By Megan Ma

Los Altos High School students are the first to preview a cycling class at Overtime Fitness in Mountain View, which offers ballroom dancing and stress management among other courses. courtesy of overtime fitness

When Los Altos Hills resident Patrick Ferrell, an experienced management guru and former CEO for a string of Silicon Valley startups, caught the entrepreneurial bug again a few years ago, he sought the advice of local teenagers.

That’s because his latest project - Overtime Fitness Center in Mountain View - is custom designed for the videogame-era crowd. The spotless workout facility is replete with videogame monitors on exercise bikes, a 15-foot mountain-climbing tower and even a cafe that offers healthful servings of smoothies, wraps and salads.

At first glance it doesn’t look much different from a 24-Hour Fitness or YMCA fitness room. Unlike the other fitness juggernauts, though, the homework-friendly workout place is exclusive to teens between 13 and 18 years old. The state-of-the-art facility, set to open Sept. 23, is suitable for serious working out, but the novelty is that it’s meant for the pre-college crowd, Ferrell said.

“We’re the first fitness center in the country to focus on teens and even nonathletes. This is a space just for them,” he said.

Ferrell and his research team conducted surveys in 12 local schools over two years, including Los Altos High School, where he’s recruited several students to test out the equipment and spread the word on campus. The consensus was, he said, that teens were tired of sharing workout space with adults or young children. A quiet study room in one corner gives teens a reprieve from the background music and the whiz and whirl of machines.

But equally and perhaps more surprising, the teens in Ferrell’s focus groups also asked for help with stress and time management. So, among the list of ballroom dancing and yoga classes offered, Ferrell has also pulled in some local experts to help teens in both those areas.

Luc Bergevin, a Los Altos High School senior who was involved in all six focus groups, said he’s convinced Overtime will flourish.

“It’s in a good area, and there’s a lot of demand for this kind of place,” he said.

Fellow senior Kristen Martinez said she and her friends feel more comfortable working out in their own space rather than alongside adults.

“You never feel like adults have priority on machines to you. There’s no superiority complex here. It’s just your friends,” she said.

The comfortable environment might also encourage sedentary teens to get up and get moving. With increases in teen obesity rates and the fact that many state campuses are slashing physical education from the daily routine due to budget shortfalls, it’s crucial to get all children moving, Ferrell said.

Concept aside, the center also offers some engaging new takes on the traditional equipment. There’s the Expresso Bike, an exercise machine that lets the rider choose from an array of detailed virtual-reality bike routes. The video screen with impressive graphics unfolds the course before the rider, and the bike resistance increases as riders round the bend of a countryside road or maneuver a narrow bridge. Students can race each other on separate bikes and monitor their progress on the screen in front of them. As riders acclimate and build endurance, they can choose a more challenging course.

The Trazer is a video-movement game that keeps teens active. Balloon-like pins bounce above a figure on a video screen, connected to a floor sensor. When the person on the floor moves, so does the figure on the screen - the point being to jump up, down and sideways to pop as many balloons as possible.

Jutting up nearly to the top of the ceiling is the Matterhorn, a 15-foot rock-climbing tower equipped with motion-sensor cables. When a teenager climbs over the halfway point, the harness tightens to prevent a fall.

Kym Neale-May, Overtime’s general manager, said that while the approach is unconventional, the variety of activities offered is aimed to peak the enthusiasm of all members.

“We have a mixture of kids who aren’t just athletes, so we’re trying to get them all involved,” Neale-May said.

Ferrell’s children, including his stepson, attend Los Altos High School and are thrilled to be part of their father’s fitness vision, he said.

“What we’re trying to do here is help these kids become better adults and learn that fitness is part of life,” he said.

Overtime Fitness Center is located at 1625 N. Shoreline Blvd. in Mountain View. Membership fees start at $59 per month. For more information, call 944-8555 or visit www.overtimefitness.com.