Summit County Citizens Voice

Peak One Fitness owner and trainer Mary Scheifley. PHOTO BY JENN BRANCACCIO.

Long-time fitness expert offers personalized training, nutrition expertise and top-line equipment at new workout center

By Jenn Brancaccio

Driving through Summit County, anyone can observe the marked increase in outdoor recreation for the summer. Cyclists, runners, fishermen and hikers are all enjoying the breath-taking scenery and ability to stretch their winter-withered muscles and get back into shape.

Peak One Fitness, in Frisco, has sought to improve the wellness of the community by incorporating challenging exercise options for all ages into the high country community’s active lifestyle.

Opened in early June, Peak One Fitness is a 24/7 gym providing residents with a place to help meet their strength, nutritional and wellness goals while providing a safe environment and management that cares about their clientele.

“We are fully secured with emergency buttons, cameras and sensor lighting,” said owner and personal trainer, Mary Scheifley. “I also offer a 45 minute to one hour orientation session on our machines. There are so many places where many patrons go in and don’t know how to use the equipment properly.” She also stressed that her orientations are also meant to get to know her customer’s needs and what they want to achieve during their time at Peak One Fitness.”

Scheifley, an 8th generation Coloradoan, grew up a track and field athlete and completed a degree in adult exercise science at the University of Colorado. She has more than 20 years experience in fitness and wellness training, including over 13 years as a personal trainer. After taking a brief hiatus from training to become a snowboard instructor, Scheifley and her husband, Jim, decided to open their own gym in Frisco.

“I wanted to help supplement the community and incorporate strength training in with their active lifestyles,” she said. “We’re right along the bike path so members can stop by en route, work out, and get right back on the trail.”

The pair wanted to open a community meeting place where people could come and spend time with people of a similar lifestyle while furthering their goals.

“We get the 3 a.m. crowd in here and it’s a blast,” said Jim Scheifley. His wife added that sometimes it’s hard to train a small group when they socialize a lot. “Its really fun though,” she said.

Jim, a CPA, who runs more of the business end of things, spoke about the positive turnout the gym had on its grand opening, June 4.

“About 70 people came through, much more than what we were expecting,” he said with a smile. He also explained that their daughter, Alisha, a senior at Summit High School, is also getting into the business by learning the administrative and accounting aspects of things. Both he and his family have high hopes for their gym, an establishment that took a lot of legwork and planning.

Scheifley researched the Summit area for over two years before deciding to open her establishment in Frisco. She didn’t want to take away from the area gyms and classes while still being able to provide a service that residents could benefit from.

“I looked at the other specialty gyms an recreation centers in Dillon and Silverthorne and saw that there was nothing in Frisco,” she explained. She wanted to market to the school staff, parents, as well as the staff at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center and their rehabilitation patients. Scheifley also said that she looked forward to working with the yoga, aerobic and other specialty gyms as a team.

“It’s all for the benefit of the community,” Scheifley said. Her 4-6 week personal training classes consist mainly of circuit and bodywork, trying to stay away from just aerobic workouts. She is well aware that most clients desire a program that yields results in a short amount of time.

“The equipment we have is state of the art and the settings are perfect for rehab patients leaving the hospital,” she said. “They are easy to control and use.”

Peak One Fitness boasts top of the line equipment from Cybex, Star Trac and TRX. Her target clientele are not only young people who desire to see results in a short amount of time, but also residents in their mid-thirties and seniors. This summer, Scheifley plans on leading classes including outdoor boot camps for her clients.

“It’s so important to incorporate strength training into a daily workout,” explained Scheifley. “So many people, young and old, do hours of cardio or go on crash diets and expect to see results.” Many people only last a few months at a gym if they don’t see any real progress. She explained the threat of osteoporosis and other bone and muscle degenerative diseases to the middle aged and of how weight training can combat its onset.

Another important part of all-around wellness is nutrition. Peak One has a partnership with Vitabot, a nutritional program developed by NASA that uses a letter-grade-based program allowing clients to customize their meals using program suggestions or to follow pre-planned meals in order to reach their nutritional goals. Food journals are utilized to track progress through graphs while allowing clients to make changes that fit their palate. The program is flexible and truly allows the client to be in control and actually see their progress.

“If you’re low on magnesium, the program can give you a shopping list of foods that can bring your ‘grade’ up to an A in that category,” said Scheifley. “Nutrition is 80 percent of losing weight.” All of her personal training clients receive Vitabot free of charge and it is available to all other members of Peak One for $8 a month.

“We want to be a lifestyle club,” Scheifley stressed. “Not a just gym or fitness club.” She opened Peak One to educate residents about every aspect of wellness–not just weight lifting or classes.

Memberships vary depending on the number of people who want to join. For a single member, prices range from $42 month-to-month to an annual commitment at $35.50 a month. Family plans range from $71.50 month-to-month to an annual commitment of $64.50 paid per month. There are no initiation fees. Please contact the gym with any questions at (970)-333-0260 and feel free to visit their website to learn more at www.peakonefitness.com.

Filed under: business, Colorado, Summit County Colorado, Summit County news Tagged: | Frisco gyms, Frisco news, Mary Scheifley, Peak One fitness center, Summit County gyms, Summit County News