New franchise gym in town hopes it’s a good fit….company’s first gym in California

New gym in town hopes it’s a good fit.

The Southern California health club scene is populated with heavyweight brands such as Gold’s Gym, LA Fitness and 24-Hour Fitness.

By next week they will be joined in Murrieta by an upstart outfit called Youfit Health Clubs. This will be the company’s first gym in California. Youfit spokesman Steve Winston said You Fit has 54 locations in Florida, Georgia and Arizona.

Company founder Rick Berks says he is not intimidated by the prospect of breaking into the Southern California market. He says it’s competitive everywhere.ABC Billing Company Breaking News Story , AMERI SHAPE Breaking News Story , amerishape Breaking News Story , anytime fitness Breaking News Story , ASF Billing Company Breaking News Story , asf international Breaking News Story , butterfly life Breaking News Story , contours express Breaking News Story , curves for women Breaking News Story , enroll members Breaking News Story , fitness  Breaking News Story ,fitness center Breaking News Story , fitness life marketing Breaking News Story , fitness marketing Breaking News Story , fitness promotions Breaking News Story , golds gym Breaking News Story , world gym Breaking News Story , gym Breaking News Story , Gym Marketing Breaking News Story , Gym promotions Breaking News Story , health Breaking News Story , health club Breaking News Story , health club for sale Breaking News Story , Health Club Marketing Breaking News Story ,  Health Club Promotion Breaking News Story ,  fitness Consultants Breaking News Story , health club promotions Breaking News Story , Health Clubs Breaking News Story , join health club Breaking News Story , Ladies Fitness Breaking News Story , Ladies Workout Express Breaking News Story , lady of america Breaking News Story , NAC Billing Company Breaking News Story , Peak Performance Breaking News Story , planet fitness Breaking News Story , Powerful Promotions Breaking News Story , powerhouse gym Breaking News Story , Professional Fitness Marketing Breaking News Story , Raise EFT $6 Breaking News Story , Slim and tone Breaking News Story , snap fitness Breaking News Story , spa studio owners Breaking News Story , Targeted fitness Breaking News Story , marketing that generates new fitness Breaking News Story ,  Thousands of health clubs Breaking News Story ,   world health club Breaking News Story , workout express Breaking News Story , join Breaking News Story ,health club closed Breaking News Story , health club opening Breaking News Story ,club solutions magazine Breaking News Story , s Breaking News Story ,24 Hour Fitness Breaking News Story ,Anytime fitness Breaking News Story ,  Bally Total Fitness Breaking News Story ,Health Club Management  Breaking News Story ,Crunch Fitness Breaking News Story ,Club One Breaking News Story ,Curves Breaking News Story ,Equinox Breaking News Story ,Health Fitness Corp. Breaking News Story ,Lifestyle Family Fitness Breaking News Story ,Planet Fitness Breaking News Story ,Plus One Management Breaking News Story ,Powerhouse Gyms Breaking News Story ,Snap Fitness Breaking News Story ,Spectrum Athletic Clubs Breaking News Story ,Sport & Health Breaking News Story ,Town Sports International Breaking News Story ,Sports Club Co. Breaking News Story ,Urban Active Breaking News Story ,WellbridgeHealth Club Breaking News Story ,Western Athletic Breaking News Story ,World Gym Breaking News Story , virgin active Breaking News Story ,workout anytime Breaking News Story , la boxing Breaking News Story , 9 rounds fitness Breaking News Story ,weight lifting gym Breaking News Story , health spa Breaking News Story , attorney general Breaking News Story , health club contract Breaking News Story , club enhancement fee Breaking News Story , health club billing Breaking News Story , health club fraud Breaking News Story , health club franchise Breaking News Story , gym franchise  Breaking News Story ,breaking industry news Breaking News Story ,health club news Breaking News Story ,

“I don’t see that area is any different from anywhere else we’re at,” Berks said. “I mean, people are people and they like value for their money. And we give people great value for their money. I think that’s a universal concept.”

Their pitch is simple — a low-pressure, no-frills training center for average people with a basic membership going for $10 a month. One of their hooks, according to club manager Brian Joy, is the lime green and purple color scheme that is splashed all over the 20,000-square-foot facility at 39681 Avenida Acacias.

“It’s comfortable, it’s inviting,” Joy said. “If you think about it — you get on any piece of equipment here and it’s not as intimidating.”

So far, the colors and the concept appear to have some appeal, Joy said “a couple hundred” people have signed up for memberships as of the middle of this week. An introductory offer featuring a $1 down payment is available for the first 500 people who sign up at the Murrieta club, Joy said.

Youfit also offers a plan for $19.99 a month — the lime membership — that includes discounts on drinks and protein shakes, access to any other Youfit gym and the right to bring a guest, for free, during any visit.

“This way if you want somebody to work out with you — to sort of motivate you to get your butt off the couch — you can,” Joy said.

Winston said there is another “green” component to the business plan. The floors, he said, are made of a rubber composite of recycled tires and sneakers.

According to the market search company IBISWorld, health clubs represent a $26 billion a year industry that has grown about 1.4 percent annually since 2008.

A study last year by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, or IHRSA, found that 16 percent of the respondents in the United States said they belonged to a health club.

At Youfit, Berks said, the emphasis is on catering to the average person. As a result, the equipment mostly consists of cardio machines and basic body building equipment, such as machines for chest presses and bicep curls. And in the free-weight section, none of the dumbbells exceeds 75 pounds.

Berks has no qualms about saying his gym is not a good fit for professional athletes and power-lifters. But he’s happy to tout the high-tech features on the exercise bikes, which come equipped with flatscreens and iPod docks.

“Those are more important to the average citizen who wants to be entertained while they’re doing their workout,” Berks said. “The color schemes we use — your real serious body-builder probably doesn’t, you know, feel his masculinity is strengthened by our color scheme. And we’re OK with that.”
That IHRSA study found that the most common fitness goal for people more than 30 was to stay healthy. It was cited more often than losing weight, maintaining strength or looking better. And Joy says Youfit is a comfortable, inviting place for people to realize that goal.

“We are all about fitness,” Joy said. “We don’t really cater to the bodybuilder kind of type. It’s more for the average person, just looking to improve their general health and fitness.”

There are no yoga classes, no swimming pools and no sales people. Joy said he plans to conduct a basic circuit-training class the company offers to introduce that concept to gym-goers. He showed off the traffic light mounted in the circuit-training section that cues people to move on to the next machine.

Before starting Youfit, Berks was one of the originators of Planet Fitness, helping that company get off the ground in the early 1990s. After about a decade with Planet Fitness, he said, he decided he needed to move in a different direction. That’s how he ended up starting Youfit, opening the first gym in Florida five years ago.

Berks said, “We design a club that’s purposely less intimidating and more inviting to the person who is not currently (a member of) a health club.”