‘No more ego lifting’: How one Catholic gym is putting God at the center of fitness
As you walk into one new gym in the Archdiocese of Denver, the first thing you’ll notice isn’t the equipment. A large crucifix hangs on the wall above a Bible, while a nearby whiteboard is covered with prayer intentions. The gym’s workout equipment fills the rest of the space.
Grow the Kingdom gym opened in 2025 in the former Augustine Institute building in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Founded by Jayce Rastrelli and Hayden Dalton, the gym aims to integrate faith and fitness, teach the importance of taking care of the body as a way to serve God and family, and equip individuals to be servants of God.
Rastrelli and Dalton, who are best friends, felt inspired to open the gym after experiences they had working out at a secular gym, where they were surrounded by music, conversations, and attire that they considered immodest and inappropriate.
“I realized I had been lifting in an environment that just wasnʼt beneficial to my faith,” Rastrelli told EWTN News in an interview. “It was like a battle ground.”
Each had a background in personal training and sports. After prayer and discernment, the two friends decided to open Grow the Kingdom as a “safe space to glorify God,” where…
