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Iron Gates Gym is an independent 24/7 bodybuilding and powerlifting gym at 134 E North Avenue in Belton, Cass County, Missouri, owned by Morgan Driskell and Ryan Thomas. Grand opening 14 February 2026.

Description

Iron Gates occupies a storefront at 134 E North Avenue, Belton, MO 64012, in northwestern Cass County on the southern Kansas City metro — Belton, Missouri, not Belton, Texas or any other namesake.1 The owners, on camera, place the lot across from Sonic.2

The gym’s own site calls it Belton’s bodybuilding and powerlifting gym: free-weight focused, custom-selected equipment, a posing room with professional stage lighting, 24/7 access, and a mix of first-time lifters and competitors.1 Instagram bio (official account @irongatesgym) states 24/7 access with staffed hours Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. and Saturday–Sunday 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.3 Membership signup is through a live GymMaster portal linked from the site.4

This is not a national gym chain. No Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Gold’s, TITLE, or other franchise mark appears on the first-party pages or the 2026 Belton Chamber listing. Equipment is described by the owners as independently manufactured and branded with the Iron Gates name.15

Ownership and history

The About copy on irongatesgym.com names the owners in full:1

We’re Morgan Driskell and Ryan Thomas — the owners of Iron Gates Gym and The Smoothie Shop & Supplements here in Belton, Missouri.

Morgan is described there as an NPC Bikini competitor since 2022 and a NASM-certified personal trainer offering online and in-person coaching. Ryan is described as training before the gym existed; no certification is attached to his name on that page.1 In a February 2026 walkthrough they introduce themselves on camera: “I’m Ryan. I’m Morgan. And we own the Iron Gates Gym… 134 East North Ave.”2

Prior businesses (owners’ own accounts, not this gym’s founding story). The same About page claims they also own The Smoothie Shop & Supplements in Belton.1 A March 2026 Protein Bro’s Podcast interview (#176) has them confirming the Belton smoothie shop and a sold pizza shop; they describe buying the smoothie shop in 17 days as their first real business, moving to Raymore to be near it, and later opening the gym because the south-metro gyms they tried did not match the specialty rooms they had used in Arizona.5 The Smoothie Shop & Supplements brand itself is a multi-location Kansas City smoothie/supplement business (Belton among other shops) that markets franchise opportunities — that is a brand fact about the smoothie chain, not a franchise claim about Iron Gates Gym.6 This page does not treat the gym as a franchise, and it does not convert the gym-site ownership sentence into a founding-year for the smoothie brand.

Build-out. On 23 July 2025 the gym Instagram posted that they had the keys that morning, with 8,000 sq ft of gym space, 50+ pieces of equipment already ordered, a posing room, and the 134 E North Ave, Belton address.7 The site’s About narrative is that after time in Scottsdale they came back and built a room that had been missing locally.1 The Fyffe walkthrough (20 February 2026) has Morgan saying they moved back in June of the prior year (June 2025) after Arizona gyms spoiled them, then built a bodybuilding- and powerlifting-focused floor: dumbbells to 150, cardio, turf, a competition-grade combo rack, kilo plates, and a deadlift platform.2

Opening. Instagram on 17 January 2026 announced IRON GATES GRAND OPENING — FEBRUARY 14TH, doors 9:00 a.m., DJ/coffee/breakfast until 11:00 a.m., open lift until 2:00 p.m.8 The March 2026 podcast, recorded as the gym being a few weeks in, still uses that opening as current.5

Legal entity. Missouri Secretary of State business-entity search was not available this pass (Cloudflare challenge). Operating-entity name and formation date: “.

