This new fitness center should be a model of what major cities across the country build. This from Santa Maria Times ---
Officials gathered Jan. 16 to hold a long-awaited groundbreaking at the site fo a new fitness center (Santa Maria Valley, CA).
The $16.9 million fitness center, at 51,000 square feet, will be built in what today is an empty spot amid a grove of trees. That site is a few yards from the current facility, which sits at the corner of California Boulevard and Washington Avenue.
The current fitness center, built 40 years ago, is less than half that size, at 22,955 square feet.
“We're just not able to fully serve the Vandenberg community, especially the active-duty members who do have an Air Force requirement for fitness standards,” said Pamela Coffey, executive director of the Vandenberg Fitness Center. While fitness has been encouraged in the past for Airmen, it wasn't necessarily made a top priority.
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“Prior to our current fitness program, the Air Force simply required active-duty members to take a cycle ergometry test once a year to assess their fitness level,” Maj. Steve Carmical, 30th Mission Support Squadron commander, wrote in a commentary last spring. “For those who were around prior to the cycle test, we remember the 1.5 mile run we took once a year. It was not uncommon for Airmen to “gut out” the test once a year without any kind of regular fitness regimen.
“The big difference between now and then isn't the testing mechanism, but the concept of a fitness ‘program' rather just a fitness ‘test.' As the Air Force has taken on increased deployments, the mantra has become “fit to fight.” Once a month, Airmen gather for “warrior fit runs” at Vandenberg.
Carmical noted that fitness standards aren't simply about passing the test. “It's about improving their health, stamina, state of mind and maybe even saving their life,” he wrote. Some units take over the fitness center during the weekday for regular weekly workouts.
Often, the center can't handle the demand - the facility serves 700 people a day, Coffey said. Along with Airmen, civil servants and military dependents can use the facility.
“This facility is just not meeting the needs and demand that we have with the shift the Air Force has taken on fitness and healthy lifestyles,” she said. “We strive to provide quality equipment and programs, but the size of the facility is really a drawback here.”
With the increased emphasis on health and fitness in the past few years, Coffey estimates the use of the facility has more than doubled in the past decade.
With the increase in users and the rise in fitness requirements and healthy habits, Vandenberg's facility has struggled to meet the need. In one room, two rows of treadmills are packed tightly in front of mirrors with little room between machines.
“Meeting some of our equipment requirements is very challenging because we just don't have the space,” she said. Current fitness center users and staff got to have a say in what the new facility would include.
Among those features will be two NCAA-regulation basketball courts with seating for 400, 8,000 square feet to house cardio and weight training equipment, men's and women's locker rooms along with those for distinguished visitors, a juice bar, massage rooms, public restrooms, a stretching area and ample equipment storage.
Wow!
