With the kids heading back to school, Fitness Together wants to help you get back to you
By Patricia Nugent
While the back-to-school season means school supply shopping, setting class schedules and memorable first-day photos by the bus stop, it also signals a return to normalcy for busy moms and dads.
In celebration of getting back to a routine, the folks at Fitness Together are debuting their “Back to School, Back to You!” promotion this month.
“We thought this would be the perfect juncture to both work with our current clients and spread the word to potential ones about the importance of consistency,” says owner and trainer Erin Mellinger.
“Unfortunately, you can’t work out three days in one week and then not at all the next week and hope to achieve any results. Motivation will ebb and flow. You need to take a good look at your everyday life and find ways to form the right habits that will make you healthy.”
Raising the Platform for Consistency
Fitness Together creates a platform for consistency that has produced a solid success record, as seen in the scores of five-star reviews online from the people whose lives the studio has changed. Erin attributes that to across-the-board accountability supported by collecting health and wellness numbers from each client and customizing a program to his or her needs and wants.
“Everyone has their own set of issues, whether it’s a past injury or a bad back, as well as a ‘sweet spot’ of exercise style that they respond to the most, like traditional lifting or fast-paced cardio,” she says.
“We are able to design workouts that are constantly evolving as the client evolves. We are laser-focused on their health levels, taking assessments every six weeks and making adjustments along the way.”
She says they also keep track of clients’ activity outside of the studio, monitoring how long and which type of activity has transpired.
Clients work out with different trainers several times a week within the private exercise suites—each with a unique approach. Since the training is always something different, people stick with them for the long term without becoming bored or burned out.
Striking a Balance, Attention to Form
“I cringe when I see people at the gym standing around doing bicep curls, the same sets, the same reps, the same weights,” says Erin.
“This is actually not benefitting your body, which gets used to that sameness, and it no longer expends energy so it does not change. That causes a plateau. Clients often come in and say they’ve been going to the gym and haven’t seen results. We ask what they were doing and they describe the same workout.”
She explains the personal training term of muscle confusion: “You need to keep your body guessing. It should be stressed in a good way to adapt and rebuild, and change for the stronger and better.”
Form is key as well. Erin says establishing the fundamentals of form is as important as accountability in working one-on-one with a personal trainer.
“Clients often have poor posture from working at a computer every day,” she says.
“Their back muscles might be weakened or strained, and that often translates into poor posture during workouts, which can lead to injuries. Our trainers constantly realign movements and the body for the most efficient workout.”
“As my staff will tell you, I use the phrase ‘knowledge is power,’ all the time,” she says.
“Our fitness assessment encompasses more than just a weigh-in. We screen for things such as muscle imbalance. Some people have overbuilt certain muscle groups such as the quadriceps or biceps. We fit the exercise to balance a body’s muscles to make it a more efficient machine.”
Changing Your Relationship With Food
“We don’t believe in eliminating certain foods or going on restrictive diets,” she says.
“Research has shown that in the long run, that simply doesn’t work. Working with a dietician, Nutrition Together is a six-week counseling program in which people’s relationship with food is assessed, like how do they cook, when do they eat and why do they go to certain foods late at night or when they’re stressed out.”
Clients journal everything they eat and how it makes them feel. Patterns emerge, and a realistic plan is put in place to enjoy the best foods for your health without depriving yourself of the things you like.
“This is a totally realistic science-based approach to achieving wellness through sound nutrition and sound habits you can follow for a lifetime,” she says.
Fitness Together is located at 3725 Medina Road, 330-952-0833. The Fairlawn location is at 2890 Sand Run Parkway, Suite B. Call 330-940-1470 or visit FTMedina.com for more information.