Denich Gym renovations unveiled

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Carmen Fleischmann | The five-year project to update Naval Station Guantanamo Bay's Denich Gym includes the construction of two full-sized basketball courts and renovation of the preexisting fitness area to add two racquetball courts, two modular group exercise rooms and a mommy-and-me exercise room. The locker rooms were upgraded to include monthly rental lockers, daily use lockers and a dry sauna.  

GUANTANAMO BAY , CUBA

05.23.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Carmen Fleischmann 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - A multi-million dollar construction endeavor that began five years ago has finally reached completion. Much to the excitement of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay residents and Joint Task Force GTMO troopers alike, the renovation and new construction for improving Denich Gym has been unveiled and is ready to support the needs of its fitness-seeking patrons.

While the two full-sized basketball courts are the true new construction, they have up until recently been serving as a free weight and aerobic fitness area during the renovation. The unveiled area has been remodeled to allow for a lot more storage. All in all, an additional 19,636 square feet were added to the existing structure, allowing service members and their families a lot more room to get moving.

The updates are not merely cosmetic however, as the renovation called for environmental improvements as well.

“One of the bigger updates is the power,” said MWR Fitness Director Alec Culpepper. The energy is all supplanted from a solar array system behind the high school. “All the lights are motion censored, so if no one is in, they’ll shut down. There are many environmental savings.”

Electricity savings is only the beginning. The space has a lot of new updates all with the goal in mind of customer convenience.

“We are moving everything towards a central location, and this is considered the downtown area. It’s going to benefit everyone. It’s going to benefit MWR because now we can worry about one central location. It was a challenge before being responsible for more than one location, especially for manning,” said Culpepper.

Previously, the majority of group exercise classes were held at Marine Hill. Now with the two modular group exercise rooms, the workouts that locals enjoy, like kickboxing, Zumba and step classes will take place at Denich Gym. Additionally, there is a spinning room that holds rows of stationary cycles. In the main fitness area, two racquetball courts line the back wall.

Seeking more solace for your sweat session? There is also an extensive cardio section with treadmills, ellipticals, cross-training items like rowers and climbers, all surrounded by a multitude of televisions. For lifting, quad stations and an Olympic lift platform has been installed across from the traditional strength area that’s lined with varying levels of free weights.

With plenty of space to bulk up, another room was created with some younger residents in mind.

“There’s a family fitness area where you can bring your kids, set them down and run the treadmills,” said Joseph Belt, MWR fitness coordinator.

While all of the equipment is brand new, the previously used items will be placed in various unmanned fitness areas on the base, such as the Marine Hill gym.

Full access to cardio and strength training will be much more convenient, with the 24-hours a day, seven days a week schedule. Patrons can now get ready for work, post-workout in the new locker rooms complete with a sauna, multiple individual showers and lockers available for daily and monthly check out.

Fitness personnel can enjoy some improvements as well, such as classrooms, a personal training office where they can measure heart rate, blood pressure, and perform assessments. Behind the front desk, employees have easy access to a controlled storage area that streamlines the sports and fitness equipment checkout that teams and units can utilize. MWR hopes to have Denich Gym fully operational and open for business by Memorial Day.

• Date Taken: 05.23.2014
• Date Posted: 05.23.2014 12:45
• Story ID: 130943
• Location: GUANTANAMO BAY , CU