Max Fitness Closes Abruptly

Max Fitness members arrived to their gym today to find it has closed until further notice.

According to a sign posted on the door at 1900 Del Paso Road, the 42,000-square-foot facility closure is “temporary.”

Sources said the Max Fitness franchisee Hai Ying Investments had filed bankruptcy and the Fitness Evolution would be taking over the gym. But those reports have not yet been confirmed.

Max Fitness members told THE NATOMAS BUZZ that they had heard rumors the gym changed ownership, but were not warned the gym would close its doors altogether.

Member Ari Rustandi said he went to Max Fitness on Saturday, March 21 for an exercise class and found the gym closed. When he went again the next day, the gym was open, but no scheduled exercise classes were being offered.

Sandy Brooks said she was also at Max Fitness to work out on Sunday and heard another member being told childcare was not available as scheduled.

And Monday, when Nancy Lopez arrived, she found the building locked up.

“I went by there and there were a few other members out there,” Kellee Bradford-Davis added. “One said they got an email, but I didn’t.”

Some exercise classes were reportedly held Monday morning at Max Fitness, but sources said employees and members were told to vacate the premises.

Ownership at the gym changed in summer 2012 and it became a Max Fitness franchise a few months later. The location had operated as Gold’s Gym for 10 years before filing for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in May 2011.

Lopez said she signed up when Gold’s Gym was recruiting new members from a small trailer on the construction site.

“I waited almost a year for it to be built. Since then I’ve been a loyal member,” Lopez said. “I’ve seen different management teams come and go, great instructors also come and go and come back. Although there’s been lots of changes I love this gym. I hope it (re)opens quickly with minimal changes including staff and classes.”

Max Fitness is a fitness chain with more than a dozen locations in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oregon and Texas. The Natomas gym was the first – and only – in California.