The stretching room of Gold’s Gym at Mall of Indonesia

Entering the calm ambiance of Fitness First Platinum at Pacific Place mall in the heart of Jakarta is quite different from entering a hard gym area, where big and muscular people are usually the most noticeable ones present.

Bathed in a gentle blues with dim light in a high-end mall, the place offers healthy activity for executives, especially those who choose exercise during their lunch breaks or after hours.

In the front of the gym — which serves as an access way, the self-called “premium mega-gym” welcomes visitors with a clean front desk of black tile and brown wood to give a balanced look that is both cool and warm.

The white tile on the floor matches a round-shaped accent of white ceiling to give an office-like appearance, an effort to differentiate the exclusive gym of about 2,000 square meters.

The rear of the gym, which has a city view, is where several cardio exercise machines — like treadmills, steppers and elliptical trainers — are placed. To avoid boredom while doing exercise, the gym also provides televisions that offer movies, sports and news shows.

Next to the cardio area is the member’s lounge and juice bar, adjacent to cycling studio. The studio, which is a special place for LessMills RPM’s indoor cycling on static bikes, is decorated with outer space theme.

“The tone and basic interior design of every Fitness First club in the whole world are similar. If you go to London [the home city of the franchise], you will see the same colors as you see it here,” Fitness First Indonesia marketing manager Julia Nurdin tells The Jakarta Post, while pointing out the gym’s signature color of blue with variations of yellow, red and purple in some rooms.

A private corner at the exercise room of FitnessFirst Platinum at Pacific Place
In the most tranquil area for the mind and body is where subtle exercises like yoga and pilates are held. The mind and body studio and area apply a full natural tone of wood element to give a calmer look.

A different atmosphere is felt and seen in the Gold’s Gym club at the Mall of Indonesia in North Jakarta, although the basic and entertainment facilities are also well provided.

Using sporty colors of yellow and black, Gold’s Gym signature colors are mixed with a sort of simple modern look with silvery tones. The fitness center offers a real gym where people come to meet their basic need of being healthy.

“What we do is giving members a bit serious fitness mood. Therefore, we are basically using modern design with sporty colors like yellow,” says Gold’s Gym Indonesia marketing and promotion manager Angela Lovina.

In the entrance, there is a sitting area, Gold’s Gym’s Pro-Shop fitness apparel and accessory store, lounge and Gold’s Gym cafe, as well as a front desk.

Getting inside, members will go through the gym’s very own wall of fame which lists various international and national celebrities who are Gold’s Gym proud members. The wall of fame hall is made of glass and uses silvery colors.

“Gold’s Gym is actually the first and the oldest gym chain in the world. It was founded in the US,” said Angela of the gym which was established in 1965 by Joe Gold. “That’s why we have the celebrities’ list.”

After the wall, members are welcomed by towel desk and locker rooms, which are equipped with hair dryers, personalized lockers, rest rooms and sauna.

Entering the gym area, the fitness center feel is really there with pumping music to boost the mood.

The flow of the room is also gym activity-based, which starts from stretch area to cardio (treadmills, cross-trainers), strength (free weights and weight machines) and cycling studio. Other facilities on the first floor are including boxing ring and virtual training arcade.

On the second floor, the Gold’s Gym features aerobic room as well as body and mind studio plus an indoor jogging track. All of those facilities apply parquet flooring.

“We have to use the parquet elements because our basic design is modern, and it’s too cool if we’re not balancing it with the wooden flooring,” said Angela.

As an additional value, Gold’s Gym at Mall of Indonesia also provides a swimming pool.

Need a more real-deal body building experience to pamper your desire? Try to visit one club of Indonesia’s very own world-class body builder, Ade Rai, at Klub Ade Rai Senopati fitness center in South Jakarta.

The club is franchise fitness center under Ade’s management.

“The Senopati club is the third fitness center we had after Senen and Cibubur in 1997. The club chain was established at that time due to my passion for body building, instead of just pure business,” says Ade.

An exercise room at Klub Ade Rai in Senopati, South Jakarta.
Although the Senopati club is an old player, the franchisee has developed the gym into a better shape, which is confident enough to mingle among mega-gym clubs.

Besides providing facility for workouts, Klub Ade Rai also gives entertainment sides such as a healthy cafe with the club’s own kitchen, sports apparel shop, TV set, video games corner and a foosball – which is placed in a combination area with front desk.

Similar to Gold’s Gym, flow of the room in the Klub Ade Rai is also based on gym activity sequence.

“To deal with limited space, we put cardio tools like treadmills and cross-trainers that head to outdoor view,” says Ade of the 600-square-meter gym.

Next to cardio exercise area, there is an aerobics room.

“Ideally, a gym has to have at least three rooms for high impact exercises; a soundproof room for low impact like yoga; and a spinning room for cycling exercises.

“But here at the Senopati, we only have one aerobic room. The gym is actually in a renovation to provide more facilities. One that is under development is a tanning room,” shares Ade.

The aerobics room applies parquet flooring which, according to Ade, gives a better bounce during movements instead of tiles.

The resistance training area is divided into free weight and weight machine sections. “The free weight area uses rubber flooring, while the weight machine uses tiles.”

Ade categorizes his gym chain’s overall design into a sporty ambiance with colors like red and black with a twist of yellow. “It’s not too masculine or feminine. It’s simply sporty.”

— Photos by Nurhayati