T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM Marshall County Sheriff Joel Phillips helps move some donated equipment his office received from Planet Fitness. The gym gave the county law enforcement 14 pieces of exercise equipment.

Deputies at the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and Jail will be able to maintain their physical activity with updated fitness equipment.

On Thursday, Planet Fitness donated 14 pieces of exercise equipment to the MCSO. Employees and deputies braved the colder temperatures to move the equipment from the gym to three trailers parked outside.

Planet Fitness District Manager Julian Moss said the gym gave four treadmills, four stairclimbers, two elliptical machines, two bicycles and two ARC trainers. He estimated the equipment is roughly eight years old.

“They may be old, per se, but they are still functional,” Moss said. “They’ve been serviced up until yesterday and everything still works, just as if it is the first time using it.”

Planet Fitness was contacted by Chief Deputy Ben Veren after he learned the gym had given donations to the Des Moines Fire Department six months ago.

“He said he heard we were getting updated and asked if we would be interested in [donating,]” Moss said. “I said, ‘Absolutely. Come take your pick.’ No hesitation.”

Sheriff Joel Phillips said the donation is a win-win for the gym and his office.

“One of the things that has come around is the importance of the well-being, not only mentally, but also physically fit, of officers – patrol, jail division, security deputies,” he said. “When you maintain your physical fitness, you’re less likely to get an injury. That’s one thing that is a concern. We go from sitting in a patrol car and offices, and the next thing you know, we’re exerting ourselves 100 percent.”

The donation will update the MCSO gym at the facility. Phillips said the older equipment in the basement of the sheriff’s office was purchased in the early 2000s with drug forfeiture money.

“This partnership is very beneficial, not only to the sheriff’s office, but also to the taxpayers,” he said.

Phillips said having additional pieces of certain types of equipment will also allow more MCSO staff to utilize them, rather than just one person at a time. The stairclimbers will be new additions to the MCSO gym. He said some of his deputies have Planet Fitness memberships for the specific reason of using those machines.

“Having two of those at our office is going to be very beneficial to build up our hips and legs,” Phillips said. “Those are things that typically get hurt in law enforcement – your lower back, hips, knees, ankles. This is overall going to be a better functioning exercise room for us.”

He added they might have to move things around in the MCSO gym.

“We asked Planet Fitness if we qualified for this, and they said ‘Absolutely,'” Phillips said. “We just had to work through some negotiations, so we’re doing well.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.