May
The Department of Justice announced that it extended the deadline for pool operators to comply with certain sections of the 2010 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design to Jan. 31, 2013. The original deadline of March 15, 2012, originally was extended by 60 days. Operators of pools at fitness centers and hotels, among other locations, were to have complied by March 15 with new ADA requirements to have a lift or other method for disabled people to access pools in their facilities.
Gold's Gyms franchisees left the brand as Vertical Fitness Group, Appleton, WI, converted 11 Gold's Gyms in Wisconsin and Minnesota to a new brand called Xperience Fitness. Vertical Fitness Group also reached agreements to convert four Milwaukee-area Cardinal Fitness gyms to the Xperience Fitness brand. On the West Coast, the lease for the "Mecca" of Gold's Gyms in Venice, CA, was acquired by Internet search engine giant Google, but Gold's Gym said the club would remain on that site.
Michael Bruno, the owner and CEO of Land America Health and Fitness Co., which operates Star Trac, StairMaster and Schwinn, announced he was preparing to take the company public in China with an initial public offering (IPO). The earliest that Land America can make an IPO in China is 2014 because a company must show three consecutive years of profitability before making an IPO there, Bruno said.
