Prize for Global Peace, John Maxwell, Giulio began to put it all together. “Until I got in touch with my spiritual side and my mental side, my full health didn’t come all the way around,” she recalled.
A Christian herself, Giulio views 406 Bridge Fitness as a faith-based operation, but made it a point to welcome adherents of all religions. She sees it as a place where anybody can advance their mental and spiritual journey, along with their physical one. She chose the 24-hour schedule, in part, so moms like her could go to the gym after taking care of their families all day.
It’s why Bridge Fitness offers a 10% discount to first responders, educators, and the military. And why, eventually, Giulio hopes to give back by sponsoring local youth sports teams and other physical activities.
“I think we’re missing a community. We’re missing health,” Giulio said, adding that a lot of unhealthy things are happening in the U.S. these days.
Befitting a place built on a prayer, Bridge Fitness seems to be her way of creating a space for healing. “The whole basis of this place is that it is not just physical health, it’s your physical, mental, and spiritual,” she said. “I believe you need all three to be healthy.”
