Ivins fitness center wins with 'The Biggest Loser'

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Courtesy of The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge Bikes stand ready for use at the front door of The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge, an Ivins training facility that mirrors the popular television program in its approach to helping people lose weight.

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The Utah fitness center's approach to weight-loss training seemed a perfect match to the regimen promoted on television's "The Biggest Loser" program to help overweight people shed pounds.

So the owners of Fitness Ridge Resort & Spa in the southwest Utah town of Ivins decided, what the heck, let's contact NBC and see if we can strike up a partnership of some sorts.

They did. In July, owners Tami Clark and Cameron and Michelle Kelschsigned a multiyear marketing and licensing agreement with NBC Universal Television. They are now the exclusive franchisee of the popular television program.

With the agreement came a name change, to The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

"We're flying high," resort Marketing Director Renee Jarvis said Friday of the partnership, launched Tuesday.

In exchange for a royalty, the resort gets the right to display the TV program's logo on its apparel, Web site and promotional materials. And three times this fall, resort officials will appear on TV as part of on-air giveaway segments.

Through all of the cross-promotional efforts, Jarvis said the resort wants to inform the public that "you don't have to be on TV to get solid trainers, to be educated and to get help in losing weight."

The fitness center's "hard-work-means-more-than-pampering" approach appealed to the program's producers, said Mark Koops, of Reveille LLC, the independent television studio that creates the programming

"This incredible new venture finally allows us to give so many more people access to world-class education and facilities to get started on the path to a new, healthy lifestyle," he said. "Whether it's taking off those final 10 pounds or kick-starting a new change, our fans will now be able to do it with the same level of commitment and quality that our contestants benefit from."

That means, for one or two weeks, guests get to burn fat with trainers such as Micheline Barben -- "Energy is Micheline's best quality," the resort Web page says, "and something this mother of eight knows all about" -- or John Yohman, whose cardio class is "complete with retro disco moves that will have you feeling the funkiness."

Jarvis said resort owners never expected such a high-profile relationship to emerge when they first contacted NBC four years ago, just before "The Biggest Loser's" fifth season.

For three seasons, the program awarded one-week stays at the resort to contestants who achieved certain goals. Then, heading into year nine of the show, "The Biggest Loser" branched out with the official fitness club designation.

The extension is natural, Jarvis said, because "our philosophies are very similar. We want you here for a minimum of seven days, exercising six to seven hours every day and learning about meal planning. It's not chichi. It's more 'put your hair back, your sneakers on and let's exercise.' "

Being in southwestern Utah also helped, she added.

"We built in a remote location so people can really detox, focus on themselves. That was appealing to 'The Biggest Loser.' Their ranch has that remote feeling, too."

mikeg@sltrib.com