Merle Gregg's Legacy of Scams, Frauds, and Stupidity

All that seems left of the cautionary business tale that was Merle Gregg's litany of gym business scams, frauds, swindles, cheats, and all manner of other business nonsense that were Epicenter Fitness, then Seattle Executive Fitness, and then Go Total Body Fitness, is the epitaph that Merle Gregg continued the gym industry's long history or poorly operated businesses that nearly always turns to deceptive business practices and frauds.

When Merle Gregg took over All-Star fitness in 2011, he acquired a large and useful physical fitness facility. Over the course of just a few years, he and his cohorts incrementally, nearly systematically, ran it into the ground, and destroyed it. Along the way hired henchmen like the obnoxious bullying Todd Dail, who seemed to relish in knowingly conspiring in the operation of a shady business.

During one period there was at least half a dozen gyms competing with each other in downtown Seattle. Today, all that is left of large scale gyms in downtown Seattle in the national chain 24 Hour Fitness, which existed long before the other gyms arrived and are now little more than bad memories.

Since the demise of the Merle's fitness business mess, Merle Gregg seems to have nearly erase every trace of his existence form the internet, save a couple of LinkedIn profiles that reference his ownership of his failed businesses, neither one mentioning the alternate business names used in the other profile.

Seattle Executive Fitness, Before and After - Before: Cybex Treadmill Room - After: Cramped Free Weights Room

When the gym at 509 Olive Way was AllStar Fitness, the area depicted in the first photo below was a dedicated treadmill cardio training room, filled with well organized rows of Cybex treadmills. There was an array of HDTVs on the wall, since the older model treadmills at the time didn't come with individual cardio theater systems.

The latest Cybex treadmills, like the console depicted at the left, do have the individual cardio theater systems which have become standard equipment on cardio training machines at nearly every self respecting commercial fitness club in America. Even without the latest innovations and conveniences of the current cardio training equipment that is offered by companies like LifeFitness, Precor, Cybex, and others, the Cybex treadmills that have been at Seattle Executive Fitness could remain serviceable as long as they are well maintained. Over the years though, the Cybex treadmills at Seattle Executive Fitness have became less and less well maintained.

Recently, after most of the third floor gym was downsized into its current decimated condition, this is what the miniscule free weights area looks like, in the room that was once dedicated to Cybex treadmills.

It is extremely difficult to imagine how Seattle Executive Fitness management believes it can stay in business with other gyms in the Seattle area that are fully equipped with vast arrays of the latest fitness equipment, setup neatly in well organized configurations, within spacious, comfortable, facilities.

AllStar Fitness, Before Its Destruction Under Ownership by Merle Gregg as Seattle "Executive" Fitness

The photos below show what some of AllStar Fitness looked like three years ago, before Merle Gregg took over, turned it into Seattle "Executive" Fitness, and has step by step destroyed just about everything it once was.

The first three year old photo below provides a view from the cardio fitness section all the way to the west end of the building, which was where the free weights room was until recently. At the far end, the gym used to extend around the corner to the left where there was a kickboxing studio at the southwest corner of the third floor.

Back then, there were three sets of equipment in the circuit training area between the cardio section and the free weights section. One set of strength training equipment was a grouping of Cybex VR3 (second tier of the Cybex line but very functional) circuit training machines. There was also various LifeFitness Signature Series strength training machines intermingled with them. Some of the LifeFitness machines were the newer Signature Series models, but some were also functional, but nearly twenty year old, machines. Both the older and newer LifeFitness strength machines remained until a most of the circuit training area midway down the hall in this photo, was walled off, no longer a part of the gym. In the photo below, at left center, a group of ancient Nautilus brand circuit training was still present before Merle Gregg took over. The old Nautilus brand equipment was removed in the summer of 2011 at the very beginning of the ownership change.

This second photograph shows the once well organized treadmill room at AllStar Fitness, before Merle Gregg got control of it.

When the gym at 509 Olive Way was owned by AllStar Fitness, the portion of the gym that connected the Cybex treadmill room with the main cardio fitness area was occupied by a well organized, large selection of Precor treadmills and Precor elliptical training machines. In this midst of the ownership dispute between Merle Gregg and Sam Adams in late summer 2011, a significant portion of this equipment suddenly disappeared, and it never returned, and was never replaced by any new equipment either. Today what is left of the cardio equipment on the third floor of the gym at 509 Olive Way, are models of old cardio training machines that aren't even manufactured anymore. They appear to range in age from six to as much as ten years old, with many of them in constant need of repair because of their age.

Three years ago, the main cardio fitness area at what used to be AllStar Fitness was well organized, spacious, and adequate room between each piece of equipment, and accessible even for many disabled people.

After over two years of decline, deterioration, and mismanagement, the inadequate space that is left at the gym now known as Seattle "Executive Fitness, is a completely disorganized mess. The name of the place should probably be - Seattle Skid Row Fitness.