February 29 update! (photos)

We hope you are enjoying the new look of the club. Finally it is all coming together and we have passed all County inspections and the formal remodel is complete! The saws, hammers, and DUST are mostly gone now - let's get refocused on building the healthiest bodies we can. OK, so we still have several items to finish up like some graphics on the walls, a new sign, bulletin boards, removal of the old TV towers currently in the corner, etc., etc., etc. We also need to "move in" to the new Reception Desk - dut don't let that stop you from chasing your goals and if you need some help please ask.

The Healthy Shake Bar is now OPEN and has been busy selling shakes - they reallly are great - all natural ingredients. We have two sizes, 12 oz and 20 oz to suite your needs. Also we have special blends for Women, Recovery, Energy, Kids and just plain fun shakes. So far they have been a big hit and so important to provide recovery from our workouts. I am really proud of the work Yvonne put into researching the various companies that provide Juice Bar products and services because the ingredients are healthy and all natural, even the peanut butter is freshly ground in Pennsylvania! If you don't understand why you should drink a shake and how they can help you get the results you desire, please ask one of our team members.

Back to the renovation - the new Studio is also open and for the month of March you can try a premium class at no additional cost. If you like what you try you may want to add it to your membership. Some of the classes you will find are indoor cycling, suspension training, Viper training (coming soon) and combinations as well.

February 13 update!

We have flooring to install this week so have made the decision to close the club to workouts Wed 2/15, Thur 2/16 and Fri 2/17. Sorry about that, but we couldn't figure out how to move equipment all over the floor and keep you safe at the same time.

When you arrive on Saturday 2/18 you will feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz as you walk from the still unfinished front area into the fitness area. You will find the fitness floor, locker room, HydroMassage and Tanning rooms will all have beautiful new carpet. The plyometric flooring will also be in place on the fitness floor along the mirrored wall and the floor will be installed in new Studio 2. Please wipe your feet on the mats provided to help keep the carpet as clean as possible.

Not yet ready for flooring is the Kids Room, staff workstation area, elements lounge and reception/shake bar, so you will still see concrete floor in that area.

So, while we were trying to stay open during the entire remodel, this flooring installation is just too massive to try and run the business normally while it is going on. Plan your workouts accordingly and check the website daily (facebook too: elements diet and fitness Manassas).

The good news is that we are nearing the end of the remodel. Camm has been working on the new classes for Studio 2, Yvonne has the Shake Bar equipment arriving this Friday 2/17 and we can be done with all the dust and disruption very soon!

February 12 Update!

Another busy week. You might have noticed the walls getting finished, water heater in the ceiling, Reception desk/Shake Bar starting to look like something. Some of the front area cabinets arrived last week and will be installed this coming week. The drywall guy worked over the weekend and is finish sanding the walls Monday 2/13 so we can start painting in that area. We painted the two new walls in Studio 2, this coming week we will paint the other two walls and the TRX bar.

We did receive some bad news from the County Inspectors - the spray foam we (Yvonne and Melodie) installed about 6 years ago was deemed "not acceptable" for us to leave in place. So we have to remove it...if you want to know where it is, go into the new area, face the front of the building, crane your neck and look all the way up to where the rooftop and front wall meet. That's where we installed it because there is a ton of cold or hot air that comes in up there. Over the weekend of 2/11-2/12 we hung like monkeys and began scraping it off. Very hard due to the location. We hope to have it all down by Tuesday close of day and that the inspectors will be happy. Then we can continue with the other work - so a temporary setback.

February 5 Update!

This past week has been busy and if you have been into the club you will have seen walls closed in new Studio 2, walls built in the front area, that pesky plumbing trench received it's concrete, the start of the new Reception desk and Shake Bar (yum). Fans have been installed in Studio 2 as well and a separate heating/air conditioning unit just for that room (need to keep the air quality high for all that heavy breathing)! Kids Room walls received more paint as did the new walls of Studio 2 and the wall between the fitness floor and reception/elements lounge area.  We rehung the big TV the night of the Super Bowl in preparation for reconnection. For a visual view of what has been going on check out these photos. You are sure to enjoy them. Even better, come on in and take a class, training session or work out on the strength or cardio equipment.

