From The Blog

Total Fitness Concepts Celebrates 25 Years as KICA’s Fitness Experts

Fitness is a key component at the Sandcastle and one of the many reasons members show up on a daily basis to KICA’s beachfront member facility. Classes take place every day and range from Tai Chi and Yoga Flow to Total Package and Strictly Strength. For the last 25 years, those classes have been in partnership with Total Fitness Concepts (TFC) and its founder, Susan Lozier.

After hearing of an opportunity from a colleague while teaching at Seabrook, Susan Lozier called then-director Kay Narmour at the Sandcastle. From the meeting that followed, this partnership was born. When Susan taught her first class in 2000, she was warned that she had “some really big shoes to fill.” 25 years later, Susan and TFC are synonymous with member fitness at the Sandcastle. In celebration, we’re taking a walk down memory lane with Susan.

The Sandcastle Grows its Commitment to Fitness

Since that first class, Susan, TFC, and the Sandcastle have grown together. Susan recalls being the only fitness instructor and teaching eight classes a week in a combined space. “People would be trying to work out, using this monster of a machine with pulleys and attachments, while I would be teaching a group class.”

Above: the December 2004 fitness schedule with class fees.

The operation has come a long way. Now, the Sandcastle has two separate spaces, a boutique gym with cardio equipment and weights and an ample open space for group classes and stretching. KICA hosts nearly 30 weekly classes in the group fitness space with 16 instructors and four personal trainers.

TFC has undergone three different renovations with KICA. A 2002 renovation split the individual and group fitness spaces into two spaces. The spaces were expanded with upgraded equipment in 2007. The most recent renovation, in 2017, removed storage from the ground floor of the Sandcastle and added that space to the group fitness room. It also opened the room up to a full view of the ocean, a definite perk to working out at the Sandcastle.

Not just the space has changed. KICA has made it easier for members to attend, by including most fitness class charges in the amenity assessment. Members can sign up and attend any class, as many times a week as they want. Members used to have to pay cash, then use a coupon book to attend. Now, it’s all streamlined. “Anything you can do to remove a barrier to fitness is important. The hardest part should be showing up.”

Not a Bunch of Old Ladies

The community has changed a lot over the years, but fortunately, Total Fitness Concepts has a foundation for success that works.  “I find experienced, certified people I can depend on. Instructors need to fit the demographic too.” The island’s demographic, which has tended to skew older, is changing as popularity grows. Classes have evolved over time to accommodate the interests.

Her very first Sandcastle class, the one that told her she had big shoes to fill, gave her some other feedback too: “That was a really good class,” they said, “but you don’t need to treat us like a bunch of old ladies.”  Susan took that feedback and continues to take input to this day, listening to what members are saying out loud and saying with their behavior. “I look at the number of attendees every month, and if anything is waning, we reevaluate. It’s important to listen to the feedback.”

 

Above: Susan teaches a Sandcastle Core Mix video class in March 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Sandcastle was closed, Susan and her instructors produced fitness videos so members could continue focusing on their fitness. Those fitness videos are still available here to watch anytime here.

A Small but Life-changing Decision

In college, Susan was studying to be an interpreter, but after making a financial decision to reduce her gym membership payments by working at the gym, she found a calling. “I swam competitively for 10 years, but I didn’t consider myself an athlete. I liked the fitness classes and liked being in the gym.”

She switched her major to Exercise Science at the University of Central Florida, where she was part of the first class in the major. “When I went to graduate school (at Georgia State), we had already learned a lot of it in undergrad because they were just throwing the book at us.”

Looking back, it seems like a clear path from that change to where she is now, but she says, “Back then, there was no career. People thought of fitness as Jane Fonda or gym teachers. There was nothing in between.” Susan forged her own path in the burgeoning industry, but she kept returning to the foundation of her love for fitness: teaching exercise classes. 

Susan founded Total Fitness Concepts after a career that included MUSC’s Wellness Center as the director of the Human Performance Laboratory. Associated with the hospital, Susan’s team evaluated patients and crafted exercise prescriptions to be completed with trainers. At the time, this was unusual, but it’s a tenet that Susan lives by: exercise is medicine. While there, she also worked as a research assistant to help perfect the technology of the now nearly ubiquitous bioimpedance meter for body fat calculation. Even at the Wellness Center, she volunteered to fill in when there were openings in the class schedule. Eventually, she became a fixture; people liked her classes, and it’s easy to see why. She spent years as the Regional Fitness Director of Asia for Club Corporation of America, moving her to Vietnam and Singapore. Her curiosity also led her to do other things, like a stint as a carriage tour driver in Charleston.

A Part of the Community

During the interview at the Sandcastle, a member remembered coming to fitness classes when Susan first started. Like Susan, she is a regular 25 years later. The duration of those relationships is one of the things that Susan is most proud of over TFC’s collaboration with KICA. 

Neither TFC nor KICA are done growing and changing. Susan noted that the 2017 renovation at the Sandcastle brought seismic changes to the operation, with the ocean view from the fitness facilities and the addition of the new adult pool. 

Susan never stops looking toward the future for TFC, and the spirit of improvement is mirrored at the Sandcastle. “Amy (KICA’s Director of the Sandcastle) and Hayes (Sandcastle Operations Manager) are very forward-thinking.” As a certification holder, she and her instructors have to complete a certain number of continuing education credits each year. But Susan loves to learn – “just because I’ve got my CEUs doesn’t mean I’m done. I want to take more workshops. I can’t ever learn enough.”

Total Fitness and KICA Celebrate 25 Years With a Wellness Challenge

No one is better suited to help you build new healthy habits (or build on old ones!) than the Sandcastle’s fitness experts from Total Fitness Concepts. This year, celebrate the 25-year partnership with a challenge and a party!

The 2025 Sandcastle Wellness Challenge includes a variety of activities, like taking a walk on the beach or avoiding processed sugar for one day. You can customize to meet your goals, tackle all the challenges, or pick the ones that interest you the most. Track your progress and check in with the staff at the Sandcastle front desk to collect your punches. Each punch gets you a prize entry for a drawing at the Total Fitness Concepts 25th Anniversary party on March 24.