NEW YORK -- With two small children and a business that requires face-time with clients, Brian Eyster wants to work out when everyone else is going to sleep.
So Eyster, 32, of Royal Oak, Mich., joined Anytime Fitness, a 24-hour franchise where gym members use a code or a card to get into an unstaffed gym.
"Someone like me, the only time that works for me is 10, 11 o'clock at night when the house is quiet and I know I can step out for an hour or so," said Eyster, a wealth strategist.
Watch out mega health club. The 24-hour fitness center is one of the fastest-growing fitness franchises, billing itself as an alternative to oversized, overpriced health clubs. But the explosion has also raised concerns about whether people should work out in a fitness facility unsupervised, especially late at night.
Anytime Fitness, which started in 2002 in Hastings, Minn., opens a new club each business day and is on target to have 1,000 clubs before the end of the year, spokesman Mark Daly said. Snap Fitness has 700 clubs (the Bryan location, 4282 Boonville Road, opened May 19) and 800 more sold, according to spokesman Patrick Strait.
Members of these clubs with "absentee" owners are choosing convenience over frills. Eyster said he's not trying to win a body-building contest. He has no use for spinning classes. And he doesn't want to beg the guy in front of him to let him use the bench press between his sets.
Concerns
But the clubs have raised objections from fitness experts and even some state and local officials. Earlier this year, two Anytime Fitness franchisees in St. Paul, Minn., were fined for violating an ordinance that requires an employer or manager qualified in First Aid and CPR to be on duty whenever a business is open. Anytime Fitness is working with the mayor to change the rule, which was passed in the '80s to crack down on prostitution.
New York state law requires health clubs with more than 500 members to have a defibrillator and an employee or volunteer who is certified to operate it and administer CPR during business hours. In recent years, other states, such as Indiana and Arkansas, have made exemptions in their laws to allow card-key gyms outside of hotels and apartments.
Anytime Fitness clubs generally have a staff member from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Daly said. Snap Fitness clubs are staffed between 15 and 24 hours a week, according to Strait.
"If there were to be some type of accident or God forbid, heart attack, you need to have someone else in the building that is CPR certified and trained to assist," said Angela Green, the director of Fitness and Programming at the University of Toledo. She added that people who don't have proper instruction on how to use a piece of equipment increase their risk of injury.
The clubs say their facilities are safe, with video surveillance, panic buttons, 911 phones, defibrillators and "I've fallen and I can't get up!" lanyards.
"You are safer working out in an Anytime Fitness center than you are your own home," Daly said. "If you are alone in your basement, get short of breath, drop a weight on yourself, you don't have access to a panic button on the wall."
Convenience, cost
Key-card fitness clubs tout their convenience and affordability as their main attraction. Many of the clubs are located in small communities where the big clubs won't go. Center size ranges between 2,500 and 4,000 square feet -- some cardio and lifting machines and free weights.
While there are few country club amenities, such as rock climbing walls, saunas, classes or even locker rooms, the members aren't looking for those bells and whistles.
"I was looking for somewhere I could go, do my workout and be on my way," said Courtney Birmingham, 25, of Somers Point, N.J., a member of Snap Fitness. Birmingham said that at first, she was a bit apprehensive about working out late at night alone. But she said the security is adequate and she has her cell phone with her. "I've never felt unsafe," she said.
For people like Jeremy Bowen, who works a swing shift at a steel plant and has three children, such clubs are a refreshing option. Bowen, 37, of Greenville, Ind., and his wife, a registered nurse, never worked out until an Anytime Fitness opened near them.
"If we were going to start any consistent exercise, we had to have something that was there when we needed it," he said.
Staffing pluses
Some 24-hour fitness centers see a staff person as essential to their success. Tony Wells, chief marketing officer for 24 Hour Fitness, which has 400 locations, said there is always someone in the centers to greet members, answer questions about equipment or give them socks or a T-shirt if they left theirs at home.
"We also believe it contributes to the safety and security of our members while they work out," Wells said.
Jesse Cannone, a certified fitness trainer in Washington, D.C., said he thinks the key-card and traditional fitness centers will both endure.
"A regular health club may be more suited to the beginner, someone who is out of shape, or wants amenities that a 24-hour no-night-staff club doesn't have," Cannone said.
RSS
Mobile
Daily Emails
Twitter
Facebook
