Treadmills as far as the eye can see. Four to five kinds of treadmills, to be exact, and four to five kinds of elliptical machines, too. Western Village Health Club is the place to go in Santa Maria for cardio equipment, and other workout equipment as well.
The health club’s owners recently finished a $200,000 equipment renovation. They also remodeled the space inside the facility that houses San Luis Sports Therapy, one of the largest physical therapy outfits on the Central Coast.
“It’s a continual expansion project,” Western Village operations manager Randy Bush said of the club’s ongoing transformation.
Since the landlords of Western Village Shopping Center took over the 47,000-square-foot property in early 2010, they’ve added a new pool—with gender-specific steam rooms and saunas—a whirlpool, a new free-weight room, and a cardio movie theater.
The darkened movie theater has lines of cardio machines and an 8-foot-by-12-foot screen, on which the staff plays movies throughout the day.
“People will end up doing their cardio twice as long because it’s so distracting and fun in that room,” Bush said.
The club has something for everyone: There’s the High-Intensity Training (H.I.T.) room for “people who are working out extremely hard,” Bush said. For people who like to exercise in a group, there’s a range of classes, including Zumba, yoga, and aquatics. There’s also a “women only” workout area for female clients who prefer to exercise in a testosterone-free environment.
“I like the female-only workouts because it can be a little intimidating to work out around men,” health club member Asia Nettles told the Sun in a recent interview.
Bush called the “Women’s Preferred Workout Area” a self-contained gym.
When asked what her favorite thing about the club is, Nettles said “the diversity.”
“They’ve got movies, new equipment, and the classes,” she said. “I like my Zumba; that’s fun.”
All new members are educated about the club’s equipment, classes, and other features upon joining. Bush said he and the rest of the staff strive to make members feel special, instead of just another sweaty face. Because the club is locally owned, all of its amenities are driven by local needs and desires, he said.
“It’s all about what this community wants,” Bush said.
One thing people are starting to want more of is functional strength training, which incorporates everyday tasks and movements into various exercise routines. The health club’s PurMotion functional training station has numerous bars, weights, and rope pulleys members can use to increase their total body strength and muscle endurance.
“It’s kind of like an old-school jungle gym,” Bush said.
“You don’t get bored here because there’s so much to keep you going,” he added. “That’s the No. 1 reason people stop working out.”
But boredom doesn’t seem to be a problem here.
Western Village Health Club is located at 2015 S. Broadway, Suite B, in Santa Maria.
For more information, call 348-1888 or visit wvhealthclub.com.
Managing Editor Amy Asman wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Sep 5-12, 2013.