David Piggott came to Norge with the goal of helping people live healthy lives and a year after opening his first gym, his passion hasn’t faded.
Piggott and his girlfriend, Maggie Fox, opened PESFIT gym together in October of 2018 and since then, they’ve worked on creating a system that targets both the physical and dietary aspects of health.
“One of the things about opening a gym is you are responsible for selling a dream,” he said. “You have to sell people a vision that you can get them somewhere. I have to convince people and come up with a program that delivers.”
At the gym, participants can choose from a number of programs that targets performance and endurance training, such as women’s powerlifting and yoga.
The facility also offers programs interacting with dietitians, and with a combination of these aspects of personal health, Piggott said people have been able to see real change in their lives.
Fox is a registered nurse and Piggott said while he works the floor with patients, she will be in the wings watching from a clinical perspective to monitor an individual’s progress and health.
“When [Fox] was a little girl, she always said she wanted to be an angel,” Piggott said. “And then she became a nurse. She helps patients with things like diabetes, a lot of these illnesses go hand in hand with exercise and diet.”
Opening a gym in Norge was something Piggott and Fox hadn’t originally planned. When looking for locations closer to Williamsburg, they found the options pricey. However, once they found an area in Norge at 7521 Richmond Road where they could open, Piggott said it was a better opportunity than they’d originally realized.
“People on the outskirts of town, they aren’t necessarily healthy out here,” he said. “It’s about convenience and not having to drive all the way into town. So it’s unique to provide this for people who might not be able to get into town.”
One of the aspects of the job that Piggott enjoys is working with older individuals who might not have been able to continue physical therapy because of their insurance coverage.
“There’s a gap in our health continuum,” he said. “If you’re older, typically you only get by so many physical therapy visits. It’s the best feeling in the world for my older population because there are things we take for granted, like going out to see a movie or out to dinner with family.”
This isn’t the first time Piggott has worked with training people. When he was 16, he started teaching martial arts for 7 years before working at a rehabilitation outpatient center for another 5 years and eventually becoming certified in personal training.
“It’s been a life-long passion of mine to coach and train people,” he said. “But the thing is, my coaching, it’s not forever. I’ll take you through the program to where you need to be, but after that people need a home where they feel comfortable continuing.”
Now that the gym has taken the year to settle in its programs and systems, Piggott said he wants to continue to see it grow. As more locals around Norge continue to seek out ways to access a healthy lifestyle, he said he hopes to be that healthy home for them.
“They’re not just a number here,” he said. “They come here, establish a relationship—this gym is a family.”
