Competition Heating Up In The Fitness Industry In Tulsa

If you've driven around Tulsa lately, you may noticed gyms popping up, almost around every corner.

On one stretch of Memorial Drive in Tulsa, near the Creek Turnpike, two gyms are either being built or just opened.

Life Time Fitness, near 107th and Memorial is one of 100 in the country, and the only one in Oklahoma.

Inside Life Time Fitness, there is row after row of equipment, yoga and pilates studios, a salon, rock wall, child care and more.

"From a uniqueness of Life Time in Tulsa, there's really nothing like that has it all under one roof. Yet there's a lot of places that have individualized areas," said Vince Orsini, GM of South Tulsa Life Time Fitness.

It's also a publicly traded company, reporting 2012 1st quarter profits of more than $260 million.

There is another mega gym being built just up the road in what will be Tulsa's second Planet Fitness.

So how do smaller facilities, like the ones at the WL Hutcherson YMCA on East Pine, compete in this ultra-competitive fitness industry?

"Improving the health of the Tulsa communities, eliminating health disparities is extremely important to us. I don't know that I could tell you that I see some of the new places coming in as competitors," said Laura Hailey-Butler, VP of Advancement at the YMCA.

Hailey-Butler adds that while she has seen some YMCA members try out other gyms, she estimates overall Y membership in Tulsa is well over 20,000.

Orsini says after an initial peak in membership, Life Time Fitness has "settled in".

Both Hailey-Butler and Orsini stress that their goals are trying to get Oklahomans healthy because recent studies show Oklahoma is next-to-last in overall health.