The health and fitness club industry is seeing exponential growth across all areas- from the number of fitness facilities to the revenue generated and consumer growth. In a report published by Statistica, the global health and fitness club industry was worth over $ 87 billion in 2017, up from $67 billion in 2009. Similarly, the number of fitness center memberships will continue rising. This upward trajectory is set to carry on as more consumers place value on their well-being, which means fitness investments will keep booming. However, facilities designed with the user in mind will enjoy a larger market share and client satisfaction and retention.

Investing in a professional design before setting up your fitness facility is one of the most effective ways to ensure high usage and efficient traffic flow. Read ahead to learn exactly how a great design contributes to the success of your fitness facility.

Visualize your project in 2D and 3D

Creating an ideal fitness training space requires you to work with professionals who can turn your vision into reality. It all starts with creating top-down 2D and 3D designs that simulate your complete project. This allows you to visualize how the facility will look like before embarking on the actual construction and equipment ordering. At this stage, you can redesign or make changes to the existing layout until it meets your requirements. With high-quality 2D and 3D designs in place, you’ll have an easier time executing your plan.

Use space efficiently and improve client flow

It is vital for fitness facilities to maintain a clear, well-structured, and organized space. Professional design ensures proper use of space such that users are comfortable and have plenty of room for training. In an ideal design, all unnecessary items such as cupboards are moved to provide more floor space. The available space is then creatively used for essentials such as storage and wipes, water coolers, weight racks, and other vital accessories and equipment.

Good designs also take into account how typical workout routines function. With this in mind, you can arrange training equipment and accessories in a way that facilitates most activities, thus making it easier for users to move through their workout sessions. The bottom line is setting up the facility in a way that feels less cluttered so that users can freely move around while avoiding lines forming at certain equipment.

Determine where to place equipment

Getting the most out of your available space is all about considering how the facility’s design impacts user experience. For this reason, ease of use and accessibility should always be the hallmark when laying out the equipment. A good idea would be categorizing equipment by type – such that specific sections of the facility are dedicated to weightlifting, cardio exercising, group training, mobility/stretching, or any other kind of workout. It makes sense if all cardio machines are placed together or if dumbbells are kept close to the free weight machines. This demonstrates how investing in a professional design for your project can help create the ideal training environment- safe, comfortable, high-performing, and motivating.

Electrical and WiFi needs

Modern fitness facilities have now stepped up their game from the traditional “warehouse feel” to designing for user satisfaction. One such trend is the increased adoption of self-powered training equipment, which is great for the logistics and overall safety of the users. Despite these advancements, electrical needs are still required in most fitness centers. While most gym owners tend to overlook this point in their planning stage, a professional design will take into account all mechanical, electrical, and internetrequirements. This includes planning power outlets for your training equipment, WiFi, visuals, audio, and any other accessories that require power within the facility.

Is your equipment meeting ADA requirements?

A fundamental requirement for all fitness training centers is to remove all barriers that may limit accessibility by people with disabilities. ADA compliance in a fitness facility covers all structural domains like parking, exterior entrances, elevators, doors, bathrooms, locker rooms, customer service desk, accessibility around training equipment, and all building accessories. Professional designs take into account ADA guidelines and standards for fitness facilities pertaining to equipment set-up and installation. Adhering to these regulations is a way of helping safeguarding your facility against future liability.

Summing it up

Investing in a professional design will have much positive impact on your fitness facility.  If people are satisfied with the space they are in, there’s a much better chance for them to stick to their exercise routines. This will lead to the advancement of the facility’s overall status and higher client retention, thus helping your business achieve continuous growth and success.

In days of yore, all you needed to amp up your fitness was a wooly mammoth to run away from. Exercise was a part of daily life for hunters and gatherers, so hominids didn’t need kettlebells to carve out their abs. Nor did the Ancient Greeks—they acquired their biceps in the military centuries before the first book about physical pursuits was written by Cristobel Mendez. The fitness industry as we know it today began when a muscle-bound guru named Macfadden invented the first wall-mounted “muscle developers.” In the disco era, jogging and jazzercise were trends du jour.  If the burgeoning gym sector could make exercise fun, surely the entire world would join the dance party. Exercise trends are wont to pass, so as the Nineties dawned in all their pleather splendor, fitness centers were revolutionized yet again.

Training in the Eighties

Stair masters, elliptical cross trainers, and exercise bikes targeted muscle groups with razor-like precision. In those days, aerobic fitness and strength training were divided by a giant fitness center wall, and ne’er the two could meet. The approach was as inefficient as it was time-consuming, and gym brands only muddied the waters by designing increasingly complicated machines. If an exercise machine could play movies, count burned calories, and butter your morning toast, the industry sold it.

