Workout facility promotes exercise for the body, mind, and soul –
By Patricia Beech –
Two young women stand outside the entrance of the fitness club on the corner of Fourth and Broadway in Seaman. The door is locked, so they’re waiting. One says she’s going to buy a membership in the club.
“I want to join because I need to get in shape,” she says. “I love that this place is so close to home.”
She’ll join 300 other Adams County residents who have purchased memberships at the new CFR Christian Fitness Club.
Barbara Crank, the club receptionist, says the workout facility is a great opportunity for the entire Adams County community.
“There’s nothing else like this close by,” she says. “Customers can come in 24/7 if the want, except for a few hours on Sunday (from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.) when we’re closed as a time to reflect on our spiritual health.”
All club members receive a key card allowing them access to the building. Crank said many club members arrive in the early morning hours to get their workout in before they go to work.
“People are taking advantage of the chance to be physically fit because, for many of them, it’s an opportunity they wouldn’t have otherwise.”
While the fitness club’s growing membership is largely due to word-of-mouth referrals from members and local medical facilities, Crank says the supportive relationships club members form is part of what keeps them coming back.
“We have members who meet here who now arrange their time schedules so they can work out together, like Moms who come at the same time so their toddlers can play together or watch television while they work out.”
Athletes from local schools are also using the fitness facility.
Justin Schmitz, head football coach at North Adams, meets weekly with several of his junior high and high school football players for strength training workouts.
While the boys stretch, Schmitz writes the day’s workout routine on a white dry erase board hanging beneath a 65” flat screen TV: parallel squats, straight leg dead lifts, curling – the list goes on.
He says every day they do something a little different.
The kids are focused.
“We’re getting fit because you have to be strong for football season,” Peebles seventh grader Zane Knechtly says. “The better shape you’re in, the less likely you are to get hurt.”
Peebles eighth grader Alan McCoy sees yet another practical benefit.
“I like working out with my friends,” he says. “It makes it easier to do because we challenge each other to do better.”
“We’re learning new things,” says Matthew Hudgel, also a Peebles eighth grader. “We know the harder we work the stronger we’ll be for the sports that are coming up like football, basketball, and cross country.”
Knechtly, McCoy, and Hudgel all play on the North Adams Junior High football team.
The fitness club’s founder, Ross Madden, says the facilities success has been “rewarding”.
“We’ve been open three months, and about a week ago a lady who joined when we first opened told me the Fitness Club had been the best thing for her – she’s lost 40 pounds,” he says. “We’ve had so many people come in just to say ‘thank you for putting this here’.”
According to Madden, the fitness club is a non-profit sponsored by the Christian Farm Retreat, but is a separate entity from the farm retreat.
The facility offers members a fully equipped cardio-workout room with two elliptical machines, two treadmills, a seated bike, and four stationary bikes. There is also a television-viewing and play area for children which Crank says will in the near future be extended to a fenced-in outdoor play area with playground equipment.
She said the facility will have monitors so mothers can watch their children playing outside while they’re working out indoors.
The club’s weight room also comes fully equipped with commercial-grade equipment including: four weight racks, weight benches and over 2,000 pounds of free weights, dumbbells and kettle-bells, weight-lifting belts for safety, a glut machine, a leg extension machine, a curl machine, a rowing machine, and rubber floor mats.
Why work out?
According to CFR a good workout fights obesity and heart problems by improving blood circulation to your heart. It also does the same for your brain, making you mentally fit and reducing the degeneration of your central nervous system. It also lower the chances of a stoke.
CFR Fitness Club embers pay monthly, every six months, or yearly (to receive a 10 percent discount), and are required to sign a waiver. Parents must sign off for underage students. Monthly rates are $20 per individual; $37 for couples; $47 for a family of three, plus a $10 fee for each additional family member.
CFR Fitness Club is located at 306 Broadway Street in Seaman.
