A new gym opened Wednesday in the Peterborough Shopping Plaza at 19 Wilton Road. Mountain Fitness, located in the space where the Verizon store once was, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers an independent workout experience. 

Brothers and owners Aidan and Ian Schlotman grew up in the area and are passionate about the region and about staying active. While scrolling through the Peterborough, NH Facebook page, they noticed people were asking for an affordable gym in town. The brothers thought they could make that happen.

Ian is a bodybuilder with experience as a personal trainer, and Aidan is trained as a civil engineer. Aidan took charge of the project management details, looking at plans and designing the infrastructure of the space, while Ian used his insider gym knowledge. 

To transform the location into a gym, they knocked down walls to open up the space, took out the ceiling and raised it, redid the floor and added lockers and showers.

“We tried to optimize as much equipment as we could in the space we had,” Aidan said. There’s a row of ellipticals, stair-steppers, treadmills, a pull-up bar, rowing machine, leg presses, racks of dumbbells and more.

The remodeling process took longer than expected, and the Schlotmans ran into delays due to supply-chain issues and finding a general contractor proved a challenge. But by the time they opened, the gym felt clean and modern.

There’s a strip of turf underneath big windows looking out at the plaza’s parking lot. Aidan pointed at the roll-down shades and explained that they add an extra element of privacy. People inside can see out through them, but people outside can’t see in.

While building a space with high-quality equipment and comfortable amenities, “We did everything we could to make this place as affordable as possible,” Aidan said. From picking the right commercial space to being creative about logistics, the brothers feel that they built a gym that works for the community.

The gym is open 24 hours a day every day, but staff members will only be working at the location from 4 to 6 p.m. During this time, they can give tours and sign up new members. The door will stay locked, and once someone signs up and becomes a member of the gym, they will get a key card that will allow them access to the entrance whenever they want to work out. 

“We wanted a gym where anyone can come,” Aidan said. People can go to the gym when it works into their schedule. “Why only be open for a certain amount of hours?” he asked, “We can cater to everyone. Not everyone has the same hours [free] every day.”

The Schlotmans have seen success reaching people on their Facebook page and they are working on setting up an Instagram.

“We’ve had a lot of community support from the beginning,” Aidan said. 

“I think it’s important to know that we ourselves are part of the community,” Aidan said, “We want to give back and help wherever we can. People don’t have to break the bank to stay healthy.”

People interested in signing up for a membership can do so on the Mountain Fitness website, mountainfitnessnh.com, or may sign up in person between 4 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. People who sign up before Christmas will be locked into an opening promotional rate of $45 per month with no sign-up fee. An additional family member costs $25. There are also day- and week-long pass options. The gym is open to people 13 and older, and those under 17 must be accompanied by a guardian.

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