Truck stop offers hot meals, R&R, and bench presses

WOODSTOCK, Ont. (Oct. 2, 2003) — As if the chili at most truck stops wasn’t enough to work up a sweat. Now the 230 Truck Stop in Woodstock, Ont. is offering drivers who come off the road to fuel up or grab a bite to eat a full-body workout as well.

Kitchener-based QuickFit Health Centres Inc. is hoping truckers who step out of their cabs for a leg stretch might stay for a cardio-boosting jog or some dumbbell curles too. The company recently installed treadmills, elliptic trainers, and weight machines in the truck stop for drivers to use to help get their blood flowing during long hauls. Open 24 hours a day, the machines are coin-operated and can be used by anyone. A loonie buys 10 minutes on a machine.

So far, QuickFit president Jean-Maurice Martin says, reaction from drivers has been mixed. “The truck drivers don’t know what to make of it yet,” Martin told the Canadian Press. Most of the fitness facility’s customers have been from Woodstock and the employees at the centre itself, but the hope is word of it will spread among truckers travelling through the area.

Dr. Jerry Singh, who runs the Trans Canada Chiropractic at the travel centre, approves of the new equipment, adding it gives truck drivers the opportunity to get some exercise — a concept many drivers who are on the road for consecutive long hours aren’t too familiar with.

— Via Canadian Press