Coming this week:

• Paint, paint, paint
• Reception Desk/Shake Bar millwork
• Walls and inspections from the County
• Repair of wall in Kids Room and paint (new cubby holes and shelves are coming soon)
• Mounting of TV on wall of Kids Room

Final completion schedule is still moving around due to various issues. Biggest hurdle is how to best install the new flooring with minimum disruption and inconvenience to our members but with maximum safety and effectiveness. STAY TUNED ON THIS TOPIC.

January 30 Update!

You might have noticed the work seemed to have slowed down a bit the past couple of weeks. That was because we had to submit a plumbing revision to the County and we have been waiting for approval, which we received TODAY (1/30)! While waiting we did install some of the new lighting in the front portion of the club and a TRX suspension training bar in Studio 2. We have been posting pictures on the elements diet and fitness Facebook page regularly so take a look out and post your comments!

We are very excited with the approval of the revised plans, because now we can pour concrete back into the trench, finish  building the walls, finish the electrical work, close up the ceiling, paint and lay new flooring among other things. Be ready to see some fast changes again, which started today with the closing of walls inside Studio 2 and the new BalanceDiet office.  There is still a ton to get done but we are shooting for a mid-February completion.

Shake bar update – we have the appliances on order but we need a home for them when they arrive so be on the lookout 2/17 for big boxes. The shakes are going to be sensational – blended with real fruit they are delicious. Watch for more on this as work progresses.

January 3rd Update!

Many of you already know we have been busy painting the portion of the Club that will not be impacted by the renovation construction. We have finished the locker room and all of the fitness floor that can be done right now. We have also completed the Group Exercise Studio 1 with the exception of the overhead bulkhead, which will be painted this coming weekend. In the Kid’s Room we have added a new white board wall made of a special paint – it’s huge and we hope it works as advertised! We have also painted all of the Kid’s room that we can at this time.

The baseboard has been removed in preparation for new carpet and flooring throughout the Club, so it looks a bit ugly as it waits for it’s new look.

On Monday 1/2/2012, we started the heavy lifting portion of the remodel. At 6:00 AM the contractor arrived as planned and began the demolition of the front desk, front office, staff cubicle walls and a portion of the half walls in the cardio area. It was sort of a whirlwind of activity and by 11:00 AM they were finished, leaving the front of the Club only a scant image of what it looked like 4 hours previously! I wish we had mounted a camera to capture everyone’s reaction as they entered the front doors – even though we warned you it was coming we still saw looks of surprise, amazement, shock and awe.

We did take a lot of pictures and will post them in the next day. We are going to post daily so you can keep up with the action! We are trying very hard to keep your workout area clean and as normal as we can, so please come on in and enjoy the Club. We are open with no plans to close during the remodel. Workouts continue, classes continue and TOGETHER we will get through this exciting time.

The next couple of days will find the drywall team putting up the framing for Studio 2, which will host indoor cycling, TRX classes and other special classes or training.

Construction begins Monday January 2!

We are really excited to see the work begin finally after months of planning and waiting on approvals. We have new colors coming, new flooring, a new reception desk that includes a smoothie bar with custom blended energy and recovery shakes. We are also adding an expanded training floor with special plyometric flooring designed for jumping, bounding and leaping during your workouts.  We are adding a second group exercise studio designed for premium classes like Indoor Cycling, TRX suspension training and other types of premium group workouts.

As you may have noticed, we already started painting and removing floor base moldings, pictures, racks and other items in preparation for the remodel. I won't kid you, it's going to be a bit of a mess during a very busy time of year but it will be well worth it as we evolve fully to our new brand - elementsTM diet and fitness.

We will update the blog daily once contruction begins so you know what is coming and what has happened to YOUR CLUB. We are planning to remain OPEN NORMAL HOURS during the entire remodel process with NO INTERRUPTION to our class schedule or Kid's Room hours. This means you can continue toward the achievement of your health, fitness and lifestyle goals, so plan your schedule to visit regularly so you can see the progress yourself.