Health Clubs Find Niche Catering To Seniors
Marshall Kahn attends a gym with yoga, tai chi and Pilates classes, weight training and treadmills. It also has a driving simulator, where members can keep their skills from deteriorating.
The gym, Nifty After Fifty, is one of many fitness centers popping up around the country aimed at serving older clients.
“I’m 80, my wife is 48. So I have to stay fit,” said Kahn, who signed up at one of the company’s four Los Angeles locations earlier this year and pays about $50 per month to work out three times a week. “I joined a gym about three or four years ago, and I didn’t like it at my age —- it was young, noisy and frenetic. They were doing all these crazy things I couldn’t participate in. Here, I’m not intimidated. I’m more inclined to go.”
When it comes to designing a gym, it’s not all about attracting the hard bodies anymore, and when it comes to senior fitness, there’s more out there than water aerobics. As more of America’s baby boomers start entering their 60s, more startup gyms are homing in on a more mature market.
Nifty After Fifty plays softer music than the typical gym, and uses smooth, air pressure-driven equipment for strength training as opposed to typical metal weights. So does Healthfit, a club based in Needham, Mass., where paintings adorn the walls and the average client is over 50. FitWright, a club that opened last fall in Dedham, Mass., which has seen particular interest recently from people in their 60s and 70s, offers a special “gentle yoga” class for its less limber members.
Photo by cardinalfitness.
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