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Westminster’s newest gym, Chuze Fitness, isn’t your average big-box health club. The 38,000-square-foot space has more than 120 cardio machines, a sauna, a hydromassage lounge, tanning beds, group classes like Zumba, yoga, and indoor cycling—and even a movie theater.
The California-based chain opened its first Colorado location in Westminster in late July, and they’re already slated to open two more locations in Littleton and Thornton this year. The massive gym keeps the intimidation factor low by offering fitness options for every level, from low-impact Aqua Fit classes to 30-minute circuit training routines. It also dons tongue-in-cheek adages around the space, like their slogan “Less Attitude, More Fitness,” and “No weight dropping, unless it’s from your belly”.
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The best part of Chuze’s Colorado arrival is its surprisingly affordable memberships. If you’re a just-the-basics kind of gym rat, a monthly membership for $9.99 gets you access to the cardio and weight training areas, as well as the Chuze Cinema. A $19.99 “premium” membership gives you access to all of its fitness classes, as well as the pool, sauna, jacuzzi, hydromassage beds, and tanning beds; while the $39.99 “more” membership gets you all that, plus Chuze’s signature team training classes, which are sure to leave you sore for the next week (trust us—we tried one). Chuze calls their team-training program an alternative to pricey and often intimidating personal training sessions.
“Your typical thought with a new gym is that you’re going to walk into a high-pressure sale, or maybe you’re not going to get the same price as the customer who walked in before you. We didn’t like the way that that felt, and it didn’t mesh with our culture,” says Chuze co-owner Kris Peterson. “The problem with personal training is that you need an upsell and a sales culture to go with it, and we’re the opposite.”
The classes alternate between treadmill, rowing machine, and free weight activities to give you a high-cardio total body workout, with a different combination of exercises in every class. Class-goers can hook up their personal heart rate monitors (or their official Chuze monitors, which can be purchased at a discount with the “more” membership) to the team training system to track heart rate and calories burned throughout the workout. At each stage of the class, Chuze’s team training coach gives instructions on which heart rate level to shoot for. No heart rate monitor? No problem. The trainers are armed with guidelines on speed and intensity settings to get the job done, and each exercise has multiple modifications, so you can choose the level that’s right for you.
Our favorite feature is of course the Chuze Cinema—a large-screen, darkened movie theater stocked with ellipticals, treadmills, and bicycles so you can distract yourself with a good flick while you sweat it out. And these aren’t dollar-bin movies; they often show recent releases like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Guardians of the Galaxy, with classics like Rocky in the mix. Plus, they switch it up with a new movie every day, so you’ll never get stuck watching the same show two workouts in a row.
So if you need us, we’ll be on the treadmill enjoying Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Check it out: Chuze Fitness is located at 8601 N. Sheridan Blvd., Westminster; the gym is open from 4:30 a.m. to midnight on Mondays, 24 hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, midnight to 10 p.m. on Fridays, and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.