Yes, in many ways, The Athletic Club appears to be your normal, ordinary high-end facility. But there’s more to our facility than meets the eye, because under the veil of a gym is a spirit of nonsense.  

Your first indication that something is unusual is that there’s a plastic skeleton sitting on the couch by the front door, wearing reading glasses and holding a copy of the Farmer’s Almanac. To his left are two members, talking about sports and acting like everything is normal. You pause. Another member comes in and the owner behind the front desk produces a small plastic back scratcher and extends it to him like a fist. The young man, without a thought, gives it a first bump and they talk. 

A mailman comes in. A small crowd of people gather around expectantly, and he tells them a bad joke, then departs. 

What is this place, this bizarre nexus of nonsense wearing a gym’s clothing? This, my dear reader, is The Athletic Club.

And these are the top 5 unique features of it.

Skelly

Ah, Skelly. Where to start on this one? Skelly is a midrange plastic skeleton that shows up around holidays, dressed in appropriate holiday attire. Sometimes he just shows up when we feel like it. He has gained enough importance that he has an official bio on our website (click here to see it). He is technically posable, but not very well. Where did Skelly start?  

Truth be told, I don’t remember. It started years ago, and for some reason we purchased a few of those Halloween plastic skeletons, and one of us put him on a piece of weight equipment. It looked funny, so we left him there like he was using the machine. People thought it was funny, and soon, we noticed members would get in on it. Someone would have moved him and rearranged him onto a different machine, or given him a little accessory, or made jokes about him having done too much cardio. All the while, he stared, blankly with his plastic jaw slightly agape, being funny for no reason whatsoever. 

One Christmas we dressed him up with a little Santa hat, and from there, it was off to the races. Graduation? You can expect to find Skelly somewhere dressed in a graduation gown. New Years? He’s got a little festive hat. Fourth of July? You bet Skelly is out there looking snappy. 

Sometimes Skelly needs a break and we move him to unpredictable places. Maybe one day he’s in the pool, floating in a tube.

Maybe the next he’s at the front, getting some paperwork done. Maybe the day after, he’s waiting between sets on a bench press. Maybe the next, he’s waiting for his ride.

At some point, I wrote a bio for Skelly and we bought him a name tag. As the years passed, he became more and more important to our members and staff, and now, people wonder where he is if we don’t put him out early enough. We organized and put on a charity run to raise money for the Crisis Network, and we gave out free shirts to anyone who participated and guess who was on it – Skelly. I actually carried Skelly for the mile, too, his bony little plastic skeleton poking me the entire way.

At first, people weren’t entirely sure what to make of him, but now, he’s a welcome sight and always a source of amusement for when he shows up.

Family Owned

The Athletic Club is 100 percent family owned and operated. We aren’t a chain. We aren’t a corporate gym. We live here, work here, and play here. We work out on all the equipment and we personally select and try out whatever we buy because this place isn’t a number for us. It’s a business, sure, but it’s a passion and a love for this industry.

One of us is here 7 days a week. We are committed to our vision, and we have excellent folks who have joined us who help bring about this wonderful, fun, goofy environment where everyone is welcome. My family has been running clubs since the 80s and that’s for a reason: it’s something we truly care about. 

Fresh Fuel Nutrition

Fresh Fuel Nutrition is a place where delicious and healthy combine. Jesse Cuplin, a certified nutritionist and personal trainer as well as sporting a kinesiology degree, founded Fresh Fuel Nutrition in August 2023, and it’s been off to the races since then. Growing up playing virtually every sport competitively, Jesse learned young the importance of taking care of your body and uses the analogy that our bodies are like cars– if you give them the wrong fuel, it won’t run right!  

Taking her lifelong passion for health and fitness and turning it into a business, Jesse offers high quality health foods, specifically smoothies, protein shakes, and smoothie bowls. After learning how many smoothie places use ingredients that are not actually fruit (such as purees, mixtures, powders, juices, and ice-cream that are filled with added sugars, chemicals, and other chemical ingredients) even while being offered as “healthy” options, Jesse embarked on a quest to use high-quality, nutritious ingredients and make great tasting food with them because let’s be honest– nutritionally packed food that tastes terribly is not overly appetizing. Based on personal experience as well as all her satisfied clientele, she nailed it. Every customer is helped with a smile as their meal is prepared from scratch with whole, all natural ingredients bursting with organic flavor. Don’t forget to ask about her stamp card!

