Marty and I discussed checking out Crunch in Garwood and had some errands to run yesterday, so we decided to put on our workout clothes and pop over after we were done. When we arrived, we stood at the front desk, scanning the room while patiently waiting for someone to acknowledge our existence. In our opinion, if a potential member is not greeted within the first 10 seconds, it is one second too long. We were finally greeted by Jacklyn, a warm, upbeat 25-year-old woman. Jacklyn’s personality made us quickly forget how long we were waiting. “Are you guys being helped?” she asked. We answered appropriately. “Have you guys ever belonged to a gym before?” was the next question. We paused for a moment, looked at each other as if we were dreaming, and finally answered with, “We own a gym.”
Her confusion quickly turned into empathy when we explained that our brand new gym was destroyed by a fire last Saturday. As she showed us around the facility, she gave us encouraging words that we would be up and running again soon and to stay positive. She told us Crunch would be the perfect place for us to workout until we open again. We finished the tour and got our day pass to stay for a workout.
As we started warming up, we stared at each other once again and at that moment realized we were both fighting back the tears. It finally hit us; our place was really gone. After a year of meticulously planning every detail from designing the space, educating ourselves on every aspect of the business, taking seminars, extensively researching the best equipment appropriate for our business model, and getting our systems in place, it was gone overnight. We had only been up and running for three months, were gaining momentum, and now we were at Crunch. As we powered through our workout emotionally and physically, we realized that this was not the place for us. Watching young people with cut off sleeves doing bicep curls in the mirror was the kind of place we could not go back to or be associated with. While we were getting through our deadlifts and push-ups, Marty asked me why so many of the guys had beards. I remembered hearing our son Nick talking about No shave November so without hesitation, I declared, “It’s No-Shave November”! He responded, “Is that really a thing”? We both shook our heads. We were missing our middle-aged gym.
I don’t have to explain the boobs, and needless to say, we will not be joining Crunch, but it did serve 2 purposes. One, we got our workout in, and two, it made us realize why our members love it at Active Life Fitness; we are the place to be for the 40 and over crowd who want to be greeted warmly within 9 seconds, who are looking for a quality program designed around their goals and needs, run by fitness coaches with 25 years of combined experience that are meticulous about exercise technique, and will always keep you safe. We will be back!
Active Life Fitness Personal Trainers & Gym
94 North Ave, Garwood, NJ 07027
(908) 389-8009
