Flexing its Muscle in a Crowded Market, JCC Debuts Renovated Fitness Center

The Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey debuted its renovated fitness center Monday. In a region that has become crowded with big-box fitness centers and boutique personal training studios, the renovations appear to signal an attempt by the JCC to shoulder its way back to the fitness fore.

"We were definitely losing members to other gyms," Sandra Kenoff, director of marketing, said in a phone interview. "To be in this tight economic situation, and have people paying for a gym and paying for membership at a Jewish Community Center that should offer a gym as an amenity – it showed us something about our model."

The JCC expanded its fitness center to 3,400 square feet and filled the space with more than 55 pieces of new equipment, including squat racks, kettlebell free weights, and a variety of strength and cardio machines.

Rather than a simple workout area, however, the fitness center was specifically arranged to promote a blend of personalized workouts and group motivation: The treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes will feature televisions that can provide users feedback about their workouts. And some of them are arranged in a circle, rather than a traditional row.

"These arrangements are proven to motivate people," fitness and wellness director Larry Schwartz said. "When working-out in a circle, where you are forced to see everyone else, or while looking-over others exercising, it will help our patrons push themselves even harder."

The fitness center also includes expanded space for personal training and group fitness classes, including yoga and pilates.

"Personal training is an area that we're really trying to move into," Schwartz said. "In the past, the JCC offered it, yet did not really emphasize it, nor did they have the facilities to really pull it off. With these new renovations I expect that we will see a drastic increase in the personal training section of our department."

The fitness center's debut comes several months before the expected completion of the Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA's new aquatics center, located across the street from the JCC. Kenoff and Schwartz emphasized, however, that the JCC's renovation was started independent of the YMCA's project.

"It's just coincidental," Kenoff said. "It was just the way it looked and felt up there in the fitness center. It was tired."

The YMCA's project began in 2005, administrators there said. The JCC's project started in Oct. 2009.

In addition to the fitness center, the JCC also debuted its new lobby Monday. The space includes a rearranged desk and reception area. Both the fitness center and lobby are part of a larger renovation project that Kenoff said she expects will be completed by October. The projects include renovating the Weinberg Conference Center to add new lighting, window treatment, and a dance floor; refurbishing the Weinberg entrance and lobby; and updating the building's security measures.