Local devotees of personal fitness now have a new place to work out.

On brand-new equipment.

For free.

The Neosho Recreation Center, 418 Fairground Road, has totally revamped its weight room with near top-of-the line machines. Eight workout and four aerobics stations replace what had been a hodge-podge of free weights, Stairmasters, exercise bikes and similar older equipment.

“It’s totally different than what we had before,” said parks and rec director Tom Workman. “This is all state-of-the-art equipment. It’s not the best on the market, but it’s way up there. It’s the second or third best.”

He said the old free-weights not only required too much liability insurance, but the sets weren’t even complete to begin with. The new weight machines will cover most of the muscles of the body.

Since opening earlier this month, the new weight room has been used by roughly 235 different people, Workman said. He knows that because there is a one-time sign up, where residents are issued a free card after filling out a waiver and signing off on a list of rules.

Some of these rules have to do with age limits. Ages 18 on up are simply required to use the equipment responsibly. Ages 16-18 can work out in the weight room by themselves, but require their parents’ signature. Ages 12-15 have to have a parent in the room with them at all times.

According to Workman, the younger crowd doesn’t usually come in until evening anyway. Before that, from about 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., it’s mostly middle-aged people getting off of work. Mornings and early afternoons are when senior citizens and older folks seem to prefer taking advantage of the new equipment.

“We’ve just seen tremendous amount of use, period,” Workman said. “And I think more people will start coming in. I mean, it’s free.”

Also, starting today, personal fitness trainer Courtney Roth will be offering physical fitness classes in the weight room from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. Cost is $10 a session or $60 for eight sessions. Sign up at the Rec Center. For more information, call 451-8090.