Air Force Surgeon General Newswire

Bella Zuniga, 1, plays while her mother, Samantha, works out in the new family fitness room at Robins AFB, Ga. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sue Sapp)

By Lanorris Askew
78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- The fitness center here is making getting into shape a family affair with the addition of a new family fitness room.

The room provides customers who have small children the freedom to workout and watch their children, said John Enterman, the Robins fitness center director.

Once an old racquetball court in disrepair, the family fitness room is now a safe haven for parents and children.

Enterman said the idea for the room stemmed from three needs surveys including two done locally.

Samantha Zuniga, a military wife and mother of two, said the room makes it easy to exercise.

“We are so proud and so happy about it,” she said. “It gives the parents who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to use the gym an opportunity to come and bring their children without having to find day care -- which is nearly impossible.”

Parents have wanted something like this for years, Zuniga said.

“We are really grateful to Enterman because we know that without him this wouldn’t have been possible,” she said.

Mercer Zuniga, 5, agreed.

“I like playing and bouncing around,” he said.

Although other Air Force bases have family fitness rooms, Enterman said they took the idea a bit further.

“We’ve taken what they’ve done at other bases and stepped it up a notch,” he said.

Using quality-of-life funds, the construction cost of the new room was $25,000 and another $44,000 for furnishing the room with high-tech workout equipment, murals and child-safe furniture.

The end result was a 20-foot-by-17-foot child play area and a 33-foot-by-20-foot workout room separated by a glass partition. The workout area is complete with six cardio machines all of which have built in monitors with touch screens that are cable ready, so parents can watch their favorite TV programs while they are working out and can also have a direct view of their children.

“Everything was constructed up to child development center standards as far as safety goes,” Enterman said. “We welcome children ages 6 months to 8 years, and there is a special parking area for strollers.”