Downtown: New gym looks to shake up Concord

By CAITLIN ANDREWS

Monitor staff

Published: 12-31-2017 9:54 PM

In the bright light of a new year, you might be tempted to make a resolution or two.

There’s the classics, like writing more or calling your mother more often, and getting back to the gym. You’ll soon have a new place in Concord to try out that last one.

The idea behind 43 Degrees North Athletic Club is a simple one: Bring every workout amenity you could desire – spin class, barre, yoga, weights, personal training, massages, even a shake bar – under one roof. Box out all the reasons people might skip a workout, like a lack of parking or showers, and offer an experience that’s tailored to everyone’s fitness needs.

And make it locally owned and operated, too. That’s the vision owner and operator Crystal Reynolds, real estate developer Steve Duprey and 10 other Concord residents have for their collectively owned health club, which will be opening up off Hall Street in the coming weeks. For those with a memory, that site previously housed Core Fitness, and a Gold’s Gym before that.

“It’s going to be like the shopping mall of fitness,” Reynolds said, “where there’s a lot of little boutiques people can choose from.”

While the club is being marketed as upscale, Reynolds said one of their key tenets is creating an atmosphere where everyone, fitness newbies and veterans alike, feel included. The majority of the building’s floor plan is open-air, while only a few places, like the studios, bathrooms and massage areas, are closed off.

But if walking into a row of treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes bores you to tears, 43 Degrees will let you kick it up a notch: They also offer turf strips for people to run athletic drills, and will offer cardio machines Reynolds said you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.

For instance, the Jacob’s Ladder. Think a stair-climbing machine, but simulating a ladder, that goes as fast or as slow as you make it.

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The club will also offer a series of group fitness classes included in a membership, ranging from Zumba to cardio kickboxing. Spin, yoga and barre class packages are available for an additional fee.

There’s no pool, but Reynolds said she isn’t concerned about competing with the Concord YMCA, or the nearby Health Club of Concord.

“Our approach is a little bit different,” she said. “We’re not trying to offer a one-size-fits-all, but really a tailored plan for people who are ready for that.”

For Concord High School track and field assistant coach Kyle Brown, joining the club as a functional performance trainer is a homecoming. He’s been all over the world the past four years training with Team U.S.A.’s skeleton team, and he’s hoping to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics. If everything goes as planned, he won’t start his new gig until March.

“I’ve been wanting to settle down and work in town here for some time,” Brown said. “I think it’s a great business plan and a model to go off of.”

As of Wednesday, Reynolds said, 176 people had already signed up for memberships.

A single membership comes with a $125 enrollment fee and an $85 monthly fee. Unlimited barre/yoga and cycling are $35 each for members, or $50 for both. Individual training, small group training, massage therapy and child care are also available cost extra.

(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)

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