The YMCAs of Central Okanagan in Canada are comprised of three locations, each serving a different member demographic. The Kelowna Family YMCA and H20 Adventure Fitness Center were recently joined by a third branch in the summer of 2017. This smaller center in downtown Kelowna is located in a professional business building and delivers regular group exercise programs, personal training services and offers a selection of functional training equipment for independent use among members. The H20 Adventure Fitness Center caters more to an athletic demographic while the Family YMCA serves active aging populations as well as a large number of families within the community.
Having originally introduced functional training to members at their Kelowna Family YMCA location, this organization has invested in staying relevant with fitness trends to meet the needs of their member base. Their original functional training space consisted of a single multi-use station equipped with a mount for TRX and resistance bands. With the growing popularity of functional training, they were in need of a solution to accommodate the demand of suspension fitness and bodyweight training for use by members independently and as a way to differentiate personal training offerings. After observing the success of a single suspension training solution that was originally introduced for independent use of suspension fitness equipment such as TRX, resistance bands, etc. they decided to bring this trend to the other branches on a much larger scale with Queenax®. This has helped them to support their primary business objectives including member retention and attraction as well as meet the needs of their member demographics. These facilities support members of all ages and have a larger active aging population. This YMCA organization also partners with a local medical center to deliver programs for patients with specific goals around cardiac rehabilitation, etc.
With a need to expand the functional training environment within their organization, the YMCAs of Central Okanagan were among the first to install a Queenax unit in North America following the acquisition by Precor. In 2015, the H20 Adventure Fitness center installed a large Queenax bridge in a private studio and a wall solution on the open strength training floor among free weights and other equipment. In 2017, the Kelowna Family YMCA installed another bridge with even more training stations in a private studio to maximize training space allowing them to roll indoor cycle bikes beneath the unit and to deliver a variety of group exercise classes within the space. Additionally, the newest branch of this organization, the Downtown YMCA, installed a Queenax bridge unit and wall solution in separate spaces to accommodate members in both a group training and independent training environment.
Nathan Baker, Personal Training Director at H20 Adventure Fitness stated “Queenax truly transformed our space, providing members with an exclusive environment within our center and allowed us to maximize the training real estate into a multi-use space with storage solutions”. Although they hope to introduce fee-based small group programs in the future, all current Queenax programs are inclusive of membership and meet the needs of their entire member base. The versatility and adaptability of the training environments allow trainers to develop programs for groups including active aging, youth and athletes. Some of the programs they have introduced include Group Strength 50+, Healthy Hearts, Healthy Hips and Knees, Breathe Well (a program for respiratory rehabilitation), Intense Intervals and Intense Group Strength.