Services

First-party, per the company site, Instagram, and the owners on camera:1329

  • 24/7 member access (app / scan-in)
  • Free-weight and plate-loaded strength floor; cardio section; turf
  • Posing room with stage lighting
  • Day pass, week pass, month-to-month, and annual Founders Club
  • Personal training — Morgan Driskell (NASM; listed on-site) and Chris Oatman (NASM; listed on-site). Morgan’s PT email on the site is mormusclecoaching@gmail.com; Oatman’s is chrisoatman22@gmail.com
  • Gym-branded merch via Shopify

Group classes, boot camps, and meal-prep retail are spoken as future or “might” in the February/March 2026 interviews and are not treated as current services.25

Sources

Footnotes

  1. “Home Page,” Iron Gates Gym (official Canva site), accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — Confirms: 134 E North Ave, Belton, MO 64012; phone (816) 535-6105; email irongatesgym@gmail.com; owners Morgan Driskell and Ryan Thomas; Smoothie Shop & Supplements claim for Belton; 24/7 access; posing room with stage lighting; bodybuilding/powerlifting positioning; NASM bios for Morgan and Chris Oatman; advertised $10/day, $29.99/week, $45/month (tax included), $500/year Founders. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Joshua Fyffe, walkthrough reel at Iron Gates Gym, Facebook, 20 February 2026. URL — Confirms: owners Ryan and Morgan on camera; 134 East North Ave across from Sonic; locally owned; bodybuilding/powerlifting focus; 24/7 app access; staffed ~10 a.m.–6 p.m.; spoken monthly $39.99 / first-responder-military $29.99; personal training by Morgan. Realtor promo, not a gym press release. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. IRON GATES GYM (@irongatesgym), Instagram profile, accessed 2026-08-31. URL — Confirms: Gym/Physical Fitness Center; “24/7 Access”; staffed hours Mon–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat–Sun 10am–2pm; Belton/KC hashtags; equipment-add posts (Arsenal Strength standing hamstring curl; Mega Mass row). Profile body from search extract; login wall on direct curl. ↩ ↩2

  4. Iron Gates Gym — GymMaster member portal, “Choose a Membership,” accessed 2026-08-31. HTTP 200. URL — Confirms: live Day Pass $10.65, Week Pass $31.95, Month to Month $45.00, Founders Club $532.50 / 1 year; no signup fee on all four. ↩

  5. Protein Bro’s Podcast, “#176 Iron Gates Gym - Morgan & Ryan,” YouTube, published 10 March 2026. URL — Confirms: Morgan and Ryan as the duo behind the new Belton gym; 24-hour access; independent (not a gym franchise); custom-branded equipment; $10 day pass; no-contract / no-startup-fee policy as spoken; prior pizza shop and Belton smoothie shop; Raymore move; Arizona (Scottsdale-era) gyms as the model; expansion talk only. Host sometimes says “Irongate” — that is the host’s wording, not a trade-name alias. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. The Smoothie Shop, Locations. URL — Confirms: Belton shop at 152 Cedar Tree Square, Belton, MO 64012, (816) 920-1977, among other KC-area shops. Brand-level franchise language is on the chain’s own materials; it is cited only to keep the gym-site “we own The Smoothie Shop & Supplements here in Belton” sentence from being misread as Iron Gates being a franchise or as Driskell/Thomas founding the 2010 smoothie brand. ↩

  7. @irongatesgym, “Iron Gates Gym coming to Belton!!,” Instagram, 23 July 2025. URL — Confirms: keys that morning; 8,000 sq ft; 50+ pieces ordered; posing room; 134 E North Ave, Belton, MO. ↩

  8. @irongatesgym, grand-opening announcement, Instagram, 17 January 2026. URL — Confirms: grand opening 14 February; doors 9:00 a.m.; DJ, coffee, breakfast until 11:00 a.m.; open lift until 2:00 p.m. ↩

  9. Belton Chamber of Commerce member profile, “Iron Gates Gym.” URL — Search-indexed about: irongatesgym.com; 816-535-6106; “Belton’s brand new gym built for bodybuilders, powerlifters, and new lifters alike… elite strength equipment, a professional posing room with stage lighting, personal training, and 24/7 access.” Direct curl this pass returned HTTP 403 (Cloudflare). Used only as a matching chamber blurb beside the roster we did read. ↩

See also

  • Registry
  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
  • belton-mo
Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/iron-gates-gym · record updated 2026-08-31