With time comes education. The more scientific understanding the fitness industry has gained, the better it’s become at toning wobbly bodies. Before 2010 dawned, centers focused on five areas:

• Obesity management
• Fitness for aging baby boomers
• Functional fitness that prepared the body for everyday activities
• Core training

These approaches were supposed to be a shortcut to larger muscles, but as the years progressed, scientists discovered that short, intense bouts of movement could target both long and short-term endurance. Fitness fiends could cut their workouts in half without suffering any negative effects. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) revolutionized the modern-day fitness center. Even Olympic athletes were doing it. Studies show that high intensity bursts increased power output by almost 10% while improving movement efficiency.

As HIIT entered public consciousness, the industry sought out inventive ways to pack power into their workouts. Wearable technology was an obvious solution. Tabata training followed closely behind, so pylo boxes became a requisite inclusion in every athletic training center.  Pylo power caught on fast, giving trainers the variety they needed to tone their bodies holistically. Add body weights, box jumps, and split squats, and you’re well on your way to fitness freedom. Pylometric boxes turn the body into a weight, allowing trainers to combine aerobic and strength training in a higher intensity workout. The higher the equipment, the harsher the training. The simplicity of it is elegant, but you can’t achieve stability with a pylo box alone.

The Emergence of the Athletic Training

Unlike Jazzercise, HIIT couldn’t be limited to one room at the back of the gym. It required too much space and had too many enthusiasts for that, so the fitness center of yesteryear transformed into an athletic training center replete with high-tech flooring and every pylo box design you could dream up. The sheer intensity of HIIT demanded a new approach to turf. Non-slip surfaces aren’t enough because the design of the surface determines the kind of strength and endurance achieved. Pylometric training on a firm surface reduces muscle soreness and even damage, but accidents must be reduced as well. Today’s centers must improve explosive power via the most effective surface, and a gym mat simply won’t do anymore. Opti-Fit approaches HIIT as an artform, carrying fitness into a distant future years ahead of its time.

For more information on designing todays fitness centers, contact one of Opti-Fit’s fitness professionals.

Treadmills and Ellipticals

How hard you push yourself determines how many calories you burn either on a treadmill or elliptical machine, or any other exercise machine.  And instead of choosing one machine over the other, smart exercisers know that both of these aerobic-building cardio stations play a major role in helping you lost fat, stay slim and work off those last few pounds.

RX: In between days of strength training and yoga, for instance, do 1-2 days of either machine or try mixing and matching in one innovative session, for 15 minutes each. There are many more options!

Treadmills Blast Body Fat

Yet the activity is fairly tough to maintain at quicker paces. Running outside burns even more calories than running flats on your treadmill, say our fitness experts. On the other hand, elliptical machines with arm handles and resistance allow you to work your upper body along with your lower body, which you cannot do on a treadmill.

If you prefer to run, elliptical workouts can be a great way to reduce boredom and prevent injuries, such as back pain, minor sprains and strains.

Proper Technique Decides the Winner

Same form apply though: Do not hold onto the treadmill bar to help support your body weight as you walk on inclines or run. Similarly, if you grab onto any exercise handles – like the Step Mill or the commercial treadmill – you are cheating yourself out of the biggest calorie burn – and proper posture, which helps prevent overuse injuries.

Commercial Elliptical Machines

The lower impact of the elliptical cross-trainer allows you to zero in on your butt and thigh muscles while pedaling and driving through heels with each rotation. On the safe, fun elliptical machine elliptical your feet are connected to the pedals — and similar to bicycling. Standing elliptical movements are easier on the knees and joints of the body, and require less stabilization, so some may consider it a safer form of cardio.

If you are preparing for any kind of competitive running race, you’re already working on speed, distance and stamina with running. If you have slight pains from al the running, it’s a safer bet to hop onto the elliptical machine and blast calories on that to give your feet a break.

However, not running enough leaves you vulnerable to injury on race day. Your heart may be able to sustain a marathon distance run after training on the elliptical, but your ankles, feet, knees, hips, back, quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes (butt muscles) will not be ready for the continuous pounding.

We think there’s a place for every piece of cardio equipment on a weekly regimen! Don’t get stuck on the same-old machine every day though, or you’ll stop seeing real results, Instead, start experimenting with pace, duration and intensity on several different machines.