Fresh Fuel is open to everyone, members and non-members alike, and is located inside The Athletic Club at the crossroads of delicious and nutritious.

The Guitar

A couple years ago, we brought a guitar and some members got to asking about it, so we let them play around the front desk. The guitar ended up being quite popular so we brought in one for members to play whenever they wanted. It’s currently located near the front desk by the couch. 

It’s been very popular since then, and many of our members are strikingly good musicians! We don’t encourage or allow people to bang away and irritate other members with it, but many a member has come in and blown us away with what they’re capable of. A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine came in and played (and sang) some of Eric Clapton’s soothing, peaceful melodies as a small group gathered around and listened. It was wonderful, like a private little concert. From the Beatles to Clapton to Bob Dylan to original songs, it’s been a wonderful, warm addition.

If you ever feel like it, try it out! New members or longtime members, all are welcome. 

Two Story

One of the unusual features of our facility is the fact that we are two story. Our facility is about 20,000 square feet spread out over the two stories, but it’s hard to tell that from the outside of the building. What started as an intentional design blossomed into something really special that none of us anticipated, with members of all ages, walks of life, and experiences mingling and forming friendships all over the place.  

The first floor tends to have an upscale feeling. When you first walk in, the greeting desk has marble countertops, high-end appointments, and a high-end flooring. There are plants (yes, they are real) all over the place, and the Cybex circuit downstairs (as well as the 40 plus pieces of cardio equipment) prioritize smoothness, modern functionality, and aesthetics. Along with the heated indoor pool, hot tub, locker rooms, and Fresh Fuel Nutrition, downstairs is a sleek, smooth facility.

Upstairs, we’ve located most of our free weights and plate loaded machines. Since many of our customers prefer the “old school” sort of workout that isn’t quite as fancy, upstairs we’ve opted for offering that. You can expect to get a great workout on high quality equipment that you’ve come to know and love. Expect brands like Hammer Strength, Icarian, Technogym, and more. If you’ve been looking for a place where you can simply put weights on a machine that hit exactly the way that you want, this is it. Upstairs is also located an expansive open space for stretching, abs, boxing, self-guided yoga, and more. Click here for pictures of our facility!

Every member is welcome everywhere. For those members who will be performing exercises that are loud, such as deadlift, they are asked to use the private room that is outfitted with squat racks, dumbbells, and space for deadlifting and other similar movements. I encourage you to try out several different places in the facility!

Conclusion of the Unique Features of The Athletic Club

If I listed everything we have here and all the things and people that make this place unique, I’d be here forever. All are welcome, regardless of fitness and experience level. You don’t need to know anything about fitness to be welcome here. If you already know a lot, awesome! If you aren’t as experienced, we’d be happy to guide you.  

The best thing about our facility is the people. I couldn’t be more proud of our members and the great community here. Friendships form and lives change. There’s the equipment that makes up the outer shell of our facility, but what makes up the gooey friendly center is our community, and it really isn’t something I can explain. 

It’s just… special.

The post 5 Unique Features of The Athletic Club in Marble Falls first appeared on THE ATHLETIC CLUB.

While I guarantee you that The Athletic Club in Marble Falls is unlike any place you’ve worked out before, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a better idea of what The Athletic Club is all about. We’ll start with the reasons behindwhy our members work out, go over a FAQ, and close out with a bad pun. But first, why do people work out?

Why People Work out at The Athletic Club

I want you to close your eyes and imagine what someone looks like who goes to the gym. What shows up in your mind? If you’re like most folks, the first image when I talk about gym goers is the traditional Hollywood and social media image of fitness: the sculpted abs, the incredible physique, etc. It’s easy to see all these carefully edited glimpses into what the fitness world sometimes looks like from sources like online influencers, because the lighting is always just perfect, and if things aren’t quite what they want to show, no problem—Photoshop will whisk someone’s physique into some airbrushed nonsense image. Vaguely, in the distance, you hear the song “You’re So Vain” playing. 

