Meet Danny Balli, Travis Cook, Eve Cook | Owners of Iron Keel Strength and Fitness

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danny Balli, Travis Cook, Eve Cook and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danny Balli, Travis Cook, Eve Cook, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
This business has been an evolution! Danny was a saturation diver who had a traumatic injury while diving and lost most of the use of his leg. Through the CrossFit community he came back, and fitness was a huge part of his life. This brought him to open Iron Keel Strength, in Webster, a class based gym centered around building a community. After a few years he met Travis and Eve through the local Ruby team he sponsored and friendship was immediate. Travis had always been a fitness enthusiast. From high school, collegiate athlete to professional strongman competitor, the gym is in his nature. He and his wife met playing water polo in high school, (but were married many years later) so they have always had a love of fitness. He and his wife trained in the sport of strongman for many years, and when Danny was looking to move locations a partnership was formed! What’s better than a CrossFit gym, a strongman gym, or a 24/hr typical gym………. all of these in one based around a strong family feel in a gym we all wanted to be at. So we created Iron Keel Strength and Fitness. A gym we were proud to have include all the things we likes as athletes and a strong community feel.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
This gym has had quite a a long road. From Iron Keel Strength in Webster, we moved to League City to open up our new gym and were almost immediately shut down by COVID. Danny Eve and Travis had some amazing members who stuck by our sides as we scrambled to rent out equipment or do virtual classes. Finally when all that passed we worked our tails off to keep our gym a place people felt comfortable working out in and coming to. It certainly wasn’t easy and we learned a lot about what to do and not to do. Our current biggest accomplishment is a move to a huge expanded facility. It is big, beautiful, tons of upgraded equipment in Kemah. The one thing we most value through all of this is that we are sticking keeping the community feel we try to preserve for Iron Keel. We strive to make our members feel like a part of the Iron Keel family while reaching their fitness objectives. The three of us will go above and beyond if it will help someone attain their goals.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We live in the League City/ Kemah area, so outside of a daily workout (of course) we could hit the beach, or maybe head up in town for great restaurants in the museum district. We love the Houston zoo and Moody Gardens aquarium. Our favorite thing to do really is get in a great workout then head to lunch with our members, friends, and families, to any of the locally owned restaurants right here in our area. Kemah and League city are full of great restaurants for all types of food, and if the sun is out we catch a patio seat to enjoy.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The local fitness community! Although we no longer have a CrossFit affiliation, Danny learned a sense of community through the people in his classes. Travis and Eve have cultivated a sense of family feel with our members along with Danny since partnering together. So I guess our amazing members are really the heroes of our story. It’s kind of like the “Cheer’s of Gyms” where everybody knows your name. We also have some amazing coaches and trainers that help make it possible for our members to hit their goals.

Website: https://www.ironkeelstrength.com

Instagram: @ironkeelstrength

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IronKeelStrength/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/iron-keel-strength-and-fitness-kemah

Image Credits
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Amanda Garces
Jason R Mitchell