Get your heart pumping and reduce stress  on both the treadmill and the elliptical machine.

Which one you choose depends on your potential injuries, race goals and overall fitness level. Try cardio cross training – and get the best of both worlds, and shed a few pound just in time for pool season!

Making Corporate Fitness Accessible

Corporations are getting employees moving with on-site workout facilities and custom fitness programming that pays for itself in employee engagement and worker morale.

If you can build and create an attractive fitness space in or around your office, and schedule exercise time around your employees’ work schedules, business owners actually help make consistent and convenient exercise part of the normal workday – and very much contribute to the health and morale of your employees.

Original fitness centers with personal trainers and a slew of cardio machines had certainly made way for on-site yoga studios, compact weight stations and access to local courts.

Increase Employee Health and Morale

Despite economic challenges, the demand for on-site facility fitness opportunities is continuing to increase, according to Corporate Wellness Magazine. If you’re considering a new exercise space in your office, it probably falls directly on your company’s capital to recreate tight spaces, so budget, footage obstacles and security will contribute to the creation of your ultimate corporate wellness areas.

When regular exercise amenities enter the picture – including personal training and group fitness classes – your office exercise facility may also significantly increase worker performance and concentration with stress relief classes like yoga, tai chi and meditation programming.

Think Exercise Quality, Not Quantity

The ultimate goal is to help make working out convenient and accessible for all of your customers and residents. Design staples typically include an inviting setting, natural light and a variety of equipment options at the hub of your corporate wellness center.

10 Fitness Incentives at Work

When space is at a premium, it pays to invest in fitness perks for your employees, such as personal training and employer-paid gym memberships, while still providing the basics:

1. Access to multiple running trails
2. Yoga and Pilates classes
3. Rock climbing wall
4. Juice bars
5. Healthy bistro fare
6. Pool access at a local YMCA
7. Weight loss competitions
8. Charity walks
9. Resistance bands and balls
10. Company bowling leagues

Opti-Fit offers an innovative suite of consulting and project management services to deliver your vision for office-based facilities and corporate wellness operations, from concept to completion. Contact us for a free site assessment.

Equipping College Gyms and Athletic Teams

College Athletic Departments that support collegiate-level sports teams are competitive when it comes to designing revolutionary fitness spaces to attract future athletes and keep their student body healthy, happy and fit.

Big-time college athletic departments and state-of-the-art training facilities are raking in more money than ever – and spending it just as quickly.

Very often we build, design and develop entertainment wings in schools or universities with attractions more commonly seen in glittery theme parks than on college campuses.

Just in Time for College Tours…  

Check out where the sports teams exercise. Some of these exclusive athletic training centers in college facilities are for athletes only, while others are open to all students. Your school is probably spending a whole lot of green on equipment for top athletic training and state-of-the art athletic performance facilities.

To remain competitive and attract top athletes and revenue, you might see a college football stadium and basketball arena with elaborate practice facilities, professional-quality locker rooms, players’ lounges with high-definition televisions and video game systems. 

We Design and Outfit University Fitness Centers

No matter where you attend college, your school is probably spending a whole wad of annual budget on the athletic training center and customized fitness programming, especially for the school football team.

Ranked university football team gyms tend to have higher caliber demands based on the level of cross training and pure athletic performance involved in their sport.

Imagine the well-stocked 2-story weight room, hydrotherapy tubs and rehab equipment, water walls, amphitheaters and Olympic-level aquatic centers.

That’s just the beginning of creating state-of-the-art fitness spaces for universities and college sports teams.

Fitness and wellness amenities in college gyms:

– Imported wood for custom flooring

– A barbershop and a salon

– A basketball and baseball stadium

– Sauna and steam room

– Student pool with a lazy river and rafts

– Sand volleyball courts, and more

Quality Athletic Centers for College Sports Teams

On-campus stadiums, volleyball courts, soccer fields, golf practice facilities and ice hockey arenas are often built on funds derived from powerhouse football teams and men’s basketball teams.

As the primary revenue-driver, however, the football team is usually the first to get the facilities upgrade. Every improvement is considered a recruiting edge, from the deluxe locker room to the scoreboard.

We design and equip your fitness facilities with top-of-the line exercise equipment brands and facilitate a collaborative design process. Contact Opti-Fit Fitness Solutions for a free consultation and start creating the monumental college gym of the future. And the future is now.

The Study of Human Movement

We’ve been a source of commercial strength equipment and top-of-the-line cardio equipment for decades. We specialize in applying our practical knowledge of human movement based on the science of the body’s biomechanics to provide effective solutions to meet every fitness – and business – need you may have.