In this world of online influencers, it’s easy to imagine that us “normal” folk won’t fit in at the gym. In fact, that’s one of the top reasons that people have anxiety about trying out a gym—because they aren’t one of “those” people. And while I can’t speak to the experience of a big commercial gym, I wanted to do an in-depth analysis of who works out at The Athletic Club, and why. 

So, today, I ambushed a bunch of innocent members who were just trying to get their workout and asked them. It was perfect. I laid in wait by the front door and by the time they realized, like an antelope unaware of the alligator’s eyes poking out of the water, it was too late to escape. Here’s what they said!

People work out for quality of life first, followed by mental health, followed by aesthetics.

The overwhelming majority of people here are here because of quality of life—click here to learn more about the benefits that can come with lifting weights, for example. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to hone your physique, most folks, from the 18-year-old to the 90-year-old, care about how it improves their day-to-day lives as the top priority.

Frequently Asked Questions

The best time to start is right now. I know I’m with a fitness club, and so you may be wondering if I’m just trying to coax you into buying a membership and if this is true. It is true, and you don’t need a membership anywhere to live healthier and be happier. Whether you’re a local here of Marble Falls and the surrounding areas, or whether you are somewhere way away and have somehow stumbled here, please—I urge you, take the steps to become healthy, whatever it looks like for you.

If you choose us as your ally in that, awesome! Come check us out! We’d love to have you. But we got into this business to help people, and that’s what matters to us. If you do choose us, click here to learn more about weightlifting and the benefits that help everyone from youngsters to senior citizens, and here to learn more about the heated indoor pool and how that can help with mobility, enhanced heart health, recovery, and more.

How The Athletic Club Stands Out

We did it, gang. Another blog post in the books, and you made it all the way through. I hope you learned a little something-something on the way, and as promised, here is the bad pun—what do you call a fake pasta? An impasta. Boom, there you go. 

I told someone last week that the best part of working here at a gym is that I get to be around so many people working towards their goals and I get to watch their lives change, and I meant it. 

Come check us out. Come see what we are all about. But even if you don’t, I urge you to take the steps to pursue fitness. You won’t look back.

The post Will I fit in at The Athletic Club? first appeared on THE ATHLETIC CLUB.

A Beginner’s Guide to Gym Etiquette

The gym is a perfect place. You’ll never be sad, you’ll always only have good days, and you’ll never do leg days. 

We wish, right? Wouldn’t that be amazing if all of the fairytale stuff those corporate gyms try to make you believe was actually real? Tell me if this sounds familiar: You were sold on a corporate gym sometime in the past, signed up, and quickly learned the gym wasn’t what you expected. The shiny sales rep did a great job of keeping you from noticing the flaws, and now they’ve got you on the hook. 

What makes The Athletic Club different? Why should you believe me when I say we’re not like that? Because we have a different business model. Big corporate gyms try to get as many members as possible and hope they don’t show up (but keep paying their dues). Our model, on the other hand, is to have fewer members who have a great time when they’re here! This is a local, family-owned establishment in a small town—not a corporate behemoth. Which is a great segway into this article. We firmly believe our outstanding gym community is a huge part of who we are, and that’s not by accident. We’ve spent years crafting a community that treats each other kindly, is welcoming to beginners, and, honestly, just contributes to a great place to pursue fitness. Sure, we can have great equipment (we do), clean facilities (we do), quality staff (we do), but what makes this place so special is our members—You!

Fun fact: I’m writing this at the club, and while I was writing, someone came up to tell me a joke. This is the kind of community we have and the kind of community our members are after. There are a million commercial “we-don’t-care” gyms. Come to The Athletic Club for a genuinely welcoming, low-pressure environment. Much of that depends on each of us doing our part, so let’s go over a few ways that proper gym etiquette can make a big difference!

