The Garden City Telegram
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YMCA now offers extended hours
Published 12/19/2009 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Bruce Melin works at St. Catherine Hospital and sometimes does not work traditional hours. When he finishes with work at night, he said it would be nice to work out before he goes home.
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Brad Nading/Telegram The cardio workout room at the Garden City Family YMCA has been expanded with additional equipment.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Ashley Claussen, 16, right, and Vanessa Solis, 16, work out in the strength room Thursday afternoon at the Garden City Family YMCA.
Melin and other Garden City residents now have new options when it comes to working out in the night hours.
The Garden City Family YMCA is offering extended hours of 10 p.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday for its Strength Fitness Center, and will offer those hours until Dec. 30.
The Strength Fitness Center consists of a strength room and a cardio room.
Then, in 2010, the YMCA will be open 24 hours a day Monday through Thursday.
Melin, who also is on the YMCA's Board of Directors, said Friday afternoon as he was working out that the YMCA's new hours will benefit those in town who work split shifts or night shifts.
Chad Knight, executive director of the YMCA, said he's expecting people to work out between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. and said traffic would probably pick up a little before 5 a.m. or so.
As part of a more than $2 million expansion project, the YMCA is adding a 10,200-square-foot addition that will include an expanded cardiovascular fitness area, strength training area, parking, improved men's locker rooms, family locker rooms and administrative offices.
A new family recreational pool, a new early childhood center, a new entrance into the facility and a new child watch room also will be added.
Knight and Stacy Crase, fitness director, said the extended hours come just in time during the holiday season, when people start thinking of New Year's resolutions that might include working out more and losing weight.
"It's state of the art, durable, professional quality equipment," Melin said, speaking of the new treadmills and other machines in the Strength Fitness Center. "We expect it to get a lot of use."
Other than new machines, the remodel also means the Strength Fitness Center is more spacious.
Diego Sanchez, 24, and his brother Salvador Sanchez, 19, said they appreciate how spacious the strength room is. Before, they said much of the strength and cardio equipment was housed in the same room.
"It's better," Salvador Sanchez said as the brothers lifted weights.
Knight said the YMCA will be open 24 hours Monday through Thursday starting Jan. 4. The YMCA will have a maintenance person there at all times, Knight said, and the person will greet members when they enter and help members if needed.
The construction at the YMCA will be completed in mid-March, Knight said.
So far the Strength Fitness Center is mostly complete, although the facility still needs some windows in the front, Knight said. Also done is the men's locker room, which received new lockers, a new floor, a sauna and a steam room, as well as a meeting room for staff and an express fitness room located above the racquetball courts.
Construction is continuing on the family pool, Knight said, as well as a room located near the Strength Fitness Center that will house a massage bed.
An original version of this article, which appeared on December 19, 2009, incorrectly spelled Bruce Melin's name.
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