We are always excited for the chance to help you design a gym or upgrade your current facility’s equipment with professional commercial strength equipment and strength tools targeting functional fitness, such as medicine balls, balance boards and much more.

Functional fitness interest kicks in with aging:  Our bodies naturally lose muscle and flexibility, which in turn can impair the ability to live life to its fullest. Simple tasks such as carrying groceries or putting away dishes can become taxing. 

Many studies show that functional strength exercises mimic everyday movements and tend to focus on targeting multiple muscles groups at once, as well as maximizing core strength.  

Equipment Design: Action in Motion

Here are a few biomechanical concerns that crop up when strength or cardio equipment manufacturers produce new commercial fitness machines:
– Properly positions your back and muscles to engage your muscle groups through full range of motion

– Avoids compression of muscles or joints

– Maintains balanced and controlled friction bilaterally (on both sides) of strength equipment

– Increases resistance levels in minute increments for progression and safety

– Adjusts to accommodate a wide range of sizes, shapes, body types and fitness levels

– Provides a heavy-enough load to accommodate your biggest and strongest members or clients

Over the last 20 years, Opti-fit experts and design staff have partnered with thousands of customers in dozens of cities to plan and design commercial spaces, and supply and maintain fitness equipment all over the United States. We’d love to hear your story!

Contact us for a FREE design consultation or facility assessment.

Maybe a New Home Gym?

The man in your life deserves to stay fit and healthy. FOr dad, the best way to get into shape is by taking his workouts outside this month and using outdoor recreational fitness equipment as often to sustain.

Outdoor fitness equipment and recreational exercises – like basketball courts, mini rock walls and outdoor weight circuits – will get dad and everyone in the family beach-ready in record time.

If you don’t see them already, you are going to start seeing a proliferation of sophisticated outdoor recreational equipment in cities and local playgrounds near you. What’s new? Everything from aquatic centers and new basketball courts to tamper-proof steel ab press machines near a set of adult parallel bars.

 Weatherproof and Tamperproof Equipment

Fitness machines and bolted, steel workout stations are popping up in green spaces in parks to promote wellness in local communities and to help in the fight against child and adult overweight and obesity.

The next time you are in a neighborhood park., take a good hard look around and see if there are grownup playground items adjacent or close to the kids’ areas.  You might find body weight exercises done in a circuit training format or within different cardio and strength stations can provide a complete workout – especially if you finish your playground workout with a brisk walk or run around the park to torch additional fat and calories.

5 Reasons for Dad to Use Recreational Equipment

He trains longer. Studies show exercise participants are likely to work out longer when they are outside in nature, resulting in burning roughly 5-7 percent more calories during outside exercise.

He trains harder. The rugged or varied terrain of a park might be just what your body needs to challenge itself to learn a new skill, like hanging upside down on a set of adult monkey bars. Get crazy, be confident, do more cardio!

He soothes stress. Outdoor exercise battles work stress. According to a report published in Environmental Science and Technology a 30-minute walk in the park made 71 percent of active people in the study feel “significantly less stressed,” while 72 percent of people who exercised inside actually felt more stressed.

He is the best role model.  You serve as instant wellness role model to your kids, your family and your office mates. That’ll keep you sweating and inspiring all season long.

He avoids getting sick. Indoor air is two to five time more polluted than outdoor air, according to a study from the Environmental Protection Agency, so you may just sidestep cold season by perspiring in the park instead of your favorite gym class.

We’ve developed a reputation for tough equipment that provides real workouts to even the fittest of users. At the same time our innovative, built-in assist mechanisms make our equipment accessible to all fitness levels. We work closely with our clients to create and deliver the optimal fitness experience.

We design your space while partnering with your architects, interior designer and contractors to fully optimize your fitness amenity into your building design. With our specialized process, we can provide realistic renderings of your facility while bringing a strong sense of detail and accuracy to your fitness space.

Call today for your facility’s free design assessment.

Thinking Outside the Box

Opti-Fit must be resourceful and flexible when designing and equipping residential fitness spaces that may be small, oddly shaped or poorly lit. Multi-family health club footprints, especially,  are often compressed to accommodate other amenities, so maximizing versatility and usability in residential gym areas is key. And we work within your budget and according to your personalized and customized design goals.

At Opti-Fit we accomplish these goals by utilizing and equipping multifunctional, movable equipment tailored and customized to your gym’s layout. We are fast, flexible and versatile.

