Looking to get fit?
You’re not the only one, and, in truth, it’s not that hard to find cookie-cutter franchise fitness centers (i.e. Planet Fitness, Crunch, and the like) that provide basic memberships and facilities at a low cost.
But there’s a trade off to accessibility and lower cost: the personalization and tight knit communities that come with smaller or more community-focused organizations. If your New Year’s resolution is to get back in shape, then you might need a little more motivation than what an open door and a line of machines can give you.
“At the beginning of the year, we have our folks who are really setting those New Year’s resolutions,” said Samantha Mosby, the executive director of the Campbell County branch of the YMCA, “and they really just want to come in and they really want to work on losing weight and things like that.”
A small business the YMCA is not, for sure, but the Y serves as the go-to family friendly place to get resources not only for fitness but for wellness generally. The YMCA has Northern Kentucky branches in Fort Thomas and Burlington, but a membership with the YMCA gets you access to all branches in the Greater Cincinnati YMCA network.
Plus, they have programs for almost every age group on every level of their wellness journey.
“The Y is a little different from other fitness places and organizations,” Mosby said. “There is a holistic approach. So, we have our fitness component, we have our weight room, our group, exercise classes and those kinds of things, but we really focus on and concentrate on mind, body and spirit.”
The Y provides after-school programs for kids as well as onsite childcare for parents taking classes. They also have programs like Silver Sneakers, a fitness program aimed for seniors, and Livestrong, a program aimed at helping cancer survivors recover.
Did we mention they have a pool?
“We do offer an array of swim lessons for our kids as well,” Mosby said.
Another go-to family friendly organization is Silverlake in Erlanger, which has a water park, Olympic-sized pool, and climbing and ropes courses. Silverlake has a sister facility in Fort Mitchell called Better Bodies, which is more explicitly focused on fitness. Both facilities have activities for every age group, fitness equipment, group classes and childcare. Better Bodies also has on-site saunas and even an in-house massage therapist.
Dave Smith, Silverlake’s fitness director and the general manager for Better Bodies, said he sees people from all walks of life at the two facilities, including people who don’t fit the typical fitness enthusiast stereotype.
“With new members coming in that are new to fitness, a lot of times their plan of attack doesn’t match their goals,” Smith said. “They see things online that are very extreme, and that’s what they’re coming in to do. But then we’re also seeing a lot of people that are post-hip, knee replacement, post surgery, that need a spot to go to to continue on their rehabilitation.”
But what if you’re looking for something that’s more intense?
“We start at 5 a.m., nice and early,” said Mark McCain, owner of Triumph Strength and Conditioning in Florence.
Triumph offers group strength and conditioning courses, one-on-one coaching and small group training. As their name implies, the business focuses mostly on strength and conditioning. They were originally affiliated with CrossFit, but they deaffiliated after about 10 years, McCain said, due to differences in training philosophy, cost and some “questionable” decisions on the part of CrossFit’s leadership.
One of the key things that Triumph tries to accomplish, McCain said, is to provide a sense of community and encouragement when it comes to helping people accomplish their fitness goals. Part of that is providing clients with good information as it relates to their fitness. For instance, the first thing someone does after signing up for a membership is to get biometrically scanned, which tells someone what their body fat and muscle percentage is so they can plan accordingly.
“The scanner really helps us just keep people accountable,” McCain said. “We try to do them every 90 days with our clients, just so we can deliver on our promise.”
But that’s only one part of the equation, McCain said. The other is meeting people where they are. Life is busy, after all, so it’s important to provide people with encouragement as they learn about their bodies.
“It’s more of the conversation again, that goes into the relationship, building the intimacy that we’re trying to experience in this space,” McCain said. “So, I can be like, ‘What’s going on? Just talk to me.’ We don’t have to set goals to climb Mount Everest. It could be, just show up at the gym twice this week. So, it’s just meeting those people where they’re at.”
The gym also has its own app where people can track their progress, attendance and sign up for classes. Lastly, Triumph also provides childcare during certain hours, so if you can’t find a sitter, no problem.
All right, all right. Maybe strength and conditioning isn’t quite your speed. What’s left?
“I stepped on a yoga mat, and right then and there, my entire life changed,” said Nikki Taylor, owner of Studio 43 in Alexandria.
Studio 43 offers classes in yoga, barre and pilates. Taylor described her own journey to opening the studio. Following the untimely death of her father when she was 26, she developed an eating disorder and other detrimental psychological habits to cope. Yoga was the only thing that helped, she said.
“It was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me,” Taylor said. “I was on the yoga mat, and all these emotions came out, and by the end of the class, I was on my mat and I was crying, and I didn’t know what was happening, but all I knew is that I had to do it again.”
Studio 43 offers a variety of yoga courses for its clients. It also offers courses in barre, an exercise program that borrows heavily from ballet techniques, and Pilates. For a while, Taylor said, Studio 43 was the only place in the region that had Pilates reformer machines, which have become more popular recently. They even offer a running club.
The flagship course of Studio 43, Taylor said, is hot yoga.
“I started the studio offering hot yoga,” Taylor said. “That was my main thing that I loved to do. I love to sweat, and I love to kind of push myself.”
One thing that’s nice about the Northern Kentucky region as it relates to fitness, Taylor said, is the small businesses in the area all seem to be on the same page as it relates to general health.
“With small businesses, everybody has the same common goal,” Taylor said. “We just want to spread health and wellness into our community.”
Fitness can be daunting, especially if you feel you’re already behind the curve. All of the people LINK nky spoke to for this story advocated that those who are on the fence about fitness should not let themselves get discouraged. What you get out of your fitness journey may not just be better health, but better human connection generally.
“There’s a lot of people that are coming in that just need to learn to love it, to enjoy it, and not to come in with the intention to punish themselves,” Smith said. “You know, the no pain, no gain mentality kind of [went] out the window years ago. Find a place to take care of yourself, find a place to improve quality of life and try your best to enjoy it.”
Often the thing that keeps people from joining a fitness community, McCain said, is a fear of what other people think.
“Wherever you’re at, whether you’re at a high level or a low level, I don’t want to say no one cares, but they don’t care where you’re at,” McCain said. “They care that you’re here, and that’s the important thing. I think people would be surprised how welcoming a lot of gyms are in the area because if you’re there and you’re putting in the work, I think it’s almost even more encouraging to see someone come in that clearly has some work to do, and they’re trying really hard.”
What starts with fitness can often lead to much more, Mosby said.
“It starts with fitness, but it may end with someone being in someone’s wedding, someone hosting a party for someone,” Mosby said. “And, so I think that’s really something that we focus on here at the Y is that relationship building and making those friends.”