Patty Cummings has taken her fledgling Cape Coral fitness company, Astro-Durance, across the nation and around the world in just 10 months.
Cummings said it has been an incredible ride that soon will include the Incredible Hulk, or at least the bodybuilder who portrayed the comic book character on the TV show during the late 1970s and early 80s.
This week Cummings will meet with Lou Ferrigno and an assortment of fitness professionals and advocates in Los Angeles, where she plans to further her burgeoning brand.
Upon launching in mid-July, Cummings had two full-time employees and about 1,300 square feet of cramped working space in a Cape Coral strip mall at 324 Nicholas Parkway. Now she has 15 full-time employees and soon will have 5,000 square feet of workout space after leasing about half of the strip mall just south of Pine Island Road.
“This was a vision,” Cummings said. “I can’t wait to see what happens six months from now because we have so much unfolding.”
Astro-Durance specializes in bungee cord fitness training systems. Athletes get strapped into a cord, suspended from the ceiling, and can do various exercises while feeling weightless and with no fear of falling down. The cords also provide resistance for athletes looking to build strength and endurance.
Over the past month, Cummings has connected with business leaders and media personalities across the country who believe her product to be the next big thing in physical fitness. She has partnered with David Lyons, friend to body building legends Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. She convinced fitness podcaster Phil Faris to drive through an Illinois snowstorm to try her product in her native Peoria. She has hired a distribution director in Orlando and sales manager in Cape Coral. They have helped spread the bungee devices to 33 states and three countries: Australia, Costa Rica and Turkey with more in development.
Cummings and her crew next hope to get their brand of bungees into big-box workout clubs like Anytime Fitness, Gold’s Gym and Planet Fitness.
Astro-Durance Sales Director Linda Rasmussen first learned of the company upon reading an article in the Cape Life section of The News-Press on July 13. She went into the gym the next day and started working for Cummings full time the day after that.
“I knew I liked her off the bat,” said Rasmussen, whose husband, Eric Rasmussen, is a retired professional baseball pitcher and worked for more than 20 years as a minor league pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins. “I signed up. I paid for it. I love it.”
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In Brian Baird, of Orlando, Cummings found a distribution manager with a long résumé of selling products geared toward fitness. Baird used to install rock-climbing walls at shopping malls. In Astro-Durance, Baird said he had seen remarkable growth in a short amount of time.
“Every week I see something new,” Baird said. “We’re seeing a big interest from the medical community. People with different injuries or medical conditions — whether it be a stroke or multiple sclerosis, autistic children. Not only does it help with resistance to muscles, but it’s also actually pretty fun to do. I think that’s what makes it appeal to people.”
Guy DiTomasso, 64, a North Fort Myers chiropractor, began working out with the Astro-Durance system about three months ago. He visits the gym two to three times per week.
“I just found this by chance from a friend who was coming here before me,” DiTomasso said. “I came and listened. Oh my gosh. This is just perfect for my practice, because my practice is 90 percent Medicare. We have 60-, 70-, 80-year-old patients who will live longer, healthier lives if they will just exercise. The problem is they can’t exercise because it hurts. Hip replacements. Knee replacements. Shoulder replacements.
“Using the bungee takes all of the strain off all of that. I rant and rave about this. I sent nine patients here today. I would love to do anything I can to promote this concept. I think every single senior in the United States of America should do this program. Even if you just stand at a 45-degree angle and not move, you’re going to improve your core. Seniors, their biggest problem is they fall and break their hip. That’s because their core is too weak. With the bungees, you can let them lose their balance. They will be able to recover. It would save so much money in emergency care.”
David Lyons, who has multiple sclerosis and has been a professional bodybuilder and gym owner for more than 40 years in Los Angeles, connected with Cummings via Facebook about a month ago.
Lyons since has invested in Astro-Durance as a business partner. He intends to have it featured in a reality fitness TV show — similar to "The Apprentice" — that’s in development and scheduled to air in 2019 on the Discovery Life channel, which reaches 47 million homes on cable.
Ferrigno could be filmed using Astro-Durance during the TV show, which will be called “Pumped: The Muscle Hustle,” Lyons said.
Cummings and Linda Rasmussen are meeting with Lyons and Ferrigno this week in California.
“It’s going to explode,” said Lyons, who received a health advocate lifetime achievement award from Schwarzenegger in 2015. Lyons runs a nonprofit organization, MS Fitness Challenge, dedicated to helping people with multiple sclerosis.
Lyons predicted Astro-Durance willbecome a household brand name in the fitness business.
“I think we’ll be taking it to a 50 million to $100 million company,” Lyons said. “I think that we’ll be there within a few years. I think we can take this to $10 million within one year."
“I’ll be using it. I’ve seen it with other people, and I’m blown away with the results. I’m very, very impressed with what it does for people with disabilities and challenges for fitness. I’ve never seen anything like this on the market. I’m going to tell you right now, this is the future of fitness. We’re going to make it catch on. With some of the people I’m connected with, you’ll be seeing Astro-Durance in every state in the country.”
Phil Faris, 69, lives just north of Chicago from where he operates his podcast on NeverTooLateForFitness.com. He specializes in fitness for the over-50 crowd. He and his wife spent four hours driving through a snowstorm to meet with Cummings earlier this year so he could try Astro-Durance.
“We got there, and Patty was very gracious,” Faris said. “And she took us through it. My wife agreed to do it. She jumped in the harness and went through the workout. It was a 30-minute workout.
“Jumping with no pain was just great. Afterward my wife made a comment that was telling. She said, ‘I don’t like squats. I don’t like pushups. But I liked them today.’”
“Why don’t people work out more? Either it’s too painful, or it’s not fun. With the Astro-Durance, it was a good workout and fun. You can talk to any fitness expert, what’s the best type of exercise? And they’ll say the one you’ll want to do every day.”
Connect with this reporter: David Dorsey (Facebook), @DavidADorsey (Twitter).
