McComb, MS: The Body Shop Gym--New Name and New Owner!

The new cardio room.

Come to the recently renovated Body Shop gym to get a new lease on life!  Gena Thompson of McComb recently purchased the McComb Fitness Center and renamed it The Body Shop.  Located at 1308 Aston Avenue, the gym re-opened on July 14 after ten days of preparation.

To prepare for the re-opening, Thompson and her crew remodeled extensively.  They stripped out all the carpet from the aerobics room and laid down all new wood laminate flooring, painted the walls in bright colors throughout the facility, stripped and repainted the steam room, placed healthy plants all around, and did “lots and lots of cleaning,” Thompson said.

Several design changes were made.  In the former facility, the treadmills had been separated into two rooms.   Thompson removed all the old equipment from the Ladies’ Fitness area and made that section the new cardio room, where all the treadmills, ellipticals, stair stepper, bikes, and punching bag are now located.  “Having the treadmills in two different places wasn’t working out very well,” Thompson said, “especially when we were having classes in the aerobics room.  Some people were on the treadmills, some were watching TV.  We decided that cardio should have its own room.”

The new aerobics room (The Studio).

Thompson consulted the members and made improvements based on their input.  “I surrounded myself with all the hard-core fitness people and they said, ‘Hey, this would be great and that would be great,’ and that’s what I did.  We took out some pieces that they said nobody ever uses and we just got it very uniform in each room.  And I took their suggestion of isolating the free weights.”  The free weights are now all in the room facing the outdoor pool where some of the treadmills had previously been. 

The aerobics room, which Thompson calls the Studio, is designed for aerobics training, Pilates, and yoga.  Thompson said she will implement a member’s idea of having a DVD player in that room so that members can bring in their own workout videos so that they can use them at the gym as well as at home.  Roxanna Cofrancesco is the aerobics instructor, Rossie White teaches Pilates and offers massage therapy, and Thompson teaches yoga.  Water aerobics classes in the indoor pool are held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30-11:00 AM.  Membership fees cover the cost of any classes members wish to join.   Barry Campbell is the professional trainer.  Visit his website at www.divinestrength.org .

With the new look of the gym comes a new attitude.  “I’m going to be very involved,” Thompson said.  “I’m going to see what people want and need and try to tend to them.  I don’t look at this as my club—I look at this at the members’ club.”  Thompson’s journey to club ownership was not without a reason: “I just fell in love with fitness.  Previously I had smoked, I was out of shape, and then my grandkids came along.  It’s funny what you’ll do for your grandkids—I wanted to be able to keep up—I didn’t want to miss anything!”

Thompson’s staff deserves much credit for the updating and preparation for the gym’s re-opening.  “The people here are so great.  Everyone here is so supportive—we all have the same goals.  I just bonded with everybody.”   Thompson’s daughter, Chelsea Barr, who has been at the gym for about a year, is the manager of the facility.  She also did the design work for the new look with all the great colors.  Ricky Coney, who came over from Performance Fitness, is the new morning person.  Dusty Simmons and Brittany White were instrumental in helping with the remodeling.  Turon Robinson and Ernest Chester are other employees who have been indispensable in making the transition.  “They helped me move stuff and lay stuff out, and they didn’t have to!” Thompson said.

The indoor pool. 

The new Body Shop has expanded hours from the previous fitness center.  The new hours are 4:30 AM-10 PM Monday through Friday, 9 AM-5 PM Saturdays, and noon to 6 PM Sundays. 

The mission statement for The Body Shop is “To provide a clean, safe, and positive environment in which to achieve our goals, respect one another, and become all we were meant to be.”  It looks like Gena Thompson and her staff are already meeting this mission!

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