| News & Know How | News
UFC Gym Embarks on Chain-Building Path Martial-arts-based brand with bold ambitions opens its second club
T
he second UFC Gym made its debut in Rosemead, California, a Los Angeles suburb, earlier this summer with more than 2,500 memberships sold before the official grand opening—scoring,
as it were, an unqualified knock-out.
Rowley, a former executive with the company, in partnership with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed-martial-arts entertainment group based in Las Vegas. Now, says Sedlack, UFC Gym is poised for
“aggressive expansion…We intend to grow the brand worldwide,” he says. “We’re currently looking at a number of locations—from the East Coast, to Hawaii, throughout Canada, and inter- nationally. I’ve gotten the green light to open new sites as fast as I can sign leases.” —|
> ‘As Real as it Gets’ in Rosemead The $4-million, 41,000-square-foot facility confirms the brand’s
conceptual identity—permitting members to train as though they were professional, mixed-martial-arts (MMA) competitors. It boasts $1 million in top-tier equipment, from dumbbells to treadmills, and a custom- built, 32' octagon cage, one of the largest of its kind; the latter is used for martial arts offerings ranging from karate, to Muay Thai (Thai boxing), to Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Six studios, situated around the club’s perimeter, surround this
action-packed centerpiece, and are reserved for, among other things, mat training and heavy bag workouts. The club also provides space for traditional group-fitness classes, such as Zumba and Pilates. Membership dues range from $34 to more than $80 per month. Adam Sedlack, the senior vice president of UFC Gym, describes the
club’s ambience as “innovative and dynamic… It’s the best of fitness, coupled with the best of MMA,” he explains. “Our goal is to change how people work out, how they experience the gym.” UFC Gym was conceived, created, and launched by the New Evolution
Fitness Company (NEFC), a private-equity firm launched by Mark Mastrov, the founder of 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc., and Jim
> Short Takes | Exercise vs. Indolence
Workouts are great, but don’t necessarily add up to an active lifestyle. A new study, produced by the University of South Carolina and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, suggests individuals who spend a large amount of time in sedentary activities—e.g., computer-based work, TV watching, driving—are 64% more likely to die of a heart attack than their more active counterparts… even if they work out regularly. —|
22 Club Business Internat ional | SEPTEMBER 2010 | www.
ihrsa.org
Short Takes | Work in Progress: Voluntary Club Standards
IHRSA continues to participate in a collabora- tive effort to develop voluntary fitness industry standards, and it was expected that the next draft of a proposal would be available for public comment by the end of the summer. The first draft of the document was circu-
lated for feedback, but, faulted by IHRSA, was subsequently rejected last fall. IHRSA, one of the 19 members of the
Joint Committee on Health/Fitness Facilities developed by NSF International, a leading safety-standards-development organization, felt that the first cut had several flaws. The pro- posed standards, it pointed out, fell short of its own guiding principles (see
www.ihrsa.org/ facilitycertification), and would have required participating clubs to operate in an imprac- tical manner that exceeded responsible industry standards. Since then, IHRSA
has worked with the joint committee to develop a new draft that, while enhancing clubs’ standing as providers of safe exercise services, will also strengthen them and, in turn, the industry. —|
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