Consider Your Target User

We do take into consideration the demographics of your school or residence, your surrounding neighborhood, and much more. Our innovative and flexible approach emphasizes providing for all ages and experience levels to democratize the space and maintain compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Family Fitness: Ambiance and Efficiency

When designing and equipping residential gyms, you must also consider cardio machines and exercise trends for all ages and sizes, such as aquatic programming, yoga and other mind-body exercise routines.

Ten years ago adapting the fitness center to various workout types has historically meant designating certain areas for cardio, stretching and weight training. Today, you likely add (on top of those main three areas) a yoga area, cycling and functional training areas. Segregating these activities prevents injuries caused by too-much equipment in an overly small space.

What About Exercise Beginners?

Designing your new multi-family fitness space must also and imbue novice exercisers with a greater degree of confidence and comfort. We work very closely with our client to create and deliver the optimal exercise and movement experience, whether you require a new aquatic center in your university fitness space, or refurbishing the tiny fitness studio designated for your multi-family fitness space.  

Explore functional fitness opportunities in your commercial fitness space.

With our specialized process, we can provide very realistic renderings of your custom facility while delivering a very strong sense of environment, accuracy and details.

Opti-Fit is the leader in fitness center design and supply. Over the last 20 years, the Opti-Fit team has worked with thousands of clients across the nation in the planning, execution, design and supply of their fitness amenity space.

Opti-Fit also partners with the top suppliers in the fitness industry integrating our process into the optimal user experience. We can help you and your exercise fitness space reach your ultimate potential for customer satisfaction, whether you manage a university exercise space or a commercial multi-family residential gym.

Perfect for group studios, dynamic training areas, flexibility zones, multi-family fitness centers or anywhere you need extra functional training, there are TRX setups created for every kind of innovative fitness center. Highly customizable, a TRX Suspension Training system includes anchoring and storage units that boost exercise functionality and mobility for every fitness level.

Suspension workouts require extra attention to body position, and the parts (and handles) zero in on the core muscles of your abdominals, obliques, mid-to-lower back, and even the butt muscles.  When you work out and exercise your core on a regular basis, you do provide a strong and stable base for every movement in every other part of the body. 

Ask your favorite personal trainer to provide a suspension-training workout, and get ready to pump it up! 

Benefits of Suspension Training  

TRX Suspension Training Systems also utilize and adapt to every square inch of your exercise facility or personal training studio. TRX Corner Units, for instance, include mounted TV and self-guided straps and add-ons for functional training, upper body, lower body,and always your core muscles.  

Fitness Equipment to Boost Performance

Help develop your athletes’ speed, power and agility with top-of-the-line training tools and sport-specific resistance machines.

Here’s how to maximize every athlete’s potential with innovative and highly customized fitness choices in athletic training centers – whether they are in colleges or multi-family residential gyms – the optimal training environment is attractive, comfortable and inspiring. It might be filled with proprietary equipment and properly placed mirrors, free Wi-Fi and innovative exercise machines that publicize your brand and the inherent personality of the commercial fitness facility.

The workhorses of the modern-day athletic training center will probably always be top-of-the-line sports specific cardio machines and innovative weight training machines. Yet, even these more straightforward choices help move your brand forward.

Whether you are training professional sports teams or future Olympians, your commercial fitness equipment options should closely reflect your brand, messaging and target audiences. Choose your resistance exercise tools and customized training methods very carefully – and mindfully. Allow your athletes to see, feel and track their progress every step of the way.

Below, we pinpoint 10 ways to stand out from the cardio and weight training crowd with careful selections of your favorite and most effective sport-specific training tools and other athletic-based, exercise accessories:

Top 10 List Athletic Performance Tools

1  Agility training tools, such as cones, small weighted balls and hurdles

2  Weights and weighted barbells, dumbbells and kettle bells

3  Pilate’s tools for core training, such as Pilate’s rings and chairs

4  TRX Training and unique fitness programming

5  High-end vibration trainers like Power Plate stations

6  Strength benches and weight racks from sports-specific strength vendors

7  Battle ropes, jump ropes, training ropes and lifting straps

8  Boxing bags and other martial arts athletic tools and strength attachments

9  Yoga blocks, straps and customized mats and training ropes for mind-body programming

10 Agility sleds and speed ladders for coordination, speed and explosive power (or plyometrics)

Attracting top athletes to a college athletic training center or offering innovations to your multi-family residential gym members always comes down to ensuring program success and the top quality of your training room equipment.

Ask about Opti-fit’s athletic training centers and our free commercial facility assessments today.