BY JILL NAGY
A one-time “little ladies’ gym” celebrates
its 30th anniversary this month with a new
owner, a growing clientele and a full schedule
of up-to-date fitness programs at a facility
now known as Go-for-Fitness.
Located at 160 Saratoga Ave. in South
Glens Falls, the new owner is Kathy Scherer.
The business dates to July 1985, when
founder Gay Congdon bought the Fantasy Figure
Salon and turned it into a group exercise
facility. She became one of the first people
to introduce strength training for women,
teaching them to work out with barbells. Congdon
retired seven years ago and the business
declined under a succession of new owners.
In 2014, Scherer bought it and, in her
words,”turned it back around again.”
One of the first things Scherer did was to
remove the carpeting that had covered the
floors for 30 years. She and her husband tore
up 2,600 square feet of carpet and replaced
it with hardwood flooring. They also removed
the tanning beds. She plans to replace them
with a massage therapy space.
She dusted off the 18 stationary bicycles
and introduced spinning, one of today’s
trendiest fitness regimens. Now, there are
eight spinning classes a week and it is one
of the group exercise programs that attracts
male as well as female participants, she said.
The facility still has a “back room,” where
clients can work out with barbells. Scherer
said that weight lifting and strength training
are critical–and often neglected–parts of
a good fitness program.
The gym offers the Les Mills Body Pump
program of barbell strength training for
women and finds that it is “a big draw …
Historically, women don’t strength train
enough,” Scherer said. “It is what burns fat
and keeps you strong and healthy as you get
older.”
Other offerings include yoga, zumba,
bootcamp (outdoors in the summertime,
weather permitting), tabata, and something
she calls insanity. A full listing is on the
website, www.go-for-fitness.com. Scherer is
looking to partner with another facility and
add paddleboard classes to the schedule.
On a weekly basis, Nine Miles East Farm
in Schuylerville brings in take-out bags of
vegetables and salads that clients can access.
The gym provides “a very supportive atmosphere,”
according to Scherer, and classes
can accommodate a wide range of ages and
ability levels. Every class, she says, has
20-year-olds and 70-year-olds and provides
a range of modification options.
Currently, Go-for-Fitness has about 250
members, most of whom come in several
times a week, she said. There are nine instructors,
nearly all of them veterans with
10, 20 or more years with the facility.
Scherer has a BBA in marketing from Pace
University and a master’s degree in exercise
science and health promotion from California
University of Pennsylvania. She also has
over 15 different certifications in the fitness
industry. She taught in health clubs in the
New York City area for over 20 years and is a
certified master personal trainer.
The anniversary will be observed on Saturday,
July 25.
Classes begin at 5:15 a.m., “a very popular
time” for people who want to work out before
they go off to their jobs. Classes continue
until noon and resume from 3:30 p.m. in the
wintertime and 4:30 p.m. during the summer.
They run until 7:30 p.m. The center is closed
midday. “This is not a very good neighborhood
for lunchtime classes,” Scherer explained,
because there are not a lot of businesses
nearby.
The telephone number for Go-for-Fitness
is 792-2103.