Above: Erin Maidl, office manager, and CJ Johnson, owner of Cutting Edge Fitness in Fairmont. The fitness facility is offering free memberships to students and families in Martin County.

FAIRMONT– In an effort to meet the needs of the community, Cutting Edge Fitness in Fairmont is offering free memberships to students and families in Martin County. The fitness facility first offered this in 2019 and now the program is back after missing a year due to Covid.

“The first year we filled it with 25,” said office manager Erin Maidl.

This time around, they started offering the free memberships at the start of the school year because they work closely with school counselors to determine which students and families have a need for it.

Maidl said not all of the scholarships are spoken for yet. If students or families from 2019 fully utilized their membership, she said they were offered one again. The memberships are given to individuals or one per family, whichever it’s determined the need is.

CJ Johnson, owner of Cutting Edge, explained that they first offered this program after attending a community meeting about the proposed Fairmont Area Community Center.

“Their big push point was they wanted to offer things in Martin County for financially challenged families and there just wasn’t anything out there as far as gym memberships or anything along that line.”

Johnson said they decided to take the initiative to offer the memberships in correlation with Fairmont Community Education and Recreation.

“I think it helps promote a healthy lifestyle. A lot of these families don’t have much so for them to be able to have an out here with what we have to offer is extremely beneficial, especially to the youth,” Johnson said.

Maidl said it’s also nice to see parents coming with their kids and doing something with them that doesn’t cost money.

“It’s especially good in the winter months,” Johnson added.

The free memberships aren’t the only thing Cutting Edge is offering for the community. Johnson said just this week they got a new golf performance program through Titleist.

“I’ve spent the last six months getting their level two certification. It’s a golf fitness program that works on body mechanics through an individual’s swing,” Johnson explained.

Cutting Edge is also in the works of starting a remodel. It will be getting a new basketball court, new artificial turf and a renovation of the rest of the gym.

The new additions come after a long time of Cutting Edge, and all other gyms, dealing with covid protocols. Johnson said now they’re back to operating normally.

Other offerings at Cutting Edge include Silver Sneakers, yoga classes, high intensity group fitness classes, personal training, sport specific training and team training. They also offer a full line of nutritional supplements.

Johnson is in his 10th year of owning Cutting Edge, which was formerly MC Fitness. He said as a business they strive to provide a healthy lifestyle for not only individuals but families as well as specialized training for athletes and general population individuals.

Anyone interested in a free membership can work through their school district office.