Recession sends health clubs into a slump as customers cut back instead of pump up.

Profits have gone flaccid at Los Angeles health clubs in the past 18 months in part because members, particularly downtown executives and attorneys, have been laid off or transferred due to the lingering recession.

After a 1980s boom, some clubs have gone out of business and some have closed branches. Others, though revenue declined at some locations, are expanding in hopes the economy will soon recover and Los Angeles residents once again will spend anywhere from $15 to $300 per month to keep in shape.

"Every sports club and gym I know of has been affected by the recession," said David Geyer, membership and marketing communications director for the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Membership at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, which traditionally had operated at near-capacity, started slumping in mid-1991 because of layoffs throughout the business community, members moving out of town and a general reluctance to spend hundreds of dollars a year to belong to a health club. The club waived the customary $450 initiation fee from Nov. 15, 1991, to Jan. 15, 1992. The club now has grown to over 5,000 members.

The 110-year-old Los Angeles Athletic Club, owned by Los Angeles-based LAACO Ltd. that also owns the California Yacht Club, is frequented by downtown attorneys and businesspeople. Aside from 72 guest rooms and four restaurants, its 12-story building, 431 W. Seventh St. offers an indoor Olympic-sized pool, traditional resistance machines and free weights. The club has a staff of trainers, exercise physiologists and fitness instructors.

Nearby, the Los Angeles YMCA also has many upper-level managers and attorneys as members of its downtown health club at the intersection of Fourth and Hope streets. But gym membership has dropped to about 4,775 now from 5,375 in 1990. With gym fees tabbed at $550 per year, the exodus took away about $330,000 in revenue, said Los Angeles YMCA Executive Director Mark Young.

"Sixty to 75 percent of the members who left were transferred. The rest said they couldn't afford to keep up their memberships or that they didn't have time to work out," he said.

Unlike other workout facilities, the YMCA offers a financial assistance plan to members who can't afford to pay the full membership price, Young said.

Bucking the downtrend, he said, the YMCA has started to develop programs with downtown building owners and businesses to bring exercise classes into the work place.

"We are providing on-site stress management programs that include light exercise classes as well as weight management," Young said. IBM, Maguire Thomas (which owns many downtown office buildings) and First Interstate Bank are using the YMCA programs, he said.

Membership also has declined at Beverly Hills-based Beverly Hills Health and Fitness Center, especially in the past nine months, said Michelle DiGiulio, an administrative assistant for the seven-year-old health club.

To counteract that the club has decreased the monthly membership from $29 to $25 and have reduced the annual renewal rate from $99 to $49.99, DiGiulio said.

Los Angeles-based Sports Club Co. Inc. operates clubs such as the Sports Club Los Angeles for members who want a full-service atmosphere, the Spectrum Clubs, a slightly less opulent setting, and the more plentiful Sports Connections, which attracts a more cost-conscious crowd, said Nick Taylor, regional general manager for the Sports Connections.

"Because of the diversity offered by our different types of clubs, we tend to tell ourselves we're recession proof," Taylor said.