Business of the Week: Retro Fitness

Just to be clear, at Retro Fitness, you won’t find anyone jazzercising in leotards and leg-warmers to the beat of “Let’s Get Physical.” You definitely won’t see Richard Simmons on the TVs sweatin’ to any oldies. Although you may hear some rocking 80s tunes.

What you will find in Retro Fitness is more than 100 machines in a 13,000 square-foot facility. You’ll find cardio equipment with built-in televisions. You’ll find a theater room where you can run on a treadmill while watching “Spider-Man 2” (which happened to be playing at the time). And all of this is trimmed in Retro Fitness’s trademark red-and-yellow banner.

Retro Fitness of Easton opened in July of 2008, and has been going strong ever since. In fact, even with the recent economic downturn, they’ve still managed to keep attendance higher than ever.

General manager Rick Prusak estimates the Palmer gym’s membership around 4,000 strong and continuing to grow steadily.

The independently-owned and operated fitness center believes in bringing the fun back into a workout. Here are some fun facts:

• The gym features 15,000 pounds of free-weights…

• …and 62 total pieces of cardio equipment, including elliptical machines, treadmills, stair-climbers, upright and recumbent bikes, and more.

• Twenty-four of those cardio machines are inside the gym’s theater, a 5,000 watt Dolby Digital system that plays motivational movies during your workout.

• The cardio machines outside of the theater have built-in 17-inch LCD screens with 12 available channels (eight regular channels, three music channels, and one movie channel). All they ask is that you bring your own headphones.

But it’s not the theater or the high-tech equipment that are getting people in the door, it’s their retro price: $19.99 to join, and $19.99 a month. And that price is guaranteed for life.

“People like to use money as an excuse,” said Prusak. “With us there’s no excuse… it comes down to 65 cents a day, for your health and fitness.”

With that 20 dollars a month comes the aid of 12 fully-certified trainers. With each membership, patrons get an hour long fitness assessment to recognize their goals. The gym offers 68 different training packages to choose from, as well as free one-day guest passes.

To join the gym, guests must be at least 14 years old. The oldest member of the gym is currently 92.

“Our club culture is diversity,” said Prusak. “That’s one of the things we pride ourselves in.”

The Retro juice bar, which greets visitors near the front entrance, vends smoothies, fruity blends, and “caffecinos,” drinks designed to build muscle and burn fat using yogurt blends and whey proteins. Retro Fitness’s juice bar is unique in that it uses crystalline fructose, a healthier alternative to sugar that is twice as sweet.

According to Prusak, Retro Fitness is the only juice bar in the Lehigh Valley that uses crystalline fructose.

But who’s going to watch the kids? Retro Fitness has got you covered with their child care program. For an additional $9.99 a month, kids can play in the children’s center while parents get their work out.

And as if that’s not enough, Retro Fitness also does tanning, for $5.49 a month with membership.

Throughout May, the gym will be donating $5 per membership to the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity that aids wounded and fatally wounded service people and their families.

Right now they are also running their Monday Madness program; join Retro Fitness any Monday in May and receive one month free. 

“It’s not easy,” said Prusak, about joining a gym. “If it was easy, we’d all be walking around in perfect shape… the key is to want it, and to get yourself in here.”

Retro Fitness of Easton is located at 2417 Nazareth Road in the 25^th Street Shopping Center, next to Pizza Hut. Gym hours are Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday, 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and weekends, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check out photos of the gym and registration information at http://www.retrofitness.net/.

You can find our information about their summer specials by calling or visiting the gym in person.