Weighting Game

They wanted to start the new year by getting in shape, making time for treadmill walks, aerobics and weightlifting. The women-only health club they joined gave them plenty of incentives to go to the gym--from personal trainers to mud baths to child care.

But the Total Woman Health and Fitness Spa in Westlake, which sales representatives promised would open in January, is still under construction.

And many of the clients, already paying dues, are working up a sweat in the club’s crowded sales office--now doubling as a temporary gym.

Some women who joined the club are angry, saying the temporary set-up--with no showers, hot tubs or locker rooms--isn’t what they paid for. Instead of starting tension-reducing workout routines, they are stressed out by the delay.

“There’s a lot of irritated people,” said Teresa Austin-Garner, a 38-year-old Thousand Oaks mother who paid membership dues in December. “They have this little dinky office that we can work out in, but they’re not providing child care. We got suckered.”

Art Stone, chief executive of the gym, said a lengthy permit process has delayed its opening. He acknowledged that some of the 600 women who joined the new club since marketing began about five months ago were told it would be open by January. But he said only a handful have complained.

“You could have a thousand who are happy, but four or five complain,” Stone said. “Unfortunately, you can’t please everybody.

“I can understand why some of these women are upset,” he added. “They’re overweight and want to get started.”

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The 11,000-square-foot health club in Westlake Plaza won support from the Thousand Oaks Planning Commission in November. Stone could not recall when construction began.

For now, a crowded sales office is filled with several treadmills, stationary bikes and weight machines. A banner hanging on the unfinished construction site announces that the new gym is coming soon.

Those who signed up can work out in the temporary Westlake gym or use the Total Woman club in Woodland Hills, Stone said. He said the Westlake club should be open by mid-March or early April, with many options for women to keep fit, including steam rooms, whirlpool spa and yoga classes.

Some women who joined the Westlake gym want refunds. Jerrie Gove of Thousand Oaks said she signed up in September, paying a $199 initiation fee and agreeing to pay $39 in monthly membership dues. Gove, 60, said the main reason she joined was because the club is for women only.

Gove used to belong to another gym but said she didn’t like the atmosphere created by egotistical young men. “They’re just gross, they sweat all over everything,” Gove said. “They strut around like young bulls. It’s obnoxious.”

She said Total Woman refunded her December dues, but she doesn’t want to have to pay again until the gym opens. “I can’t see paying $39 a month for something I’m not using,” Gove said.

Gove said she contacted the consumer affairs division of the Ventura County district attorney’s office about the problem. Officials there said they could not comment on any possible complaints.

Stone said he has been straight with new members, sending out a letter about the delay, waiving one month’s dues and offering use of the Woodland Hills club. He said new members who are upset can have their monthly dues suspended until the club opens, but they will have to pay higher monthly rates when they start going to the new gym.

He said he will invest about $600,000 in construction costs in the new Westlake center and expects to be around at least 20 years. The women who have signed up should not worry, he said.

“I’ve signed a multimillion-dollar lease. . . . It’s not like a fly-by-night that’s going to put up some balloons, then leave.”

Stone said he operates women’s fitness clubs in Woodland Hills and Glendale and has been in the business for more than 20 years. He described himself as a former beauty salon operator who knows what women want, and a pioneer in the concept of women-only fitness.

“I created this because women wanted skin care, makeup, massages--they wanted all these things,” he said. The Thousand Oaks area is perfect for the club, because so many women here pay attention to their appearance, he said. “There are sophisticated, nice, working women here.”

Stone also said the new gym would be good for business at Westlake Plaza.

“Who spends the most money in the world? Women. Wars are fought for women. This is for women, and for women only.”

affiliated with Total Woman Fitness Center in Ventura. The manager of the Ventura Gym, Dave Hill, and Stone said they have negotiated an agreement stipulating that Stone will not open more women’s health clubs in Ventura County using the “Total Woman” name, and that advertisements for Total Woman Health and Fitness Spa in Westlake will indicate that the two clubs are separate.

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The new Westlake gym is not Hill said he is concerned about maintaining the reputation of his club, which has 2,500 members and targets the same market as the new Westlake club.

“Can you imagine if somebody comes in for six months and closes, or they treat people badly?” Hill said. “We’re afraid they’ll associate us with them.”

But Stone predicted that once open, the Westlake club will be a big success and women who work out there won’t have any reason to complain.

“It’s supposed to be a stress-free environment,” he said. “Hopefully it will be.” After finishing a morning treadmill workout at the temporary gym earlier this week, Eileen Merritt, a 64-year-old Westlake wedding planner, said service so far has been great. She signed up in December.

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“I feel great when I go--at least three times a week,” she said. “It’s a great way to start the morning, it gives me a shot for the day.”

Sipping coffee and eating a bagel after her workout, 69-year-old Arlyne Fischer said the gym’s representatives were up front about the delay.

“They didn’t promise us a rose garden,” Fischer said. “They told us we’d be working out in the sales office until the place opened.”

Austin-Garner, however, said she has requested that her monthly dues be waived until the gym opens, and she has the child care she was promised.

“I really need to exercise because of the stress,” she said. “When you have small children and you’re around them all day, you need time to yourself, especially when you’re a woman.”