Right outside of Detroit in Livonia, Michigan is The Strength Depot. It was founded in 2015 by Shane Rickman and Tina Kinsley, both long-time strength athletes, looking to give themselves and their training partners somewhere to train with all of the best equipment. Since their opening they have grown quite rapidly, giving a home to people in the Detroit area striving to get better at their chosen strength sports.
Both Tina and Shane lead successful lives outside of The Strength Depot, Tina being a doctor and Shane being an engineer. This has let them focus their efforts on giving the people that train at their facility the quality equipment that they need.
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When I showed up on Saturday morning, the gym was booming with people preparing for various strongman competitions. There were around 30 people, all doing different events, from death medleys, to overhead work, to car deadlifting. The energy was definitely noticeable in the gym, as was the ability to see the community they have developed with their members.
When it comes to community, Shane, Tina, and the rest of The Strength Depot literally put their money where their mouth is. Since they’ve opened, they have done a tremendous amount of work with the organization Relentless Detroit, as well as hosting the local Special Olympics powerlifting team to train at their facility. One such athlete, James Ellison, recently set a Special Olympics world record of 660 pounds in the deadlift.
September 17 they will also be hosting a strongman competition to help raise donations for Relentless Detroit, bringing strongmen from all across the country to compete and help the kids suffering from cancer who Relentless has been helping for years.
If you’re ever in the area and looking for a place to train, I highly recommend it. They are knowledgeable and always willing to help people who are serious about their sport.
