Health Club

Owners Keith and Kathy Rawlings are the driving forces behind the success of The Arena Club, this year’s BEST OF winner in four categories: Health Club , Indoor Activity , Party Place and Swim Club . “People and relationships are what matters in life,” says Kathy. “The Arena club staff all live in Harford County—our families and friends are all part of this community. It is important to us to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable so we can help them achieve their goals.” This hands-on, family approach to their business is a large part of the Rawlings’ success today.

Maryland's consumer protection division has filed complaints against two health clubs and their owners for not registering with the state. The state requires health clubs to be registered and bonded, which protects consumers from losing fees paid in advance if the club goes belly up. The state's targets: Body Talk, a Laurel club owned by Arnell Tunstall-Richardson; and Kassama's Okinawan Karate Studio in Baltimore owned by Ontagu-Ibrahima Kassama....

Refund checks totaling $53,713 have been mailed to 403 former members of a Linthicum health club, the Maryland attorney general's office said.Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. said yesterday the checks represented full refunds for dues paid to Metro Fitness Health Club, which closed two years ago. He said the money for the refunds came from a $65,000 letter of credit the club posted when it opened as required by Maryland law."This is a prime example of how well Maryland's health club law can work if such facilities post security as required -- and consumers check with us before they join a club to make sure it is bonded," Curran said.

The Sun just doesn't get it. Two days in a row, the paper ran articles supportive of Rep. Anthony Weiner ("A resignation, then rebirth?" June 17) including an editorial ("Why did Weiner resign?" June 18). The matter is far more serious than first thought. The congressman is accused of harassing one woman, who did not wish to receive such graphic correspondence, and he posed during office hours (when he was supposed to be working). He also took obscene pictures in a gym open only to members of Congress — something I don't believe the health club would appreciate.

The Queen Elizabeth 2, which is on the Pacific Ocean-Orient leg of a world cruise that ends May 11, will open a new health club and spa today as the last in a series of major renovations. The liner underwent a face lift costing $8 million while it was in dry dock in Hamburg last year after hitting a reef off Massachusetts.When the work was completed, the ship crossed the Atlantic to New York, went on a Caribbean cruise and started the round-the-world voyage on Jan. 3.The renovations include an art gallery, with space for between 100 and 150 works, and new carpeting and furniture.

An Ellicott City health club that sold memberships but never opened must pay restitution to about 450 people who were not fully reimbursed for fees they paid, a Howard County judge ruled yesterday.Circuit Judge James B. Dudley appointed attorney Barry Silber as a special master to determine how much World Gym & Family Fitness Center Inc. owes to individuals who paid part or all of membership fees ranging from $400 to $1,000.Steven Sakomota-Wengel, an assistant attorney general who handled the case, said the company owes about $135,000.

Remember those New Year's resolutions to get fit and maybe lose a few pounds? Tough, isn't it?Maybe you're thinking of joining a health club for some help and support. Great idea, but how do you choose the one that's best for you?Experts from health associations and health clubs agree the first factor is to decide your personal goals for joining a health club, such as weight loss or strength training. Then start looking around for clubs that meet your criteria."Most people join [a health club]

A Hanover massage parlor closed last month for zoning violations hasreopened as a health club.Rose Oriental Spa received a temporarycertificate last week to operate as a health club, said acting zoning administrator Richard Josephson. The spa has been bringing in Nautilus and other exercise equipment, lockers and a tanning machine to meet the requirements of a health club.The club has 30 days to complete the work. The county could then issue a permanent certificate, Josephson said.Police investigatedRose and another massage parlor, V.I.P.

THOUGH THEY HAD little impact on the final vote, the objections of two Columbia Council members to plans for a $6 million health club in the Village of River Hill had merit. With Howard County officials scrambling for cash, talking about tax hikes or garbage collection fees, it sometimes seems incongruous that Columbia would be considering ways to get deeper into debt. Columbia Association members Roy T. Lyons of Long Reach and Norma Rose of Wilde Lake simply wanted to know if the proposed health club would really be in the best interest of the planned community's residents.

After a debate that spanned several meetings, the Columbia Council finally decided on a name for the $6 million athletic club in the River Hill village -- the Columbia Sport and Health Club.But executives at the Virginia-based Sport & Health Club Inc., which runs 23 clubs in Washington, Northern Virginia and Montgomery County, might send council members back to the drawing board."We'd have a serious problem with Columbia using that name on their facility," said Mitch Wald, president of Sport & Health Club Inc. "We've been around for 25 years.

