Snap Fitness ready for 2017

VERNON — Vernon Snap Fitness — 24-7 relocated to the old R.J. Mars Department store building on Route 515, July 27, and is better than ever.
Owner Shari McAtee's new location is beautiful, with: tanning room and child care coming soon, new shower, aerobic studio with mirrors, massage, and many more machines.
They also offer: Zumba, Spin, Cardio Barre and Abs, Butts and Gutts classes, all included in membership at the gym.
McAtee makes running four gyms: Vernon, Warwick, West Milford, and Oak Ridge look easy, but she built layer upon layer of education and experience to get where she is.
As she says, she did not start at the top, but started teaching aerobics at the age of 16, while attending high school in Indonesia. [Her dad worked at the embassy.] She said, “That's how I got my feet wet.”
Since then she has been doing a little bit of everything in the fitness world. As she said, “You just don't get into this business and not know anything about it.”
When she was in college, she started doing a weekly radio show called the “Fitness Minute.”
She then graduated from Castleton University, V.T. with a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology and Natural Sciences, and earned a Masters in Education Administration.
Among her “doing a little bit of everything,” McAtee worked in the Queensbury Racquet Club, where she said, she really learned a great deal. For $4.38 an hour she used to: clean everything: exercise machines, gym, toilets, tanning machines, answer phones, book all appointments, personal train people, and teach classes. On top of that, she was the bartender.
To this day, one can find her busy training young employees how to keep gyms immaculate.
Later at Hollywood Fitness, 24-hour gym in Long Island, McAtee learned how to sell memberships from the owner. She said, he was very prominent in the fitness business and introduced her to a lot of really important people.
“That was a big experience for me,” McAtee said, “because at that point I only had the teaching and personal training part,” but then she learned the membership and management aspect.
Some other education and experiences she has are: 12 fitness certifications, including: Pound, Step, Personal Trainer, and five different levels of Zumba; teaching at the “Instructor Training School” in New York City; working at Equinox, one of the best gyms in the city; managing clubs in the city, being the General Manager for Crunch; teaching all over New Jersey, including master classes; and teaching ten years for N.Y. Sports.
She also opened her own studio: Shari's Exercise Express, where she used to teach hip hop to under-privileged kids every Friday night. Now, as a tradition, she always teaches Hip Hop on Friday nights, currently in the Oak Ridge location. She says, “It's so much fun.”
Vernon is her favorite and first gym. McAtee said, she still remembers the night before opening Vernon for the first day of business: mopping the floor, cleaning, and getting ready. She continued, “and I just started crying - even now talking about it, I get emotional. It was my dream.”
McAtee “made it happen” with a 0 percent credit card and a little money in the bank. After her third or fourth month of business, she broke even and started paying off the credit card. She added, now I have four locations."
Today, McAtee teaches 11 classes and says she is over extended.
She then warned, “I have five minutes — I teach in Warwick;” and off she went, to enjoy her dream.
For more information, call: 973-764-7627.