Our Story: Overview

Lance Farrell started teaching martial arts in 1982. In 1986 he opened a health club in Creston, Iowa. In 1989 Lance combined the fitness center and martial arts and moved to Des Moines, Iowa. In 2001 Lance used the tenets of TaeKwonDo to develop a program that incorporates group resistance training, fitness kickboxing, and nutrition to inspire people of all shapes, sizes, and ages to transform their bodies. What he didn’t see coming was the mental and spiritual transformation that students have repeatedly reported.

With literally thousands of gyms and fitness centers throughout the United States and tens of thousands of workout tapes, novelty and specialty workout equipment available to people, how does a small Taekwondo martial arts studio become a household name when it comes to fitness and a healthy life style? A program that has classes fill four times a year and waiting lists resulting from friends, relatives and co-workers encouraging their friends and neighbors to take Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping (FXB). A program based in Des Moines, Iowa that gets inquiries from around the United States asking about FXB and when they may have the program in their city. The answer is synonymous with what has made this the greatest nation in the world. The freedom and desire to help people, an environment that encourages and rewards entrepreneurship, and a great work ethic, grounded with a strong faith.

Lance Farrell grew up on a small farm in south west Iowa and learned very early in life what it meant to put in a hard days work. Weather he was walking beans, throwing bails of hay, shoveling out the live stock stalls or showing his prize calf at the Guthrie County Fair, he learned that hard work brought rewards that were a blessing not a curse. Following high school Lance decided to pursue his BS degree in Agri-business at Iowa State University. In addition to pursuing his degree in agriculture he began the martial arts of Taekwondo and HapKiDo under Yong Chin Pak. Mr. Pak taught extremely rigorous classes and always delivered a positive message to the students. Mr. Pak became the father figure and mentor that Lance never had as a young man when his father left his life at age 5. The messages from Mr. Pak resonated with Lance and enabled him to learn a great lesson in life discovering that with forgiveness, comes peace and the ability to move on.

During this time Lance began teaching Martial Arts in Guthrie Center. His first class in 1982 consisted of ten students, his mother, and Todd Dorr (currently V.P. of Operations / Owner). Lance’s Ag pursuit took him to Creston Iowa, where he started another martial arts program and a small fitness facility. He rented school gyms for the martial arts classes and the lower level of a hotel, to operate the fitness center, which was a complete gym with many machines and thousands of pounds of free weights, a sauna, and locker rooms. It was called the Omega Family Fitness Center.

In August of 1989, after competing in the U.S. Olympic Sports Festival in Taekwondo, Lance decided to leave the agricultural field for good and move to Des Moines combining the fitness facility and martial arts into one location. Over the next few years his martial arts program grew to four locations. Beginning in 2001, with the encouragement of Ernie Reyes Sr., Lance and Laurel Farrell decided to pursue the development of a comprehensive fitness program that incorporated martial arts kick boxing and fitness classes with resistance training and sound nutrition. The program was initiated in a culture that functioned as a mentor and encourager that enable students regardless of age, life style, sex or athletic ability to achieve extraordinary success in just ten weeks. It changed people’s lives and created a passion amongst its students and instructors that has impacted thousands of lives as it has expanded over the years.

The philosophies taught in TaeKwonDo; discipline, self-control, respect, and more are the fundamental pillars that make FXB successful. The Instructors and Coaches at Farrell’s embrace these tenants to ensure students are encouraged and respected regardless of their level of fitness. Teaching with positive influence allows the staff at Farrell’s to lift and encourage the average student to perform with extraordinary results.

In 2005 Farrell’s decided to see if it could expand this program beyond their enterprise and licensed Woody Little to open a facility in Grimes, Iowa. Working together with Mr. Little, Farrell’s continued to develop the program into one that could be repeated throughout an expanded territory. Additional licensees were added to expand the learning model and the program grew to eleven locations in 2007.

It was time to take the program to a new level and in 2007 after months of development, research and refinement Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping became a Franchisor. All existing licensees became our first franchisees and under the leadership and hard work of our franchisees our locations continued to expand throughout Iowa and soon, well beyond.

Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping is not a business in a box. The quality of the program demands a very defined and rigid process of expansion to ensure that the quality of the program, culture and results are uncompromisingly sustained as we grow. We are in the business of helping our students to develop a healthy life style that will enable them to enjoy a higher quality of life. Our facilities will continue to be a safe, loving and supportive environment honoring our God and caring about the people that put their trust in our program.

Welcome to Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping!

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