Sweating it out to gain the fitness Edge

THE expansion of Casuarina Shopping Centre to include the Quarter was great timing for Edge Health Club to double its size and expand its offering

Edge Health Club member of 2 years, Vita Musumeci on the ropes in the functional fitness area.

THE expansion of Casuarina Shopping Centre to include the Quarter was great timing for Edge Health Club to double its size and expand its offering.

On its way to its 12th anniversary, Edge Health Club general manager Simon Johnson said the improved knowledge of its members helped drive the changes.

“We’ve been here 12 years,” he said.

“We started as a small club and expanded in the last two years when the Quarter took over. We’ve doubled in size and we are more than a fitness gym, we offer health and wellbeing.

“People come to a health club for a variety reasons – some come to start at the bottom to gain fitness or there are those who are already fit and want to prepare for another level. People have that base knowledge now and we are here to help them understand where they are going with that knowledge.”

The wellbeing and health aspects involve massage chairs and male and female saunas, which have also been popular for detoxification.

“We have an infra-red sauna, so it is not just about the heat it is about recovery for the body as well,” he said.

Edge Health Club offers a lot of fitness options under the one roof. It has a functional area, a boxing area for its high intensity interval training and more than 40 group fitness classes from the Les Mills stable.

Steven Hardy in the sauna at Edge Health Club

“When people first join the gym we give them an hour with the personal trainer and they gain measurements and a program,” Mr Johnson said.

“They have a session roughly four weeks later to finetune the program and work with them on goals.

“We help them with equipment and how to use all the equipment in the club and then the equipment that is specific to their goals.”

The membership at Edge is diverse. The introduction of kids’ fitness has brought in members as young as six years, while members as old as 75 use the club.

“We’ve got everything under one roof and that is appealing to any gender and age,” Mr Johnson said.

Edge Health Club understands the needs of parents, offering a creche Monday to Friday from 8.45am and Saturday from 8.15am. An afternoon creche is also available.