Long Fitness Center Reopening

Holistic Health and Fitness teams from 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team , 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, and 1st Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, hosted a ceremony for the reopening of Long Fitness Center on Fort Riley, Kansas, Feb.13, 2024.

U.S. Army Maj Grant Smith, the division H2F director assigned to Headquarters Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Inf. Div., attended the ceremony and gave insight to the importance of the new facility and how it will help strengthen and condition Soldiers.

The gym has been closed for the remodeling of the basketball court and racquetball flooring. The basketball court is now a functioning holistic health and fitness physical training facility in support of all units located in the Custer Hill area.

The new training facility features new turf flooring and new equipment such as dumbbells, squat racks, rowing machines, bikes, treadmills, glute ham development machines, medicine balls, sleds and more.

“This facility fills in a capability gap that we have had on the installation for some time,” said Smith. “If you look around the installation there's a lack of turf area; so we have expanded that capability to allow for more agility work, sled work and other types of strength and conditioning modalities that are going to be helpful for performance on the combat fitness test and overall Soldier performance.

“The other big gap that it filled was during physical training hours there's limited availability and space inside gyms. Especially during the winter months, this is a place where the brigades that are located on [Custer Hill] are going to be able to use their H2F performance teams to have dedicated time with Soldiers when they have the blocked off time to conduct PT.”

The new facility adds to the 2024 United States Secretary of the Army’s plan for Army Life where one of the focuses is to improve the quality of life for Soldiers by helping them maintain healthy lifestyles.

“This opening is a resource for our Division, for our Soldiers, and our families,” said Army Col. Terry Tillis, the deputy commanding officer for maneuver, 1st Inf. Div., who also spoke at the reopening. “It's about getting your Soldiers in here to utilize the equipment and resources we have been given.”

The new facility can be reserved through the brigade's H2F teams for unit training. When the facility is not reserved, the operating hours are Monday- Friday 0600 - 1500, closed weekends, training & federal holidays and is open to all DoD card holders.