Heartline Fitness Systems

SITUATION:

The Renaissance Academy will be Virginia Beach Public Schools’ new alternative education center serving students in grades 6-12 and will be “home” for the school division’s alternative education programs. This program will serve students with behavioral and/or academic issues. Since the early 1970s, students with behavioral and academic problems have been taken care of at the city’s 19 other schools. However, beginning in January of 2010, all of these students will be able to call The Renaissance Academy home. Although, The Renaissance Academy will not field an athletic program per se, the City of Virginia Beach realizes the importance of physical fitness for its teens. According to activelivingresearch.org youth who are more physically active tend to perform better academically, have higher self-esteem and maintain better school attendance. Consequently, physical fitness will be very important component at The Renaissance Academy. Beginning in July 2008, Heartline and Virginia Beach Public Schools began developing a fitness center plan encompassing two facilities—a wellness center for the middle school, and a state-of-the-art fitness center for the high school.

SOLUTION:

Both schools were allocated approximately 1,300 square feet of floor space respectively. Based on months of discussion, it was decided that each facility would resemble a state-of-the-art wellness center, and not a weight room, or weight training facility. Once this decision was made, Heartline was able to develop a computer aided design (CAD) layout of each facility. Both centers would include seven Matrix 3 series cardiovascular products—three treadmills, three ellipticals, and two recumbent bikes, as well as an eight piece Paramount Fitness strength training circuit. Each Paramount FS Dual Station unit contains two workout functions—effectively giving each school a sixteen piece exercise circuit. Further, it was decided that the high school would receive additional free weights and auxiliary units (inner/outer thigh, vertical knee raise, and an adjustable abdominal crunch). In terms of free weights, Heartline installed a Star Trac Maxx Rack with Olympic plates. The Maxx Rack is an innovative Smith machine concept that allows an exerciser to perform a variety of Olympic lifts and bench press movements in the safe confines of a machine. Unlike a static Smith machine that moves in a fixed linear plane, Star Trac’s Maxx Rack provides range of motion that mimics the natural arc of the exercise being performed. The center of each facility was left open, allowing for a variety of multi-purpose activities—ab crunch, plyometrics, jump roping, agility drills, stretching, etc. The result, two impressive wellness facilities that will enable The Renaissance Academy’s to provide their middle school and high school students a well rounded strength training and cardiovascular conditioning program.