MAC Is Bringing Fun to Fitness

As a longtime fitness expert, Lewis Herms has formed some ideas about what a good health club should offer. As the father of seven, he's familiar with what kids like. With all that in mind, he’s got some plans for the Moorpark Athletic Center, which he’s recently purchased.

Changes are coming to MAC, not the least of which is the name. The club will now be known as MAC Fit and Fun. The new name more accurately encompasses what Herms envisions for the business.

Not only is he changing the look of the place—a process that’s already in the works, starting with new flooring and paint—and renovating and rearranging the workout areas, but he’s also changing the focus of the club and totally renovating the attached area that used to be a movie theater.

That area will now be a kids fun zone, complete with inflatables, obstacle courses, a gaming center and even a study/homework area. The fun zone will be available for parties and just as a hangout spot for Moorpark’s youth.

The gym will remain a gym, but the focus will shift.

“This will be a training club,” Herms explained.

Members can still come in and simply use the workout equipment on their own, but a major focus will be on training. Herms—with the help of now Vice President Gus Guardino and, new to the company, Lisa Polanski, the club's top dog (yes, Herms assures Patch, that's the title that will be on the business cards)—is adding trainers to the staff, developing the club’s own training certification, will have a full nutritional program along with offered supplements and will schedule more classes taught by trainers.

“The variety (of the classes) will be increased and the quality will too,” said Herms. “You’re building a strong educational core and increasing safety by having trainers teach.”

Another way the club will address those points is by having trainers who are available to answer questions or help with safe techniques roam the gym floor.

As well, a key component to Herms’ business model is giving back to the community.

It’s something the club has already been doing. Recently MAC joined with the Rotary Club, of which Herms is a member, to help raise money for polio eradication by co-sponsoring the Moorpark Big Loser contest. The club and its staff members are also very involved with the Moorpark High School athletics programs.

Herms said that because of the high number of Moorpark residents walking through MAC’s doors, it has an opportunity to serve as a hub for the people of the city.

“We can either exploit that—which we’re not going to do—or we can give back to the city,” Hermes said.

He believes these components together will lead to his ultimate goal.

“We are going to revolutionize the fitness industry as we know it,” Herms said.

In his mind, the changes aren’t something to be implemented at just this club, after all. Herms ultimately would like to open a chain of facilities.

But he knows change takes time and so he’s starting off with the MAC renovation one step at a time, starting with the front of the club and working back. Herms calls himself “the most patient impatient person you’ll meet.”

“On the outside, I’m calm because I know how it affects people, but inside I want things to go three times as fast,” he said.

So now, like with the transformations he helps his clients make with themselves, he is pushing the process through, but is realistic in his ambitions and expects the full renovation to be complete by the end of the year.