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NEWINGTON, NH -- Planet Fitness co-founder Marc Grondahl has
been named chairman of the company’s board of directors.
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OVERLAND PARK, KS -- The final tallies are in, and our expert
judges selected the winners in the eighth annual Club Industry
Best of the Best contest. The competition recognizes some of the best
programming at fitness facilities in the United States and provides
concrete examples of programs that have proven, successful
results.
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SAN RAMON, CA -- 24 Hour Fitness has launched a Cardless
Check-In program that uses fingerprints to identify club
members.
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WALL TOWNSHIP, NJ -- A trainer at a New Jersey club was
arrested after an iPhone was found hidden in a coed restroom at the
club.
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COTTAGE GROVE, WI -- Johnson Health Tech Inc. (JHT), the
manufacturer of Matrix Fitness, posted an increase in sales in the
second quarter.
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AMES, IA -- The Lied Recreation Center at Iowa State
University (ISU) is closed until further notice after 18 to 24 inches of
flood water breached the facility last week. Three nights of heavy rain
caused extensive flooding in Ames, IA, where the university is located,
and in other parts of the state.
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TAMPA, FL -- Smartphone apps soon may be the new personal
trainers for Army soldiers in the field. The winner of the Apps for the
Army contest was a Physical Training Program app designed to help troops
develop their own physical training programs.
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LAFAYETTE, IN -- Students at Ivy Tech Community
College-Lafayette will be able to work out at the Lafayette Family YMCA
at a reduced rate as a result of a partnership between the two
entities.
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We’ve got confirmation that Paul Ireland, late of Star
Trac, has landed at Power Plate. Ireland was vice president of sales
with Star Trac and had been with that company for more than 15 years
before he was part of Star Trac’s layoffs earlier this
summer.
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Gold’s Gym has taken a page out of the Town Sports
International playbook by offering JetBlue flight attendant Steven
Slater a free membership.
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The August issue of Club Industry magazine features a
story about clubs with unique design
elements that help owners boost retention and attract new members.
The issue also includes a story about how green
machines help attract members and an article about how EFT
payments can increase club effectiveness.
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LA Fitness,
Irvine, CA, has opened a new club in Mesa, AZ. The club features a full
array of cardio and strength equipment, full-court basketball, a
three-lane lap pool, racquetball courts, a whirlpool spa and locker
rooms, as well as a separate group exercise studio and a multi-tiered
indoor cycling room. “We are pleased to add our fourth club to the
Mesa community,” LA Fitness CEO Louis Welch said in a statement. LA
Fitness has more than 340 locations in 22 states.
Crunch, New York, will open its
third new franchise club in October. The 17,000-square-foot club in
Rocklin, CA, will offer membership rates varying from $9.95 to $19.95
per month. The first Crunch franchise club is scheduled to open today in
Lake Forest, CA. That club is owned
by Steve Clinefelter, the former president of 24 Hour Fitness’
Asian subsidiary, California Fitness. Another Crunch franchise club will
open this fall in Portland, OR.
The roof of a Life Time
Fitness in Austin, TX, and the ceiling of an Anytime Fitness in Lafayette, CO,
suffered damages this week. The Life Time club reopened Wednesday after
strong winds tore part of the club’s roof off on Monday. Chunks of
insulation from the roof were scattered in the parking lot, according to
a local media report. Ceiling tiles in the weight room of the Anytime
Fitness club collapsed after a rainstorm, causing an evacuation. The
club’s owner closed the club overnight to dry out the building, a
local newspaper reported.
Fort Carson, Colorado
Springs, CO, broke ground on a $31 million physical fitness center this
week. Construction is expected to be finished in January 2012. The
center will have a gymnasium with basketball courts, an indoor running
track, racquetball courts, swimming pools, fitness and exercise areas,
climbing walls, locker rooms with showers and administration
offices.
The Rush Fitness Complex,
Knoxville, TN, is holding a grand opening Sept. 3-5 for its newest
facility in Winston-Salem, NC. The club is the company’s 20th location
and will employ more than 50 full-time and part-time staff. The company
is providing door prizes and a chance to win a free one-year membership
to the facility.
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Baird, Milwaukee,
completed its third fitness industry transaction in eight months when it
helped with the reorganization
of equipment manufacturer Star Trac, which was completed in July,
the company recently announced. Baird, an employee-owned, international
investment banking, private equity, wealth and asset management firm,
served as the exclusive financial advisor to Star Trac in this
transaction. Baird also sold Nautilus Inc.’s commercial strength and
cardio lines, as well as its manufacturing plant in Independence, VA, to
Med-Fit Systems Inc. in February. The firm also sold Nautilus’
StairMaster and certain assets of Schwinn Fitness to Land America Health
and Fitness Co. Ltd., Michael Bruno’s organization, in December. Bruno
also is the new owner of Star Trac.
ABC Financial, Little
Rock, AR, added Steve Ayers to its team as vice president of sales. He
will manage and direct the execution of sales plans and initiatives in
new markets as well as supervise and train ABC’s sales team.
Previously, Ayers served as chief financial officer and equity partner
for a regional Gold’s Gym franchise in Florida and held CEO and CFO
positions with Ormond Investment Group.
Technogym, Gambettola,
Italy, is the official supplier of the first edition of the Youth
Olympic Games, which began on Aug. 14 and continue through Aug. 26 in
Singapore. The company says it was chosen not only for the quality of
its products and services but for the experience it has accumulated in
the previous four Olympic Games. Youth Olympics is a multi-discipline
sports event inspired by the Olympic Games and dedicated to young
athletes from 14 to 18 years old. In Singapore, more than 3,500 young
athletes from 170 countries will train with Technogym.
Advantage Fitness Products
(AFP), a provider of fitness facility design, supply and service,
completed two fitness centers at The Eventi—a Kimpton Hotel and
Beatrice Luxury Residences located in New York’s fashion district. AFP
has designed two separate gyms that will serve the wellness needs of
both short-term hotel guests and long-term residents,
respectively.
The American Council on
Exercise, (ACE), San Diego, announced a partnership with Henkel to
support the company’s Henkel
Helps Get Kids Fit campaign by launching new educational tools on
the Youth Fitness section of the ACE Get Fit
website. The campaign was recently launched to address—and help
bring more attention to—the growing health and fitness concerns among
the nation’s youth. “We continuously strive to educate parents,
teachers and ACE-certified fitness professionals on safe and effective
physical activities for children, but we also believe it’s important
to support initiatives such as Henkel Helps Get Kids Fit to further
motivate people and encourage them to inspire change in their
communities,” Scott Goudeseune, ACE president and CEO, said in a
statement.
MYE Entertainment announced
that Adirondack LLC has installed more than 7,000 MYE wireless
entertainment systems for Planet
Fitness clubs. The systems include MYE Eclipse Series TV receivers
and MYE TV transmitters. “We are very pleased with the product quality
and customer service provided by MYE Entertainment,” Adirondack
President Steve Joanis said in a statement. “Product durability is top
priority for Planet Fitness, and MYE Entertainment products have met our
stringent quality standards. We look forward to our continued
partnership.”
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