Seeing stars, maybe, at 'celebrity' fitness centers

Elvera N. Makki, Contributor, Jakarta

Perhaps it is a last-ditch but very savvy marketing gimmick to shape gym-weary you up in our popular culture-obsessed world.

Several fitness centers have long soft sold the names of celebrities who joined their club ("What, Anjas works out here, too?"), and some celebrities have even parlayed their name value and good looks into fitness-related businesses.

"The idea of using my name in opening a gymnastics studio came in a flash," said Venna Melinda, the 31-year-old actress and model, who opened Venna Melinda Studio Senam in November 1998.

As a former Miss Indonesia, Venna knows that image is everything in the entertainment world and, increasingly, in Joe and Josephine Blows' quest to look their very buff best.

"That's why I have to keep in shape to maintain my physical appearance like this. If I am unable to be my fittest, how can I convince people to join my health club?"

She said she loved physical fitness from childhood, and her dream was to be an aerobics instructor.

Located in Bintaro, South Jakarta, the studio and fitness center has about 450 active members. Providing the standard fitness center facilities to be found in a three-star hotel, the monthly membership fee is Rp 200,000 (students may use the facilities for Rp 100,000 per month). Aerobic and body language classes are extra.

Venna said "private programs" -- one-on-one exercise with a personal instructor -- were becoming particularly popular. People take the program for different reasons; some women want to get back in shape after having a baby, others must drop kilos within a specified time period.

"I joined this aerobic class three months ago," said Christina, a 34-year-old housewife. "Frankly speaking, I wanted to have a good body like Venna. That was the main reason I came to this place. Additionally, I don't have to go far outside Bintaro to be able to exercise."

What about the celebrity enticement?

"Well, I also wondered if I could meet other celebrities here," she said shyly.

Champion bodybuilder Ade Rai used his success and growing celebrity status to open Club Ade Rai under the franchise system several years ago.

"For me, the orientation of developing the club is more to provide complete fitness equipment and good quality instructors in residential areas of big cities at affordable prices, rather than to solely make good money from it."

Since 1998, 10 clubs have opened under his name, not only in Jakarta but also in Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru and Bali.

Perhaps because Ade was an athlete first before stepping into celebrity-hood, he emphasizes the fitness aspect of his clubs.

"The concept is to educate people on the importance of healthy living by providing the right information about fitness, dieting and other health-related matters," Ade said.

Each Club Ade Rai has around 200 to 400 active members. With a joining fee of Rp 125,000 and monthly fee of Rp 125,000, new members can use all the facilities, including classes, whenever they want.

Although the space of each fitness club varies, Ade said weight training equipment was outstanding at each facility. And with those reasonable fees, he may not yet be bringing weight training to the masses, but at least he is reaching out to the the image-conscious middle class.

The ultimate in the celebrity-fitness tieup is to be found at Celebrity Fitness (CF), on the second and third floors of Plaza Indonesia Entertainment Center, next to Plaza Indonesia, in Central Jakarta.

It's a hard place to miss, especially with all the gawkers rubbernecking for any celebrities (and celebrity wannabes) from the lower floors.

But the gawking is all part of the experience of working out in the cavernous studios -- filled with state-of-the-art equipment and with 40 instructors (plus three foreign ones) -- amid unrelenting, pounding music.

"The plaza's visitors may see our members doing exercise here, although they could only see their backs," said Hendra Nugraha, marketing and promotion manager of PT Exertainment Indonesia, which runs the business that opened in February of this year.

"It's a place to see and to be seen."

The concept of the local franchise is to have a mega gym inside a mall, combining sport and entertainment as a one stop service. It is also designed as a place to network, both professionally and socially.

The notion was inspired by research conducted by John Franklin, a founder member of California Fitness in the U.S., who said fitness centers were no longer merely places to work out, but also had a social function.

"I've never seen complete equipment like this before. The surroundings, including the people, the design and the quality of foreign instructors, encourages me to work out more often. I'll certainly make it part of my daily routine," said Yulia Damayanti, 29, an MBA student.

Still, some find the use of the celebrity card a bit corny.

"There is no celebrity behind the scenes," Hendra acknowledged. "We just want our members to feel like a celebrity, treated exclusively and professionally."

With a membership of 8,000, about 40 percent of whom are active in working out, and a target to increase the number of members by 2,500 each year, just how "exclusive" can it be?

"I stopped my membership with CF because it is getting crowded, and so it's less convenient ...," said Agung, 29, a customer relations supervisor.

Hendra remains confident that the center will continue to do brisk business, and not fade away after its 15 minutes are up.

"In Indonesia, it's still an out of the box concept of a fitness center. The percentage of people who love it will defeat the ones who dislike it," he said.