Now that our shameless pitch is over, here are a few simple rules you can put to use right away to help make sure everyone has a good experience at The Athletic Club!

• Work In With People

  “Working in” basically means sharing a piece of equipment. While we try to have a lot of different options in case the machine you like is in use (for instance, we have four leg extensions), you sometimes need to share. People do this all the time, and it’s 100 percent easy to do. Just ask if you can work in and share the machine (for instance, they do a set, and then you do a set, and so forth). As an introvert myself, this always sounded unpleasant, but it’s actually not bad at all and you can even develop a friendship with someone.

• Wipe Down Equipment

  While The Athletic Club staff (myself included) spend hours a day sanitizing, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, sneezing from said dust, and lubricating equipment, it’s always a good rule of thumb to wipe down your own piece of equipment after you use it. There are sanitizing stations set up strategically throughout the facility, equipped with disinfectant spray that smells great, towels, disinfecting wipes, a trash can, and more. Give the machine a quick wipe down after using and move to the next one!

• Re-Rack It

  “Racking” is the process of returning weights to a rack. Basically, when you’re done with a machine that has weights, please put them back on the storage rack. Not only does this let other members know you’re finished with a machine, it also helps people find the weight they’re looking for. As far as where to put them, with dumbbells, it’s simple: Return them in order. With weights, it’s arranged by size. Some machines have their own storage places, and sometimes you put it on the little storage racks nearby. Put the lighter ones toward the top and the heavier ones closer to the floor. Try to put the same weights on each other (for instance, place a 10-pound plate on a 10-pound plate, not over a 5-pound plate). If you have any questions, please feel free to ask the staff and we’ll be glad to help! Click here to see our staff!

• Be Kind

  This one is simple, but remember, we’re all human. People are going through different things, and the trick to creating a genuine, welcoming space is to understand that sometimes someone is fighting a battle you might not know about. For many people, coming to the gym is an intimidating prospect. I’ve said it before: When I first got into the fitness world, I was so nervous that I never said anything to anyone and walked around with a semi-permanent scowl because I didn’t want people to know how out of my element I was! If you feel this way, it’s okay. Nobody was born in a gym. Take a deep breath, realize that people generally don’t pay attention to the weights anyone else is using, and stay in the moment. It’ll open you up to seeing the kindness and friendliness of our fantastic members who want to welcome you!

The post A Beginner’s Guide to Gym Etiquette first appeared on THE ATHLETIC CLUB.

So, you’ve decided to join a gym. You’ve waited for this moment. You’re excited but nervous because you know this moment—this moment right now of walking in for the first time—could be the start of something wonderful. But then, you freeze. What are all of these machines? What in the world do they all do? Why are there so many pulleys? Are the dumbbells better than machines?

Fret not, dear reader. Getting started at a new gym can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! At The Athletic Club in Marble Falls, we have all been there. Back when I first joined the fitness world years ago, I had to hire a trainer just to feel comfortable setting foot inside the gym! Everyone’s fitness journey starts somewhere, and it’s our goal to make you feel comfortable and equipped to get started on the right foot. Are you ready for this Complete Beginner’s Guide to Using Gym Equipment Safely and Effectively? Let’s go!

Getting Started with Strength Training

​There’s this misconception that fitness people know everything, like they came into the world knowing what pecs mean, and how many reps to do, and that calves are the most unpleasant muscle to work. Not so! We all start on our own fitness journey, and all of us make mistakes and learn on the way. Let’s go over the basics of getting started with strength training as a beginner.

