Business focus: Workouts as easy as ABC
There is an abundance of couch potatoes around – perhaps in your own living room – who would like to attain some semblance of physical fitness as long as it happens quickly, say like 1-2-3.
Well, Teresa Flegel won’t guarantee you’ll be slim and vigorous quite that quickly, but she does have a program and the facilities to provide individuals with a good opportunity for quick and fairly easy physical improvement.
Flegel opened 1-2-3 Fit, a 30-minute circuit-training club, about 2 1/2 months ago on the North Side. The club, part of a franchised program, is the first of its kind in Spokane, Flegel said.
The club is at 6314 N. Ash St. just east of the Rosauers Supermarket in the Five Mile Shopping Center.
“Give us 30 minutes and we’ll show you how to work in a great workout,” one of the club’s promotional fliers says.
The facility offers club members 30 pieces of equipment with 30 seconds of exercise on each device. A high-intensity workout can burn 460 calories; a similar session at low intensity may burn as many as 250 calories.
Flegel points out that she did not create those calorie figures out of thin air; they are the result of a study commissioned by the American Council of Exercise.
The study, conducted at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle by the Seattle University human performance lab, compared traditional forms of exercise with circuit-training programs at both high- and low-intensity ranges.
The study evaluated 1-2-3 Fit’s Simbio System equipment with people 18 to 62 years old and found the circuit-training program effective for all body types, both athletes and nonathletes, according to a news release.
The Simbio System features devices equipped with simple resistance cords consisting of more than 1,000 strands of high-quality rubber within a cloth covering.
The cords are attached to a series of cams and pulleys that force the cords to be stretched as the exercise is performed. The various pieces of equipment balance push and pull exercises and upper- and lower-body movements.
The 1-2-3 Fit club is partnering with the American Heart Association and its Start program, Flegel said. That program is designed to get people exercising and living a healthy lifestyle. So, 1-2-3 Fit will be offering open house “Start Days” for people interested in renewing exercise programs.
Flegel does not have a background in fitness clubs, she said, but she went to a 1-2-3 Fit club in Moses Lake while visiting her parents and was sold immediately on the program, resulting in her pursuit of a franchise.
“Carol Jolly is the club manager – she’s the one with the background in the exercise field,” Flegel said. Flegel and her husband, Tim, are co-owners, but he’s busy with his construction business.
The club offers various membership programs: Month-to-month is $99 for enrollment and $49 a month; a one-year commitment is $49 for enrollment and $39 a month; one year prepaid is $395 total.