CENTER - John Bubel's been called a lot of things in his life - rancher, plant worker, dad, just to name a few.

Now add "gym rat," complete with a fetching pair of too-short shorts his family keeps trying to toss and he retrieves from the garbage just to tease them.

Bubel and others in Center are having fits about their new fitness center, which opened Nov. 10 and has already attracted 56 members.

The gym is the showpiece of the community's commitment to getting and staying in shape, and it goes with a racquetball court across the hall and an indoor swimming pool across the parking lot.

When Bubel's not working out every day, he's working on equipment in the gym, along with Dave Berger, another one who's surprised to find a gym rat lurking within.

The two men have been part of a loose committee of nine or so who started working on a fitness center four years ago, plugging away with small fundraisers and never giving up on the idea.

A fortuitous connection with Bismarck State College, just when it was unloading its entire weight machine inventory in August, gave the project a do-able dimension.

Today, the gym boasts 14 weight machines that work everything from abs, calves to triceps, free weights and benches, four treadmills, two elliptical machines and two recumbent stationary bikes. Including mats, mirrors, a key card and camera security system, it cost about $50,000 to get the Fit 4 Life gym door open.

With 24-7 access because of the key card system, it's as open to a shift worker coming off midnights, as it is to someone like Gwen Smith.

Smith is from Texas, married to a guy who's working temporary power plant construction.

She said she was reluctant to leave Texas, unless she could get to a place with a gym and maintain her diet and exercise regimen.

"He said he'd find me a gym," though initially it looked like she might have to drive into Bismarck every day, Smith said.

Then Fit 4 Life opened, and at 10 a.m. every day she's a daily fixture in the place, where pounds she gained in retirement just keep melting away on the treadmill.

"I let myself get out of shape," she said. She's already lost 30 of the 80 pounds she gained when she retired. "The more I'd gain, the less active I'd get."

Those days are over.

Brittany Rud is a gym manager and said women make up more than half the membership now.

She's planning to get certified in pilates and other instruction so she can eventually teach classes. She teaches newcomers how to work the weight machines and said she's especially interested in encouraging members to learn how to use free weights.

A membership is $25 a month for 12 months for an adult.

Bubel and Berger and many others have dedicated time and labor to their community gym.

Discussion has already turned to how to keep it going now that it's opened, but Berger said he's convinced people use the gym, or buy memberships to support the center, even if they don't use it much.

"We have to believe," Berger said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or lauren@;westriv.com.)