Driver bringing fitness program to MAC
Donald Driver, the Green Bay Packers’ all-time leading receiver and Super Bowl champion, will bring his Driven Elite fitness program to the Milwaukee Athletic Club.
Driven Elite, founded by Donald Driver and Aaron Westlake, was created to help push individuals past their com- fort zone toward a healthy lifestyle.
The Driven Elite programming will include everything from high-intensity workouts to yoga and suspension training, Driver said.
“We want to give the members the experience that is completely different than what they would do if they were at a 24 Hour Fitness or LA Fitness or Lifetime,” Driver said. “But also while they’re getting a great workout in, they’re getting the opportunity to have social networking. That’s what it’s all about: bringing everyone together in the Milwaukee community.”
The fitness programming will take place in the new Milwaukee Athletic Club, which is under renovation.
J. Jeffers & Company and Interstate Development Partners along with Sage Hospitality announced a long-term management agreement with Driver on Tuesday. With the agreement, Driver becomes a member of the development team and personally involved with creating the new Milwaukee Athletic Club.
This includes member-engagement events and a “holistic approach to each member’s individual fitness goals,” Tony Janowiec, president of Interstate Development Partners, said in a statement.
Driver will be directly involved in the operations and with the staff at the members-only fitness club. He also said that when he’s in town, he’ll be one of the trainers.
“At 44 years old, we’ll see if I can still
push myself like I did when I played football,” Driver said.
Driver already owns and operates three Driven Elite locations in the Dallas area, but this one will be the first of its kind in Wisconsin.
“Milwaukee’s home,” Driver said. “The state of Wisconsin is home. My three kids were born here. I’ve had a blessed career to play 14 years . ... (It) has been truly amazing.”
The $70 million renovation of the building at 758 N. Broadway includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, group fitness rooms, complete rehabilitation of the basketball court and swimming pool, outdoor turf for yoga, a Himalayan salt sauna, and a performance golf center complete with golf pro instructors and a golf simulator.
“The most important thing that’s going to be at the MAC is our golf simulator room,” Driver said. “That’s going to be key because from November to May, there’s no golfing. We’re going to be indoors doing indoor activities. So, we’re going to have a full-out golf simulator lounge area, so the members can play golf yearround.”
The renovations also include luxury locker rooms.
“We give the members the opportunity to have USB ports in their lockers as well as different charging stations,” Driver said. “Combination locks, we never had a co-lock on our lockers in Green Bay, so they guys had access to go into your locker at any time and grab whatever they wanted. This gives our members the luxury of having privacy.”
Driver said he hopes he can transfer his experience with the Packers into the Milwaukee Athletic Club, and the way he intends on doing that is through work ethic.
“I think that’s the key word we talk about every single day in our gym,” Driver said. “We have a slogan that says ‘fight for what you want’ and so that’s what we tell everyone that walks into our gym.”
“Fight for what you want. If you want to live a healthy lifestyle, then fight for what you want. If you want to lose weight, fight for it. If you want to gain weight, fight for it .... Every time you walk through our doors, you have to be fearless.”