FORT BRAGG, N.C. - If you've noticed that there are fewer gyms on Fort Bragg lately, you're not alone.

Because Fort Bragg is the largest installation in terms of population, that means there are a lot of people using and abusing the 12 facilities Fort Bragg has to offer.

Located off of Gruber Road, across the street from the 4th Psychological Operations Group barracks, sits Frederick Physical Fitness Center. Closed in December 2009, Frederick is being completely gutted and renovated into a Soldier enhancement facility. The renovations are in their final stages and are expected to be complete in October.

The gym will officially reopen in mid-November. The two-story, mezzanine renovations include a rotating climbing wall, a cardio room, a combatives room, a group exercise room, pull-up bars and various other top-of-the-line fitness equipment.

The renovations will compare to Tucker Physical Fitness Center's Soldier enhancement area, but on a larger scale and it will have more of a variety of equipment.

With the fitness centers around Fort Bragg hitting just over one million customers last year, renovations were needed to multiple facilities.

"The biggest thing is the amount of people on Bragg and the amount of people that use our facilities, (the gyms) just get beat up and it's a renovation cycle that we need to go through," said Mike Desmone, fitness facility manager. "There's always something that needs to be replaced or upgraded; it's an expensive operation."

Besides Callahan Physical Fitness Center and Frederick being closed for renovations, recently Dahl Physical Fitness Center closed last week for renovations. Dahl will be renovated on a smaller level and is expected to reopen in mid-August. Callahan is expected to open in October, but that date might be pushed back to the end of the year, early January because of the extensive renovations being done.

In early October, Fort Bragg will be assuming Pope's physical fitness facility, increasing the total facilities to 13 fitness centers on Fort Bragg by next year.

"The renovations are long over-due, but the bad thing for the customer is that we have three (gyms) down right now, and all fighting for the other facilities," said Desmone. "It's a minor speed bump that we need to get through, but I think overall the customers and Soldiers are going to be pleased with what they're going to get with the finished product."

Page last updated Fri July 23rd, 2010 at 11:22