Longboat Key Fitness expanding, stretching

By S.T. Cardinal
| 8:00 a.m. November 28, 2025

Petar Sibinkic is the owner and a trainer at Longboat Key Fitness, which is expanding to the unit next door, with the new space focused on stretching and massaging.

Longboat Key
Business

This gym “is not a meat market,” says owner Petar Sibinkic.

Definitely not a big box franchise gym, Longboat Key Fitness is discretely but conveniently located in the Publix shopping center in the heart of Longboat Key. Gymgoers chat with the sociable Sibinkic between sets. Espresso is the pour in the morning, and catching up with fellow members happens alongside lifting at LBK Fitness. That’s exactly how Sibinkic likes it.

“This place is a personality-driven business,” he said. “It brings a sense of community.”

Longboat Key Fitness is located in the Publix shopping Center at 511 Bay Isles Pkwy.

And the business is bulking.

The storefront next door, which has sat empty for years, will soon serve as an extension of the gym.

Strength equipment is on the way, and the wall connecting the existing fitness center will come down to enlarge the workout space.

“I’m going to focus on stretch and align and massages,” Sibinkic said, pointing to the 1,300 square foot space where massage chairs are already sitting.

To help reach that goal, Sibinkic placed a call to Hong Kong, where Chris Watts has been practicing active isolated stretching for years at Motion Dynamics Ltd., the company he founded in 2012.

“His years of transforming the lives of Asia’s busy CEO’s and Entrepreneurs lead to this new, more systematic approach to re-habituate the body structure,” according to the Motion Dynamics website.

In the rear of the expanded outparcel will be a separate stretching area and two massage rooms. Watts, who will serve as lead therapist with LBK Fitness, will use his expertise as a “master stretcher” to help LBK Fitness clients, Sibinkic said.

His mentorship came decades ago from his friend Aaron Mattes, who now has a therapy clinic located off Bee Ridge Road. Before that, Watts was a chef and a scuba diver trainer.

Watts will work with Ann Miller and Luz Watts with the stretch and align program. Kathleen “Kitty” Galica is the gym’s Doctor of Physical Therapy. The gym also has 12 trainers and three massage therapists.

Sibinkic said he believes the expansion of his gym should be complete by the end of the year.

author

S.T. Cardinal

S.T. "Tommy" Cardinal is the Longboat Key news reporter. The Sarasota native earned a degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a minor in environmental studies. In Central Florida, Cardinal worked for a monthly newspaper covering downtown Orlando and College Park. He then worked for a weekly newspaper in coastal South Carolina where he earned South Carolina Press Association awards for his local government news coverage and photography.