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Our mission is to deliver to our clients the best fitness products and services in the DC Metro area while operating a values-led business that is socially responsible to the community. We pride ourselves in promoting fitness while supporting the needs of the community through our scholarship programs, fitness fundraisers and walk-a-thons.
City Fitness is a completely unique gym. It is the only independent, woman-owned, full-service fitness facility in the D.C. Metro area. It is part of a local health and fitness company called Fit Physique. In January 1983, Dega Schembri founded Fit Physique, Inc. as a company providing on-site fitness classes at the work place. Under the banner “Working Out Where You Work,” Fit Physique became one of the original companies offering corporate fitness programs. In 1987 we put a public face on our business by opening our downtown aerobics studio at 1500 Massachusetts Ave., NW. One of the very first Step Aerobics classes in D.C. was held at 1500 and the original DC Funk class gained its popularity there. Our slogan was “Work Your Gluteus To The Maximus,” and our cutting edge classes with top quality instructors proved that to be quite true! Although we had been training fitness instructors since the beginning, our studio space allowed us the opportunity to formally offer our Instructor Training Programs to a larger audience.
The original City Fitness began in 1990 at McPherson Square under the ownership of Brian and Doris Forchheimer. Fit Physique was contracted by City Fitness to be the provider of their group fitness classes until 1992. In 1993 City Fitness opened its current location at 3525 Connecticut Ave., NW. Lucinda LaRee was a consultant, personal trainer, fitness instructor, fitness class coordinator and briefly Manager for City Fitness at Cleveland Park. Lucinda had been on the staff of Fit Physique, Inc. since 1989 when she arrived in D.C. from Cal-A-Vie and Norwich Inn & Spa. When the opportunity to buy the gym came up in 1996 it seemed a natural joining of forces for Lucinda and Dega to become co-owners of the company Fit Physique, Inc. and together buy the gym. They did just that in October of 1996.
Today our corporate fitness program is alive and kicking. We provide over 40 classes a week at such sites as The World Bank, the National Science Foundation, Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Zoo, Department of Labor, Communication Workers of America, Federal Reserve Board and National Gallery of Art. Our Crucial Conditioning Program focuses on Youth Fitness and we provide youth fitness classes at our gym as well as at schools such as Maret and John Eaton. Although our downtown studio closed in 1997, we contine to offer our Instructor Training (QIT+), Personal Training (QPT+), and Samayama Yoga Training (SYT) programs. These programs are responsible for the training of over one thousand fitness professionals in the D.C. Metro area. As always, our classes at City Fitness remain cutting edge and of high quality.
Our company also has a great history of social responsibility and commitment to being active in the community. Over the past twenty years we have either organized, created, led and or participated in such fundraising events as Dance For Heart, Pump-A-Can for the Needy, Workout For Hope AIDS Fundraiser, the City Fitness Cook-off for the AIDS Ride, and the Help the Homeless Walk-a-thon.
We are proud that City Fitness still has members who originally joined in 1993, as well as former Fit Physique students who are now clients at our gym. Our staff is among the most committed and we believe we have the lowest employee turnover of any fitness company. We are proud of our tradition and dedication to quality and member service as our priorities.
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