ABOVE: Cutting Edge Fitness Owner CJ Johnson stands on the new balcony workout area, leaning on the ledge that now overlooks the back room workout area. Johnson said this setup, among other things, allows for parents to monitor their kids while they both work out.

FAIRMONT – Cutting Edge Fitness is nearing completion on a multi-project build, renovating multiple spaces at its Fairmont location.

Owner CJ Johnson said this was not done on a whim. Instead, it was something they thought through for years.

“We sat back and have been evaluating for the past few years of what direction we want to go in the community and what services the community needs and how we can better serve the community,” he said. “That was the main basis on our resurfacing and what we’re going to focus on moving forward with the business.”

Overall, they have done a full resurface of the upstairs area, made a big area within it for an overview deck that looks over the back gym, re-did some rooms to make a separate area for their kids’ programs, added 70 pieces of new equipment and redone the locker rooms to add more space.

“For people who don’t want to be in the mix of the back gym, they can go up and still see what’s going on from up there,” he said. “We have a lot of parents that come in and like to watch their kids work out, so they can work out while watching their kids train with us.”

Adding space for their youth programs was crucial, according to Johnson, as they plan to expand with 200 athletes coming each week and 30 different session options for them to attend.

“We really saw a need for the youth athletic community, and not only interested in getting better at their craft, but also seeing the importance of exercise,” he said. “Seeing the importance of nutrition, and seeing the importance of being part of something, a community of other like-minded people.”

The second floor area was one of the largest spaces changed in this project. Johnson said it had been unused office space before, but they always knew they wanted to do something with it.

“We’ve always had the vision of what we wanted to do,” he said. “After going back and really looking at the layout of the building and working with different people, we decided that we were going to bring it back to its original layout, and really use that open floor concept to tie everything together.”

Usage was a significant area of consideration for Johnson when it came to the equipment they added.

ABOVE: Along with equipment and area improvements, Cutting Edge Fitness Owner CJ Johnson points out changes to the locker room, particularly the new locker area on the left and how it extends from the original locker room area on the right.

“We added a full circuit of different free motion machines,” he said. “They’re a very top-of-the-line machine, very user-friendly. We’ve added eight new functional cable machines that are very versatile. You can use them for anything; that is one of our most-used machines. We wanted to make sure that our members aren’t waiting for equipment.”

They have also added several new pieces of cardiovascular equipment, six new incline treadmills, five new regular treadmills, new bikes and an expanded dumbbell section.

As for why now is the right time to put all this in place, Johnson said growth was the real indicator.

ABOVE: This is one of the new free motion machines added by Cutting Edge Fitness as one of several projects. Owner CJ Johnson, pictured here, said these were some of the most popular machines, which influenced them to bring in more to minimize wait time for usage.

“We were at a place where our membership was growing,” he said. “The health and fitness world is a growing thing. We decided that it’s now or never, and we’re going to do it, and we’re really going to push for the future in Fairmont and our surrounding communities.”

Currently, Johnson said they are about 90 percent completed with the project.

“We are very close,” he said. “We’re really hoping to have the kids’ space done at the beginning of April, and that’s really the last part for right now, as far as phase one goes.”

They started working on everything in mid-December, meaning the whole project has taken them around four months. Johnson said this is actually ahead of their scheduled timeline. Overall, the projects have cost them around $150,000 to $200,000, which Johnson said went to local contractors.

To be able to renovate in this way was described by Johnson as the best feeling in the world.

“Just seeing how happy our members have been since we started doing this, and really seeing the community in general support us,” he said. “From my standpoint, that’s the best feeling in the world, absolutely.”