
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995                   TAG: 9508140039
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW GYM IN THE WORKS

While many health clubs boast adding day-care programs and racquetball tournaments and dozens upon dozens of aerobics classes, a Roanoke fitness center scheduled to open this fall may be unique for what it won't have.

"We'll have no thongs, no muscle-heads and no children," said Ann Godsey, president of CustomFit.

What the center will have when it opens Nov. 1 is a circuit of 18 weight-training and cardiovascular machines - and an atmosphere that isn't intimidating to people who aren't in prime physical condition, Godsey said Friday. CustomFit will cater to the over-40 crowd, she said, an age group that is largely sedentary and may feel out of place at big fitness centers.

"When you're 20 and you're in good shape, they tell you, 'Wait until you're 40 and it's all going to move,'" Godsey said. "And you think they're joking, but it does."

Godsey first came up with the idea for a circuit-based, adults-only fitness center in December, when she and her husband began working out at home with a personal trainer to avoid the image-conscious atmosphere of a health club. They liked the individual attention and the relaxed atmosphere, she said, but didn't want to pay the trainer's high fees.

CustomFit will charge about $100 a month for three sessions a week, she said, a rate that falls between those charged by health clubs and personal trainers. Workouts, which will be designed for members by the center's two personal trainers, will include several minutes on each of the center's machines. A typical session will last 45 to 50 minutes and will be by appointment to keep the center from becoming too crowded.

Godsey and her partner, William Bundy, president of Bundy and Co. business brokers in Roanoke, may face an uphill battle in their attempt to bring fitness to aging Baby Boomers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, almost 60 percent of the population aged 30 to 64 reports no leisure-time physical activity on a regular basis. Of the approximately 40 percent that claims to exercise, only 12 percent to 15 percent engage in regular intense physical activity, defined as three sessions per week of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise per session.

Greg Heath in the CDC's Office of Surveillance and Analysis said that patterns of exercise - or sedentary lifestyles - tend to develop in early adolescence and build with age. By the time people are in their late 30s and early 40s, he said, they are faced with so many other responsibilities that exercise never becomes a priority.

Representatives of established Roanoke health clubs said the new center likely won't threaten their membership rolls, mainly because CustomFit will be limited to circuit training and since it will cater to older clients and won't include programs for children.

Renovations began Thursday at the building that formerly housed the Greenway Court Flowers shop at Jefferson Street and Maple Avenue. A 1,600-square-foot addition will be added onto the 2,000-square-foot building to make room for locker rooms and an office, Godsey said. Renovation, including purchase of the building, may reach $300,000, she said.

If the Roanoke CustomFit is a success, Godsey and Bundy may try to expand into other parts of the country.

by CNB