Somewhere between her first race in 1985, at age 12, and her retirement from competition at the 1998 world championship in Pamplona, inline speed skater Vicci King picked up 25 gold medals. She earned 20 in United States Nationals, five in World Championship competitions, and many more silver and bronze in both. In 2007, she was inducted into the USA Roller Sports Hall of Fame.

King considers the athlete’s burden to be mental as much as it is physical. As a coach, she encourages all her athletes to read Dr. Kay Porter’s “The Mental Athlete” — a book she’s read to tatters. As a trainer, she helps clients find their inner athlete, the part of them that thinks fast and pushes hard.

“A lot of (gyms) will focus on speed, strength and agility, but maybe not the mental aspect of performance,” King said. She described running her athletes through “scissor hops,” an agility exercise that requires practicers to constantly shift their feet in and out of the squares on a horizontal ladder. “You get into the rhythm of the exercise all the way up, up, up, but by the time you get to the end of the ladder you have to think of your next step. It’s about changing your mind quickly so your body can change quickly.”

The former world champion said she believes there is an athlete inside everyone, even — perhaps especially — those who believe they don’t have a competitive bone in their body. It’s the kernel of her Sumner-based sport training facility’s name: Get Your Motivation or, simply, the G.Y.M.

King left a 15-year career with MultiCare to start the G.Y.M. in late 2012, with the goal of teaching clients to use cross-training methods in their exercise routine. King’s methods are not the same as the proprietary CrossFit routine, which she said tends to rely on high intensity movements that can over stress an undertrained client’s joints. When King does place a client into a high intensity exercise, such as box jumps, she makes sure they’re committed to a strength training program that will keep their fitness foundation intact.

Likewise, King said she makes sure all her clients develop an academic understanding of fitness and nutrition alongside their physical gains. For one of her weight loss clients, King stood in front of her treadmill as she warmed up, writing nutrition lessons on the mirror in dry erase marker.

“Preparation is key, and education is preparation,” King said. “Without education, you have all these fad diets… I mean, you can diet but, after you’re done dieting, how do you eat normally?”

One client, Debbie Johnson, brings her children — both in-line speed skaters — south from Snohomish to train with King.

“Vicci brought my kids from dead last to being champions who went on to nationals,” Johnson said. “She interviewed my kids and she told them ‘I’m here to develop athletes.'”

Her son is now ranked 12th in the country for his age group; her daughter is 23rd.

Beginning in March, King and the G.Y.M. will partner with the Bonney Lake and Sumner Recreation Department to offer a slideboard fitness class for children aged 7 and older.

The G.Y.M. is located at 13704 24th Street, Suite 107 in Sumner.