As I prepare to turn in all of my materials for my internship, I can’t help but reflect on my time at Townplace Fitness. Going into this experience, I never thought I’d hear myself say that I would miss it! I stopped down at the gym yesterday to thank Tyler for taking me on as part of team for the past few months and giving me the opportunity to learn about the field I love by being submersed in it. I discovered that SO much of what I learned in the classroom was put to use all the time in this field. I thought if I had to do one more SWOT analysis in a class I would lose my mind! But it turns out that all of that information is incredibly important. When I was sitting in my human resources class learning about the hiring process, or my event planning class drawing diagrams, or even marketing class designing posters, I guess I never thought I would be using that specific information in the health and wellness industry. I thought “well I suppose if I want to work in this field I’ll just find a job as a trainer and that’ll be it”. But from working with marketing and social media at Townplace, I realize I can do SO much more in this field! I can take all of the business knowledge I have learned from Point Park, and my certifications in training and nutrition, and put it all together to create a career that I love to be a part of every day. I have never been the most dedicated student in the classroom, and there were many times that I wished I was, or thought maybe I just had not found my niche yet. But thanks to these classes at Point Park, along with this internship, I am so SO thankful to say that I have found it. I cannot thank my advisors, professors, and supervisor enough for all of the incredible experiences I’ve had over the past few years. I cannot wait to put all of this knowledge to use in a career I love!

Townplace Fitness has had a special place in my heart since 2016 when I first signed up to be a member of Gold’s Gym Pittsburgh. I had just started training at the end of 2015 and moving Downtown and going to a big-name gym like that was so exciting for me. So you can imagine a few years down the road when I found out that Gold’s had been purchased by new owners and would no longer be a Gold’s Gym, I was actually pretty sad. Of all the changes in my life from 2016 to the present, my home gym had always been a solid, steady factor that I never had to worry about changing. I was worried that I wouldn’t even like the new gym. As I mentioned in my biography, I had worked at Gold’s for a few months back in 2017, but did not have the time to commit to the position with it being long hours and my priority being school. After leaving my position there, I was still an avid member. Tyler had spoken to me one day about needing help marketing this new gym to the community and getting its name out in Downtown Pittsburgh, and I really loved the idea of helping! When he offered me the internship I immediately jumped on it. When I had dabbled in marketing in past years, I was too shy to make much of an impact. Now, years later, and being able to work with a new team, I found that I’m actually very good at it! I also hadn’t had much practice with a camera or editing pictures, but I had the opportunity to work with people who did. Marketing through social media came easily to me since I essentially grew up with it, but learning to confidently market this gym with companies and new members face-to-face was a skill I needed to work on. I can say now that I have come a long way since I first walked into that gym, and knowing that I was able to make an impact as they go through these changes makes me incredibly happy! I truly cannot wait to see what it will look like when the remodel is complete.

As my internship comes to a close at Townplace, I find myself thinking “I wish I could still be part of the team as the new gym is revealed.” Maybe I can convince Tyler to take me on as a part-time employee (wishful thinking)! In the meantime however, I did FINALLY get the chance to see some of the new equipment being brought into the gym! As I had mentioned before, the upper level of the gym is the second project that is nearing completion (behind the rooftop deck). To accommodate the members while the upstairs is closed, the team moved some of the cardio equipment down to the weight room level so there would still be access to it. It’s a bit cramped down there to say the least, but the plans for the new upper level have the members so excited that they don’t seem to mind. I was lucky enough to be there as some of the new cardio equipment arrived!! Previously, when the gym was still Gold’s, there were different brands of equipment being used. Many of these older pieces were constantly needing serviced or just not working at all. Now the facility has switched over to Matrix, one of the most widely-used brands in the industry. Because the equipment is brand new, it not only will function better, but will be uniform across the entire gym. I can say that even I was guilty of lifting at Townplace then going elsewhere to do cardio purely because I wasn’t a fan of the equipment as a member. To see these new pieces arrive made me so excited to see my favorite gym look new again! (And how cool is it that the new equipment matches the gym’s colors?!)

One of the skills that I really wanted to develop in my time at Townplace Fitness was basic photography. I had taken a class on photography and a separate course on editing when I was attending Community College of Beaver County, but never had a chance to really apply what I had learned. Four years later, I had basically forgotten all of the details of the courses when I finally needed to put them to use. Thankfully, I got to work with a team that had experience in photography and editing so that I could refresh my memory on it. The photos we took did not need much editing, so certain software such as Photoshop and Adobe Creative Suite were not needed. I had hoped to use this software during my internship, but since the photos didn’t need heavy editing I now hope to learn more about it from my friends at Point Park who are well educated in photography. Most of the pictures I was able to take with the team are of the renovations, and because the owners of Townplace did not want to share them until the remodel is done, I kept them to myself and instead posted pictures that they supplied to us. These photos were mostly stock pictures that we were in charge of adding text to, to advertise our open houses and what the gym would eventually look like. However, because certain parts of the gym will be open soon after my internship is complete, I am able to post them here! (With the owners’ permission, of course) These specific pictures are of the top floor of the gym, which was the second stage of the renovation (after the rooftop court) and will be completed right after my time at Townplace comes to a close. Previously, the upper level was fully carpeted, and the walls were painted dark red and yellow. The old lighting was dim and there were several walls separating the spaces. When the gym was still Gold’s, the upper level was dedicated to most of the cardio equipment, with a few machines for abdominals and legs. It also contained both of the gym’s group class rooms. I had hoped to find a good before and after shot, but sadly the demolition had begun after my internship started. Either way, I think the progress has been amazing and it looks much better than before!

