Lots Going On Moving Into the New Year

12/29/23

Dear Members,

Welcome to 2024!

As we head into the new year, we are making a change in managing our classes and personal training. Marianne Clarke, our Class Director, has managed our classes since she retired from teaching middle school at the end of the 2022 school year.  Now she really wants to retire and take some more time for herself. Managing classes at a place like BHC is not a light undertaking when you consider we currently have over 70 class offerings a week ranging from online yoga, Silver Sneakers up the street at Leif Erickson Hall, hybrid classes that are both in-studio and online, and working with class instructors and all the technology it involves. Fortunately for BHC, Marianne will still be leading her popular yoga and Silver Sneakers classes and will be helping BHC with community events such as our annual Yoga in the Park.  I want to thank Marianne for all the fun we have had so far in our jobs together and look forward to continuing that but now on a smaller scale.

The person taking over for Marianne is Kyle Hyde.  Kyle is our new Fitness Director, and he will be responsible for managing both our classes and our personal training offerings. We have not had a specific Personal Training Manager in the past with that role being held by the General Manager, but now we are looking to greatly improve our personal training operations with Kyle’s help.

Kyle has been working in the Ballard area for a long time and has had much success as a personal trainer, class instructor, and manager of personal training and classes. Please give Kyle a warm welcome to our BHC family when you see him!

Anyone that has come to the club this last month and ventured into our cardio area undoubtedly saw a whole new fleet of Precor treadmills waiting for them. Members have enjoyed getting their miles in on these new units.

We have just added some cool new technology for our members called AppAudio. With AppAudio you may listen to any of our TV’s using an app on your phone.  You simply download the AppAudio app from the Apple or Google store and select the TV you want to listen to! We will be putting signs up in the main gym about this new addition soon.

In January, the new Life Fitness Jungle unit will be installed in the middle of the main gym.  This new exercise unit has 8 cable-based workout stations on it.  Once the Jungle is installed, we will start relocating equipment in the gym to make the spaces more efficient.

Members have been trying out the CoachBike and the consensus is people like it! We do want to learn more about its features and make that more obvious to people using it. We are planning on doing some remodeling near Studio X to make an area for several cycling bikes as we move forward with more improvements.

Oh! –I just remembered (really!). January 1st 2024 marks 10 years exactly since I took on the adventure of a lifetime trying to run a health club when I really had no clue what I was doing. Thank you to all of you that have hung around for all or part of that adventure!

Cheers,

Pat Gilbrough
Owner, General Manager
Ballard Health Club
pat@ballardhealthclub.com