All Hours Fitness is owned and operated by Walker Alford and Randy Seegers. Seegers has been in the fitness business on and off for 40 years, from selling strength equipment to ownership and operation of clubs. He started his first fitness center in Many, Louisiana in the 1980s, at a time when the fitness club business was new and cutting edge. At just 20 years old, the enterprising Alford purchased the club from Seegers. He later sold the club and concentrated on his fuel-related businesses.
Years later, in the mid to late 1990s, Alford and Seegers opened a new fitness club, this time in the downtown area of Many. Having learned lessons from the past operation of the club as well as observing other businesses, the new fitness club was able to turn profit early on.
Alford is what many call a health and fitness fanatic. At the age of 14, Walker’s enthusiasm and participation in MX racing created a lifelong dedication to healthy living, fitness, and well being that continues to this day.
“I was very interested in healthy living/eating at a very young age and still haven’t stopped,” Alford said. “Though I was out of the fitness center business for several years, I always wanted to get back to the fitness business, which was my true love.”
Sixteen years after opening the Many fitness club, Alford and Seegers own and operate 15 twenty-four hour health clubs in Louisiana and Texas.
Alford is a certified personal trainer, though he spends more time on the management end of the fitness business. He values personal trainers and wants them at all clubs.
“It is important for me to be a certified trainer to achieve credit with my members,” Alford said. “It means more when I walk in a club and help someone if I am certified. As far as training I think it could be achieved in as little as 3-5 days. We will have a trained AHF employee spend a week with the new operator to get their club up and running. It’s a simple system compared to most.”
When a new All Hours Fitness club is opened, all of the equipment is brand new so that everything will be under warranty. This makes it easy on managers because they just call the manufacturer and someone will be sent onsite to repair.
“We have the best strength connection in the industry and no other franchisers are installing the equipment,” Alford noted. “We think the best part of owning a AHF franchise is the money a person can make. We can show them on paper just how serious this can be. We can also back up everything we tell them.”