Grab your map of Patchogue Village and start unrolling it.
Stephen Curran, the owner of Finest Fitness at 208 East Main Street, will be giving away thousands of free 8-week gym memberships over the next several months starting Nov. 1.
Anyone who lives within the village is eligible.
Call Finest Fitness at 631-730-8820 to get started.
Residents won’t just be getting free gym memberships, Curran stressed.
“We’re going to hold orientations, tours of the facility, and we’re going to work with people on how to set goals,” said Curran, who opened the multi-level Finest Fitness gym in January of 2006. “I want this to be very interactive, because I feel that people need guidance, they need encouragement, and they need inspiration.”
Here’s why you’ll need that map:
Since Curran is offering free memberships to everyone in the village — an estimated 12,500, according to U.S. Census data — he’s dividing the area into four manageable sections.
(This is not unlike how the Patchogue Fire Department handles covering the village, though the Finest Fitness memberships won’t be extended past the village borders.)
The Four Corners intersection of Main Street and Ocean Avenue is at the center, and the four sections are divided up in relation to that center.
For example, anyone who lives north of East Main Street and east of North Ocean Avenue, for example, will be in the Northeast section. (Each section stops at the village border.)
Residents in the Northeast section will be the first to go on Nov. 1, followed by the Southeast, Southwest and, finally, the Northwest section, which makes for a clockwise rotation.
Residents in each section of the village will train together as much as they like, or just a few times a week, during the eight weeks.
Curran said if the response Nov. 1 is overwhelming, he could further divide the groups geographically as the movement, as he describes it, moves into next year.
“This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he said. “I’m very passionate about changing lives and helping people and encouraging them to live fit and have a better quality of life. That’s why I’m putting this LiveFit Movement together, and reaching out to all different parts of the community.”
Finest Fitness will also offer a free (and optional) body fat analysis and body composition analysis at the beginning and end of the 8 week sessions, so people can track their progress.
“I want to get my staff and trainers involved also, and have weekly meetings,” he added. “We’ll be teaching people workouts that will make them feel good — not just have a better appearance.”
Residents only need to show a NYS driver’s license or ID card that lists their address within Patchogue Village — and they must be 18 or older.
The first orientation for the Northeast group (these orientations are optional) will be on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m. at Finest Fitness. There will be a second orientation for that group on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 11 a.m.
Curran just asks that those taking him up on the offer keep these words by Zig Ziglar in mind:
“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
Top: Stephen Curran of Finest Fitness in Patchogue Tuesday. (Benny Migliorino/Benny Migs Photo)