• ​What is strength training? Strength training is, in the simplest definition, using resistance (usually weights) to build strength and endurance.
• ​But I’m not a bodybuilder. Why would I care? Strength training is for everyone! Here at The Athletic Club, we have weightlifters ranging from their teens all the way into their 90s. The vast majority of people are not looking to become the next Arnold. They’re after the huge health benefits that come with strength training.
• ​​What are the benefits of strength training? While I could list a million different things, let’s just go over some of the basics (after all, this is a beginner’s guide to using gym equipment and strength training). Here are a handful: improved strength, improved heart health, decreased risk of injury, strengthened bones (yes, you get stronger bones with strength training, which becomes even more important as we age, and if your doctor has mentioned bone density issues, strength training is a great place to start!), a boosted metabolism, enhanced flexibility, a boosted mood, elevated fat burning, and, of course, there’s a huge link between strength training and enhancing your mental health. While I could go on, let’s make it simple: Your body is designed to operate the smoothest when it’s being used!
• ​​Who ya gonna call? The Athletic Club staff! While I could write this all day long, it’s important to remember that getting started with strength training does not have to be a solo adventure and it doesn’t need to complicated. I want you to think of this as a field guide and The Athletic Club staff as your gym sherpas. Have a question? Ask us! Want to check your form? Ask us! Want recommendations on some exercises, or a walkthrough, or you name it? Ask us! Seriously, it’s what we’re here for. We really enjoy helping people, and there are no stupid questions. Trust me, if there were stupid questions, I’ve asked them before.

Top Tips for Beginners Using Gym Machines

Here we step into the next section of the Complete Beginner’s Guide to Using Gym Equipment Safely and Effectively: top tips for beginners using gym machines!

Like I said earlier, there’s a lot to know, and usually the best way is to ask someone who works at The Athletic Club. Not only have we spent years training in the exact facility that you’re looking for, we love guiding people! We chose this field for good reason: It’s our passion, and guiding people is our bacon bits. That being said, here are a few top tips on using gym equipment that applies no matter what you’re using.

• ​Warm up first. Before hopping on any machine, make sure you’re good and warm! The best way to do this is to stroll over to the cardio room and hit some cardio. Not only is cardio good for the ticker, it’ll also help prep your muscles and reduce the risk of injury. This doesn’t have to be intense. For instance, hop on the treadmill for a light jog or a walk (best with a slight incline). If you’re looking for more options, including low-impact cardio, any of our staff would be happy to recommend some things. Here at The Athletic Club, we have over 50 pieces of cardio equipment, including treadmills, Stairmasters, stair-steppers, ellipticals, recumbent bikes, upright bikes, spin bikes, specialty pieces such as an Arc Trainer, Sci-Fit equipment, and more.
• ​Start slow on any machine—it isn’t a race! Whenever you first start lifting, even if you’re already pretty warmed up, it’s always a good rule of thumb to get the ol’ muscles going slowly. Do a set of light weight to get the range of motion going and some blood pumping. Once you’re good and warm, feel free to step it up and put some more weight on until you’re at a weight that’s good for you. Make sure to be conscientious and allow others to work in as well!
• ​Choose beginner-friendly machines. Some machines are simpler to use than others, and generally, it’s best to start with the fundamentals before you work your way up. Guided machines, such as the circuit equipment downstairs (the group in front of the treadmills), can be an excellent place to start because they help control your range of motion and help with better form.
• Focus on form, not on speed. Proper form on the machines helps you get the most out of your workout. Slow, controlled motions will get you more progress and, bonus points, reduce your risk of injury enormously. Strength training can be extremely effective while being predictable and simple. Control the weight—don’t let it control you!

FAQs: What to Know Before Your First Visit

Conclusion:

​I know this has been brief, but I hope our Complete Beginner’s Guide to Using Gym Equipment Safely and Effectively has been beneficial for you. While you can spend a lifetime learning about fitness, you don’t have to do all that to be able to reap the benefits. I think you’ll find our facility is laid back, welcoming, and educational.

After all, while we pride ourselves on the quality of our equipment and cleanliness of our gym, we all know that isn’t what makes a club somewhere you actually want to go. It’s a place where you feel good being yourself, and where it is okay to ask questions and people actually want to help you. It’s a place where members bring plants to other members, where a plastic skeleton named Skelly appears during certain times of the year (click here to learn more about Skelly), a place where, if you time it right, you can hear a joke of the day from our mailman (seriously, a new joke every day for years).

It’s a place where you can be you.

The post Beginner’s Guide to Using Gym Equipment at The Athletic Club first appeared on THE ATHLETIC CLUB.