Owners Keith and Kathy Rawlings are the driving forces behind the success of The Arena Club, this year’s BEST OF winner in four categories: Health Club , Indoor Activity , Party Place and Swim Club . “People and relationships are what matters in life,” says Kathy. “The Arena club staff all live in Harford County—our families and friends are all part of this community. It is important to us to make everyone feel welcome and comfortable so we can help them achieve their goals.” This hands-on, family approach to their business is a large part of the Rawlings’ success today.

W hat can you do if the gym where you've been working out isn't working out? That's the conundrum faced by about 3,000 members of the former Gold's Gym in Parkville who received letters last month stating that the franchise location had closed as of Feb. 6. Some customers, like Esther Roskam, were upset because by the time she received her letter Feb. 12, her monthly membership fees had already been automatically debited from her checking...

Exercise can help battle stress, but many consumers are rethinking their gym memberships in hopes of trimming costs. That in part is helping to fuel a growing niche in the health club industry - self-service gyms that never close. While typically smaller than their full-service competitors, these gyms offer fewer amenities, cheaper prices and 24-hour access, though it could mean a member is working out alone. Jamie Darr joined a Snap Gym in Millersville last year after switching from a bigger gym. The gym, part of a growing franchise with treadmills and weight machines, is housed in an area shopping plaza and provides magnetic-key access around the clock.

With gifts to buy, halls to deck, parties to plan and copious amounts of rich, fatty food to be consumed, even devoted fitness buffs might lop a few workouts off the holiday schedule. Less-devoted enthusiasts might just say to heck with gym visits altogether. But health clubs, personal trainers and fitness instructors would like you to know they're here for you during this hectic time - and they'd really, really like you to come in. They're so concerned about the slide toward flabdom that, even before Thanksgiving leftovers are history, they're offering special classes, parties and workout sessions to bolster your flagging motivation and make sure you don't opt for sloth over svelte.

When Lynne Brick sat at the witness table in the General Assembly last week, she did what comes naturally - she led lawmakers in exercise, telling them to sit up tall and roll their shoulders back and repeat. Once she had them warmed up, she warned that if they extend the state sales tax to health clubs, including her Brick Bodies chain of gyms around Baltimore, they would discourage healthy lifestyles and stifle the fight against obesity. "People are trying to save their own lives," Brick said, "and we want to tax them for it?"

Last bit of 2006 business: Let that belt out a notch. The holiday season is as much about overeating as it is about peace on earth and good will toward shoppers trying to leapfrog a checkout line. How do we know? People study these things. A team of researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine a few years ago that the average person gains one pound between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Doesn't sound too worrisome -- but those researchers also found holiday flab tends to adhere like Super Glue and "probably contributes to the increase in body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood."

ClarificationAn article in Sunday's Howard County edition of The Sun about a proposed Columbia health club cited a publication of the Rouse Co. In fact, that publication was "published through a partnership between Patuxent Publishing and The Rouse Company," according to the publication.For 25 years, Columbia resident Rosemary Eisenhauer paid little attention to the politics of her planned community. Then, a $6 million health club crawled under her skin -- a health club the Columbia Association (CA)

IN THE CONTROVERSY over whether to build a new health club in the exclusive River Hill village, the Columbia Association, to some residents, sounds like a debt-ridden consumer who needs another loan to pay his existing bills.The CA is asking for permission to borrow $6 million to build the facility, contending that revenue it generates would help reduce its projected $92 million debt. While residents have every reason to have a bank loan officer's skepticism, the club idea deserves support.

Once, gym teachers scared me. They had field hockey sticks and knew how to use them. They made me wear ridiculous bloomers and pleated pinafores and could tell if I had tried to fake taking a shower. Worst of all, they taught gym. I hated gym. Decades later, things couldn't be more different. Not that I'm an Olympian, but I like to work out. And much to my amazement, I enjoy taking several classes at the gym, in particular BodyPump - a weightlifting regime - and spinning. I no longer fear my instructors.

The pieces of equipment look familiar: all those usual-suspect stationary bikes, treadmills, cable machines and exercise balls. The difference is who's making use of them. "We're kind of the health club for the unhealthy," Kerry Stewart says with a smile. As director of the Johns Hopkins Clinical Exercise Center, Stewart splits time between workout facilities at Bayview Hospital and Greenspring Station. His client list is small (a constantly rotating cast of about 150) and, medically speaking, exclusive: It's geared toward cardiac rehab patients, diabetics and people struggling with obesity, hypertension and other at-risk conditions.