Club Fitness attracts mostly first-time gym members
Club Fitness, Fitness for Everyone, has been up and operational at the Rehoboth Mall since March 2011, and the first question I asked proprietor Lisa Anthony, who owns Club Fitness with her husband Mike, was, “So how is everyone doing?”
The entire back end of the Rehoboth Mall including the food court has been turned into a state-of-the-art fitness center designed to attract a local population, most of whom have strayed away from fitness entirely or have no experience with belonging to a gym and working out.
A basic membership costs $9.99 per month, has no sign-up fee and is set up with a monthly deduction from a checking account. The upgraded preferred membership for $19.99 monthly entitles the person to free access to all classes and facilities in addition to 24-hour use. The preferred membership also entitles the member to bring a friend as long as that person is also local, defined as living within 35 miles of Club Fitness.
"Eighty-five percent of members are first-time gym users,” Lisa said. “It is affordable and we offer something for everyone; there is certainly enough not to get bored. We don’t want people to join just because it’s cheap. We want then to come in and enjoy all the ways to get fit, and we want them to stay fit. It’s a good feeling. We feel we are helping lots of different people work on getting healthier and feeling better about themselves.”
Lisa said Club Fitness offers a total of 56 classes a week. The first class begins at 6 a.m., and the last starts at 7:15 p.m.
There are Beach Body Boot Camp, Body Pump, Cardio Hour, Lowcomotion, Total Body Core Board, Body Step, Zumba Basic, Zumba, Body Flow, Kick Boxing, Yoga Stretch, Turbo Kick, Hip Hop Abs, Interval Training, Step and Sculpt, Bodyvive, Cardio Fit and Vinyasa Yoga. The big workout room can accommodate up to 80 people, but the largest classes seldom exceed 50. And there are also a number of RPM classes involving bikes, as well as the cardio cinema room, a kids' room and a Club Women room.
“Many of these classes are zero impact," Lisa said. “Members can then come out into the gym and find things they like to do, whatever it is they want to work. Each membership comes with a free one-hour orientation with one of our personal trainers."
Club Fitness has nine trainers certified as Level 1, 2 or 3, and some of the trainers actually teach classes. A member may sign up for three training sessions for $99 or sign a contract for more regular sessions over a longer period of time.
“The layout of the gym is designed to be non-intimidating,” Lisa said. “Some people like cardio; others like lifting using machines, and some others prefer free weights. Everyone seems happy with the gym's layout. Members say the new machines seem designed to be very joint-friendly."
Summer memberships for the out-of-town crew can be had for $99 for the summer; a daily pass or weekly pass can also be purchased.
“Some members have kept their membership to other gyms like CrossFit and just like doing both,” Lisa said. “Our approach from the beginning was to bring lots of first-time gym members to Club Fitness. That is now 85 percent of membership, and we hope all those people continue to use the gym.”
