Shrewsbury Native Finds Success in Fitness Industry

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Joseph Shea of Shrewsbury says entrepreneurship is in his blood. After working for his mother’s insurance agency, The Network Insurance Agency, Inc., Shea decided to step out on his own and pursue a career path in the fitness industry. He launched ZOOBELLS, a company that creates unique, animal shaped kettlebells in 2014, and in March, he opened his own CrossFit gym in Shrewsbury, CrossFit 1727.

Shea says, “The gym has been something I’ve wanted to do since 2009, so it’s sort of a five year brainchild of mine.”

Shea was introduced to CrossFit in 2008 and says he fell in love with the fitness program. One year later, he started to keep a notebook with ideas for his own future gym. Shea currently offers his clients his own take on the sport, focusing on technique and not allowing anyone to increase weight until they demonstrate mastery over each movement.

“I program our workouts to tax you physically and mentally just enough to make you stronger, faster and better as a whole,” says Shea.

In addition to disciplined training, Shea brings a wealth of competition experience to the CrossFit world. Shea competed three times in the CrossFit Regional Games which is no easy feat. He says only the top 48 athletes qualify out of 10,000 participants from New England, New York, and New Jersey. Shea says he uses the same training program and philosophy that has made him a successful competitor with his clients.

He states, “The philosophy mostly has to do with the mixture of exercises we do in a workout. There's

a specifically calculated mix of movements and time domains to maximize efficiency and athletic benefits.”

As for his ZOOBELLS business, Shea successfully sells them on-line and at his gym. Shea got the idea to create the fun and inspiring animal shaped kettlebells one evening while working out. He spent several months finding prototype companies that could make them and eventually launched the company. The first ZOOBELL design was a lion. Since then, he’s added a wolf, black panther, and a koala, with the fifth design currently in development. Shea is also proud of his decision to have all of his weights made in the USA.

So with two business under his (weight) belt, one might wonder if there will there be a tri-fecta of companies in his future.

Shea says, “My mother has an insurance agency, which is celebrating 30 years in business and many of my other family members own small businesses as well. I’m constantly coming up with ideas. Not all of them are plausible, but the ones that are, I will go after and find a way to bring them to life.”

For more information about ZOOBELLS, please visit www.zoobellsusa.com. For more information about CrossFit 1727, please visit http://www.crossfit1727.com.