Anytime Fitness opening soon in Strathmore

Times Reporter 

 

If fast food restaurants can be open 24/7 to serve fatty calories, why can’t there be a fitness facility open 24/7 to help burn calories? That’s the thought of Chestermere Anytime Fitness owners Aman Antal and Stephan Boily. 

The two men are opening their second location here in Strathmore in the spring of 2014. 

When Antal lived in Hinton, Alberta he found it was lacking a good fitness club. When he went to Calgary he saw there were many great clubs, and wondered why Hinton didn’t have something like that. 

“That’s why I came up with the idea of having Anytime Fitness gym in Chestermere, because my family used to live here and I would come and visit them and I would still have to go to Calgary to work out,” said Antal. 

“So I basically opened something just to enjoy myself.”

When he was looking around at other communities he found that something similar was needed here in Strathmore. Opening a 24-hour fitness facility will give more people an opportunity to work out because they will be able to do it on their time, any time of the day or night. 

If the club in Strathmore looks anything like the one in Chestermere, it will be a big open space with plenty of room to add equipment as the club, and its members, grow. Anytime Fitness offers variety in cardio equipment, ranging from treadmills, ellipticals, Precor AMT macines, rowing machine, stepper and bikes, and if you still want more then they have expresso interactive bikes where you can race against other people on a bike or play games like chase a dragon. It just makes cardio activity more fun. The other thing about expresso biking is the resistance of the bike pedle changes as you go uphill or downhill and this makes it more of a live experience. There is also a large section with free weights ranging from 5lbs to 110lbs. 

One stereotype that Antal and Boily would like to get away from is that a gym is meant for bodybuilding. 

“It’s not just about bodybuilding, we try to promote health and fitness,” said Antal. 

There are of course bodybuilders that are members of the club, but the goal is to promote overall health and fitness, and to create a sense of community among the members. 

Trainers are available to the members at an additional cost. They are on contract and will work your schedule. For some the extra fee isn’t feasible; Anytime Fitness has thought of that too. 

The website Anytime Health is a free website where you can track your calories and workouts. There is also a question and answer section and a trainer is available 24/7 through the site and much more. Antal said it is like Facebook except it’s all about health and fitness. 

“So if you don’t want to go with the personal trainer option you always have the option of Anytime Health. It’s something we give on top of our membership,” said Antal. 

Another option for the members is fitness-on-request classes. Say you want to take Zumba or a spin class but you can’t make it to the live class, or maybe you’re too shy for the live class. The fitness on demand classes allow you to schedule a class of your choosing that will play in a private room on a projection screen. 

The classes are available 24/7 and members can schedule a time in advance to ensure they can take the class they want when they will be at the club. 

The fear of not knowing how to use a piece of equipment is also taken away at Anytime Fitness. Many of the machines have a brief instructional video that shows you how to use it to target a certain muscle group.  

Antal and Boily are excited to open the new location in Strathmore, which will be next to Starbucks. They are currently looking to hire local residents to staff the new club. 

“We support local employment, all of our staff here is local from Chestermere. So we want to support local employment there so we will only hire local people, that’s our preference,” said Antal. 

Having experience working in a gym isn’t a necessity, because it is something that can be trained. 

“We are not looking just for someone professional for the gym, we’re looking for someone who is more of a community leader in fitness, who is more of a members person, who know what the need is in the community and who can lead the group,” said Antal. 

There are no drop-in rates for Anytime Fitness. Antal said there is a six-month minimum membership and rates vary from $49 to $65 a month. 

The reason the club doesn’t allow drop-in members or monthly passes is because they want the members to take ownership of the club and feel proud and relate themselves to the product. Antal said drop-in members don’t take care of the club the same as members who are in a contract, though drop-ins do improve business revenue.

“It’s not just for the money that we are into this business, it is more of providing the best possible services to the members in small communities at a most affordable rate and building the culture in the club, where members feel proud and enjoy working out,” said Antal.

There is a discounted hero membership, which is available to firefighters, police, nurses and doctors. 

Anytime Fitness has over 2,000 locations worldwide, with 1,800 of those in North America alone. There are six locations in and around Calgary, and with a membership people will be able to access any of the centres.

Access to the club is safe and secure. There will be a state of the art security system, and entrance to the gym will only be available with the proper access key. There are also safety necklaces that members can wear while working out that have a panic button, which will alert help. 

Antal said they are planning a presale on memberships, and will be offering their lowest rate ever to the first 100 people to sign up. The presale will happen early in the New Year and he recommends people like the Anytime Fitness Strathmore Facebook page to find out more details.