Planet Fitness beefs up

The universe of Planet Fitness in Brevard County is expanding.

The bargain fitness chain -- noted for its "no grunting" policy and $10-a-month membership -- plans to open a second Brevard location in January in a section of the former Kmart at Apollo Boulevard and Sarno Road in Melbourne.

The fitness center -- a franchise of a health club chain based in Dover, N.H. -- opened its first Brevard location in November 2006.

Bill Donald, a co-owner of the local franchises, said the planned 21,000-square-foot Melbourne location is in line with his strategy to open five Planet Fitness sites over the next three to five years.

Planet Fitness has about 170 franchise locations in the United States. Last year, Planet Fitness purchased the World Gym franchise for more than $10 million. The World Gym clubs continue to operate under that name.

The local expansion by Planet Fitness comes as several other health facilities are opening around across the Space Coast. For example:

# A fitness center called The 10 Minute Gym opened last year in Trade Winds Plaza in Rockledge.

# Express Fitness Center opened at The Avenue Viera and off Wickham Road in Melbourne.

# Sunbay Fitness, a 24-hour gym, recently opened in a portion of a former Kash n' Karry grocery store, in the Viera East Village Center.

# And, next year, Health First plans to open a $21 million, 68,000-square-foot Pro-Health and Fitness Center at Wickham Road and Lake Andrew Drive, west of Interstate 95, in Viera.

Donald said Planet Fitness offers state-of-the-art cardio and weight equipment, clean showers and televisions -- but not many of the extras offered by other fitness centers.

Those features often include swimming pools, basketball and racquetball courts, day care services and various specialized training classes.

"The price brings people in here to talk to us," Donald said of the $10 monthly membership fee.

Planet Fitness also discourages what it calls "musclehead" behavior and has a lengthy list of do's-and-don'ts posted near the door.

"No grunting or screaming" is listed, along with "no bandanas or do-rags."

Donald said those policies are enforced strictly, and he has had to eject a few violators.

"The rules and regulations are pretty clear," he said. "A few people come here and try to push the envelope."

Cindy Mazon of West Melbourne has lost about 52 pounds since joining the Rockledge Planet Fitness in January. She said her dress size fell from a 14 to a 4.

"I was overweight and needed to do something," said Mazon, who works on Merritt Island and stops by the Planet Fitness in the mornings. "This place was cheap and convenient."

Chad Helpling of Rockledge said the $10 monthly membership seemed a little too good to be true, but he decided to check it out in February. That was 74 pounds ago.

Helpling said that while Planet Fitness probably doesn't have a lot of the extras other health facilities offer, "they pretty much have everything I needed."

According to the Boston-based International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, the number of Americans belonging to health clubs has grown to about 41.3 million -- up from an estimated 36.3 million in 2004.

The Melbourne Planet Fitness will occupy a portion of an abandoned Kmart that closed in 1994.

Ken Allen took control of the store and accompanying strip mall in 2005.

The Kmart floor space was last occupied by the former Florida Furniture Market, which opened in early 2006 and later closed.

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