Taking Fitness To The Next Level
Local Fitness Entrepreneur Expanding
by Jim Evans

Anessa Bigbee and Peter San Nicolas

For the past 15 years the Ramona Fitness Center has been providing health and fitness services to the Ramona community. Consistent with this leadership role, the club is now upgrading its current facilities and spinning off an exciting new facility exclusively for women.

Renovations on the fitness center building at 558 Main Street in Ramona will begin in February according to owner Peter San Nicolas. "We want to maximize our existing space and remodel the entire facility to make it more upscale and accessible," says San Nicolas. "We will be adding a new studio for group cycling, a smoothie bar, a new tanning salon, new locker rooms, improved parking, and installing a whole new line of the latest strength, circuit, and cardio exercise equipment."

In the meantime, members will be temporarily rerouted to an interim facility at 607 Brazos Street in Ramona for the next several months during construction. The club will be closed during the weekend of February 7-8 so that equipment and furniture can be moved, and members can resume their workouts on Monday, February 9, at the interim location. "Childcare, tanning, and group exercise will continue to be available at the temporary location," San Nicolas says, "so members should be able to continue their routines without missing a beat."

"In fact," says San Nicolas, "members will even have the opportunity to ‘test drive’ some of the new equipment at the interim location to see which new equipment we select for the re-grandopening."

Members were notified of the transition by mail, and a large sign noting the pending renovations has been posted in the lobby to greet members when they enter the club. Overall response from members has been very positive according to San Nicolas. "We think it’s great," say longtime members Wally and Sylvia Adams. "The new facilities and equipment will definitely be worth the wait, and the temporary gym will keep us in shape until the construction is completed!"

New Women’s Facility

A separate facility for women has long been a vision of San Nicolas and his sister Anessa Bigbee. "It’s not that women want special privileges or anything, but sometimes we just feel more comfortable around other women when we are exercising," says Bigbee, who manages the Ramona Fitness Center, "We want to be sensitive to the individual needs of women in our community so that concerns about body image and appearance become secondary to health and fitness."

The new Promenade Club for Women will open in early Spring in Suite I of new Day Promenade Building at 850 Main Street. The upscale women’s facility will provide approximately 4,000 square feet of space devoted to state-of-the-art equipment for individual body training and group exercise classes in body flow (yoga/Pilates combination), body pump, body step, and body combat.

The Promenade Club for Women will promote 30-minute workouts to accommodate busy schedules and will feature APEX nutritional products and the nationally renowned City Blends Café. Special reduced charter membership rates will be offered on a limited basis for early enrollment at the presale office starting in February. For information, call 760-789-3919.

San Nicolas and Bigbee grew up in Ramona and graduated from Ramona High School. They graduated from San Diego State University with degrees in Business (with an emphasis on marketing) and English respectively. San Nicolas, a former football player and bodybuilder, once produced fitness specials for ESPN and also owns the Hurricane Juice and Supplement shop on Main Street. "Fitness is my life," he says, "and this is just one way that we can show our appreciation to our members for their continuing support — by making things even better."