Ultimate Fitness: Get fit and feel at home

The goal at Ultimate Fitness is to make everyone feel at home. The gym offers a small atmosphere, special touches like a hair dryer and toiletries in the women's locker room, welcoming elements like room for enjoying juice and coffee, and the friendliness of the owners themselves. If people have questions, Rich Palmer, Chad Schmidt and Jason Koester are all happy to help. "We get to know everyone," Palmer said. They opened the gym in the Sunset Mall during the first week of January, remodeling the 6,500-square-foot facility, buying all new equipment, painting, and redoing the locker rooms. "We are providing an environment where everyone from every walk of life can feel welcome," Koester said. "We all take great pride in customer service and we do care about our members." All three have extensive experience in the fitness industry. Schmidt is a great personal trainer, Palmer has been in the fitness industry for 18 years and can claim customer service as a strong point. Koester has degrees in business administration and kinesthesiology, and serves as the bookkeeper. "After this many years, we decided it was time to do it on our own," Palmer said. "It was a perfect time in all three of our lives." In addition to an array of equipment, their gym offers a tanning and a massage room, it will soon have a pro shop for supplements and nutrition, and Lisa Paquin's Body Shop Personal Training and Fitness moved from Government Way to Ultimate Fitness. The Ultimate Fitness experts also can help with customized meal plans, and every day they put out healthy recipes -even including recipes a little dessert. Nutrition is about 80 percent of the effort when it comes to fitness, Schmidt said. "A lot of people, they come in and work out, but they don't have the nutrition aspect," Palmer said. Existing and soon-to-come classes include cardio kickboxing, cycling, Zumba, pilates, kickbox fusion and boot camp classes. Other classes include senior muscle, balance and flex, and MS fitness. Ultimate Fitness is a Silver Fit facility and can help seniors with Silver Fit coverage. "We want to appeal to all age groups," Palmer said. Ultimate Fitness also appeals with low costs. The gym offers month-to-month, six-month, and 12-month agreements. The one-year agreement is $24.99 per month with one month free and a $50 enrollment fee. The six-month contract is $29.99 per month with a $50 enrollment fee, and the month-to-month is $35 per month. A family of four can get a membership for $64.99 per month. Another reason to join: Ultimate Fitness is donating 10 percent of enrollment to the Haiti Relief Fund. To find out more, call (208) 930-4479 or stop by Ultimate Fitness. The business is located at 296 W. Sunset Ave., in Suite 1. It is open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.