It is often said that the seemingly small moments in our lives that have the biggest impact on them. At American Family Fitness Mechanicsville, every day brings new moments and a new lasting impact on our AFFamily of members and staff.
Since it’s opening in Spring of 2001, AFF Mechanicsville is 38,000 square feet of “firsts”. It was the first American Family Fitness location to be constructed from the ground up, the first location to offer an indoor cycling program, and the first club to offer Pickleball. Pickleball was brought to Mechanicsville by our very own Housekeeping Manager Tyrone, and he STILL plays with our members every Wednesday and Friday afternoon!
In addition to all these “firsts”, AFF Mechanicsville has plenty of room for members to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. As you walk through the doors and into the club, the main floor is illuminated by sunshine pouring through high windows on the back wall. In the center of the main floor, you’ll find weight machines, free weights, and a recently installed functional training area. Along the perimeter of this area you’ll find all three of our Group Fitness studios (Group X, Mind Body, and Cycle), our Fusion Team Training studio, the KidZone, a basketball court, and one 93,000-gallon lap pool that’s also home to our Aquatics Fitness classes. Upstairs you’ll find our mezzanine that houses all of our cardio equipment, giving you a birds-eye view of all the excitement happening on the main floor.
AFF Mechanicsville offers a variety of programming with the goal of improving the physical and mental well-being of all our members. Under Group Fitness you can take classes like Build & Burn, Barreless, Yoga, and Coach By Color ®, the premiere indoor cycling program that uses color technology to coach riders to higher levels of power. You can also enjoy the same group atmosphere with more individualized training in Fusion Team Training, a program that we love for its functional programming in a small group environment. Our basketball court is ideal for both the serious or recreational basketball athlete to perfect their skills, and it doubles as the home of our Pickleball program. And since “Family” is part of our name, we haven’t forgotten about our littlest members who frequent the KidZone – kids can choose to stay inside and play game or be active in the Space Maze, or they can enjoy the outdoors on our playground and tween basketball hoop outside.
Being active is our specialty here at American Family Fitness, but we know that community events make even more memories. For over 8 years on every July 4th, AFF Mechanicville served as the host of the Reese Strong Foundation Fundraiser that raised awareness for children with cancer. This event, which was always a big event not just for the club but for the Mechanicsville community, was in honor of a staff member’s child who survived cancer. Raffles for prizes and our quarterly Group Fitness launch were always part of this event, but what drew everyone together for this was the support the community has for this cause.
Our community support extends to another cause close to our hearts every February when we host the Go Red Aqua Zumba Party. February is National Heart Health Month, and this popular Aqua Zumba event is more than just a party in the water – AFF Mechanicsville member Glenda Baul survived a heart attack several years ago, and since then has worked with the American Heart Association and AFF Mechanicsville to ensure that her AFF community is aware of the importance of heart health.
Word must have gotten out about the community feel at AFF Mechanicsville because we’ve been honored to host the workouts of some pretty amazing and interesting people. Professional wrestler Mickie James and musicians Jason Mraz, Chris Brown, and Rihanna have all stopped by to get their sweat on with us. Memories were made for a lot of our members during these visits!
But it’s not just about who has walked through our doors and what events have happened at AFF Mechanicsville that makes this club memorable. It’s also the qualities that set us apart from the competition: our outstanding customer service, our cheerful and friendly staff, the cleanliness you find in every area of the club, staff longevity (50% of our current employees have been with the company for at least 5 years), and our community feel.
And if you need one more reason to come work out with us at AFF Mechanicsville, come take a look at “the wall” in our cycling studio. As you enter the cycle studio your eyes immediately track to the wall at the front of the room. It’s covered with quotes that motivate and inspire you, whether you’re riding in a cycling class or heading to swim laps in the pool. During a typical club renovation years ago, AFF Mechanicsville members submitted a non-typical suggestion for the cycle studio of adding motivational quotes on the wall. The quotes on the wall are actual quotes from our members, a true display of American Family Fitness’s commitment to the members and their well-being, and another small moment that became memorialized on the walls at AFF Mechanicsville.