What a crazy week it was last week at the gym! To say this experience was easy to juggle with work and moving back to Pittsburgh would be lying, but it was incredibly fun and eye-opening. We originally planned to open the newly-remodeled second floor of the gym on August 7th, but were waiting on a late shipment of equipment to be delivered. As of right now, it is still all in the process of being assembled, but we expect to debut the renovated space within the next week. Whether I am in intern there or not, I am still an active member at the gym and look forward to seeing how the rest of the project progresses as I go into my last semester at Point Park! For now, we have been posting on our Instagram ads for our open houses to encourage members to bring friends and family to the gym to see what it will look like once it is completed, so they have the opportunity to sign up at a discounted rate before the monthly fee rises (after the renovations are complete). Seeing the facility transform from the Gold’s Gym into Townplace Fitness over the last 3 years has been such an interesting experience. I had no idea how much really went in to essentially re-branding a gym. One of the larger projects that Tyler and I have been working on recently is how to attract a wider variety of members. Gold’s had been known as a “bodybuilding gym”, and the new owners of Townplace really wanted this new gym to be inclusive. To do this, we really focused on posting more pictures of normal people (not crazy muscular bodybuilders) enjoying their workouts. Even after the renovations are complete, I will probably still be there giving Tyler advice on social media posting! With working nights as a server, most of my hours at Townplace were in the early mornings and into mid-day, and days that I was off, I was there for extended periods of time. To really get an idea of the demographic of the gym (currently) I needed to be there during morning, noon, and evenings, since different members seemed to come at specific times. This determined when we would go out to distribute flyers and what areas of the city to target.

The last two weeks were incredibly hectic at the gym, but I ended up having a lot of fun! For starters, the sales team along with my supervisor, Tyler, were all excited about planning an open house for the new facilities. Although construction is not set to be completed for another few months, we really wanted to get people in to see what we will eventually have to offer. We planned the event for this past weekend, and began working on it last week, when I got home from vacation. We reached out to several vendors in the area who would be interested in setting up booths inside the gym for current and prospective members to receive samples and get to know how Townplace incorporates different aspects of fitness. We ordered double of our normal inventory of protein bars and shakes to be sampled out and sold, as well. Our vendors included a rep from Market District (to talk to members about clean eating and share recipes), GNC, and BANG Energy. The owners of the gym came down to show prospective members the new floor plans after renovation, and the sales team and I were in charge of giving tours. The event ended up going great! Because I am not an employee of the gym, I was not allowed to complete sales myself, but I was happy that I was able to help. Other than our event, the last two weeks consisted of more work on Townplace’s website, and also many photoshoots. We used ourselves and members as models inside the gym, around the city, even out by the rivers, to collect content for the Instagram page and Facebook. This coming week, we plan on editing the photos and choosing which ones to post on what platforms.

After being out of state for two weeks, it was nice to get back to Townplace to work on a few marketing projects.  I worked with the sales team at the beginning of the week to contact local businesses to discuss different deals for their employees, as well as give them day passes and flyers to hand out to their own guests.  I am also in the process of meeting with the managers of local shops to set up a table at their establishment in order to talk to prospective members and talk about the gym.  Every week I am still actively marketing with the team in Market Square and surrounding areas, usually just handing out passes and flyers.  Work is progressing well on the gym’s remodel, so we are now using the new amenities as selling points.  Later in the week I met with management to discuss their hiring process and what they look for in employees (such as qualifications, experience, and availability) and how payroll is determined for the different positions.  I didn’t have much understanding of payroll in the past so it was nice to learn.  At the moment, we are working on gathering more pictures and content for the official website.

This week was very eventful at the gym. The team informed me that every Monday, the sales team sets up a booth in Market Square to hand out fliers and answer questions for prospective members.  To prepare for this, I worked with the sales team to create a new flier and come up with ideas for a raffle.  On Monday and Tuesday, I worked on a draft for the flier before it was finalized, and Wednesday we went over what we should do for the raffle.  We decided to stuff a Townplace Fitness duffle bag with a t-shirt, pens, a lanyard, and several day passes (the duffle bag was not included in the raffle, only for display).  Later in the week, we prepared for the opening of the new rooftop basketball court. To do this, we made posters to be hung around the gym, as well as posted on Instagram and Facebook to reach as many members as we could.  The rooftop basketball court is the first major product being completed in the gym’s renovation, so we had great feedback from members.  Today, the sales team and I finally went to Market Square to hand out the fliers and collect names for the raffle.  Although it was hot, it was a lot of fun getting to talk to new people and answer questions about memberships and the gym’s new additions.  We also decided that we would pull the winner of the raffle next Monday.

Monday, June 10th, was my first day (officially) as an intern at Townplace fitness! I have been attending this particular gym since 2016, when I originally moved to Pittsburgh.  As I learned more about athletics and management at Point Park, I wondered how a facility such as Townplace Fitness operates on a day-to-day basis and how they not only attract new members, but keep their regulars happy. When I got there Monday, Tyler (the general manager of Townplace) told me I would be shadowing him during the week to learn how he manages the gym every day.  He explained that without the members, the gym would not exist, so the first thing we did was check his emails from members who had concerns about the facility.  Because it is undergoing a massive renovation, the second floor of the gym is shut down temporarily.  This means some of that equipment was brought down onto the first level of the gym, making things a little crowded.  So to deal with their concerns, Tyler and I set up a poster board with the gym’s new layout and design printed onto it.  This gave the members an idea of the new facility and put into perspective how long it would take.  We then went over payroll and how it is determined (in the future, I would like to learn more about payroll and taxes, since I do not have a deep understanding of it just yet). Most of the week was spent discussing plans with the developers of the renovation and determining when certain parts of it would be completed.  This all was so interesting to me as a business student, because one day in the future I would like to open or renovate my own facility.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton