Hi Fusers! This week Fuse Fitness is taking the opportunity to highlight Barbara Higbie, one of our longest members, who has been working out consistently with us since the summer of 2012! She is an amazingly talented, Grammy nominated musician - check out her website/bio/upcoming events here!

Before joining Fuse, Barbara was trying to manage her weight and stress levels. At the time she joined, she had been jogging about 30 minutes a day, five days a week for the past 20 years. She had also tried lots of other classes throughout the years, but nothing stuck.  The weight was beginning to pile on in new places and her mood was up and down, because she was taking care of both her young daughter and mother with Alzheimer's disease, while also maintaining her music career. Barbara saw the Fuse Fitness sign one day while in the neighborhood, decided to drop by to try out a class, and has been hooked ever since. She says, "It's one of the easiest and best things I've ever done in my life."

As most of us at the studio have figured out, Barbara loves interval training! She is one of the only clients who always wants intervals - she says it's because she doesn't like to count reps or keep track of the exercises herself. She prefers not to have to think too much about what comes next, and would rather have a set of exercises that get her heart rate up and get what she calls "a good work out in." Outside of interval training, her other favorite thing to work on is handstands, and can't get enough of them. Barbara once told us, "Who knew I'd ever crave doing a hand stand? It is so hard to believe!"

The challenges that Barbara has encountered along the way have been minimal. She still has trouble doing a free-standing pistol squat, a very challenging move that can take quite a long time to master. Despite that difficulty, she says, "It feels like one big positive wave that moves me along. The environment is great - high standards and low pressure." Due to her demanding music career, sometimes she is out of town for a couple of weeks at a time touring, thus having to miss her workouts. It is always challenging for her to deal with the muscle aches/soreness that come from having missed a couple weeks of classes.

Looking back to her start at Fuse, she still remembers her first class, when she couldn't do a Turkish get-up - now she can do many in a row with great form. Barbara says she has never been great at following extreme diets, but has slowly cut out lots of sugar and flour since working out at Fuse and it has made a big difference.

One of the results Barbara is most proud of achieving since working out at Fuse is having great core strength. "As a professional singer, it has made a HUGE difference to have a strong core!" Barbara recognizes that her consistency with coming to class has really paid off in regards to seeing such great results - she has maintained her weight loss and continues to manage her stress levels, keeping a steady, positive outlook on life. According to her, "It's easy for me to get to class. The community at Fuse is made up of real, down to earth people, who enjoy working hard and having fun while staying focused."

Barbara has been very supportive of us and our business from the very beginning - we are so lucky and grateful to have someone as loyal as her. She brings a fun, upbeat energy to class each day. We love her random comedic outbursts in class when performing an awkward or suggestive movement, which makes teaching class so much fun - we always get a good laugh in.

As you can see from Barbara's success story, working out isn't just to stay fit and look good. Fitness is a lifestyle that requires consistency in order to achieve results. While clients may have different goals and seek different results, a fitness program is beneficial to everyone. If you are currently not getting the results you want with your fitness program, we encourage you to sign-up today for a free fitness consult by filling in the form below. As Barbara says, "Having a fitness 'home' makes my whole life so much better! Finding Fuse was the biggest gift of the last five years! Thank you Pascha, Kristin and team Fuse!"

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Barbara, thank you for your love and continued support. We love having you as an integral part of our Fuse Fitness community! Class would not be the same without you!

Hi Fusers! This week Fuse Fitness would like to highlight our member Geoff Piller!

Geoff is one of our most dedicated clients when it comes to his health and fitness. He is self motivated, extremely consistent and laser focused. Before class even begins, he is off to an early start with a quick sprint outside and then comes inside to foam roll and stretch. Something about Geoff that demonstrates his great work ethic is that while everyone else takes a break to chit chat, he never stops, speeding through his workouts staying super focused, while most others have stopped to talk. He is usually the first one in class to finish an AMRAP or RFT workout.  Afterwards he can repeat everything that was discussed/small-talked about in class--he takes multi-tasking to another level--"listen while you work".

This sentiment is shared by all of us trainers here at Fuse--Geoff is one of the sweetest people we know. He is one of our biggest cheerleaders and is such a caring and giving person. He always has something encouraging and/or positive to say. And let us not forget what an amazing baker he is! And he shares with us :)

Thanks to incredible members like Geoff, we have such a wonderful, interesting and supportive fitness community! With that being said, here is Geoff's Fuse Fitness success story in his own words:

"I was a long time runner and used this method of exercise to stay in shape. I developed a hamstring injury and had to evaluate whether I could continue to run.  I concluded that running was making me fit, but it was not a complete total body workout- I felt limited. I decided I could get a better return by putting the time into a bootcamp style workout. My goal was to have overall balanced fitness, weight loss, and efficient use of my time.

"Some of the challenges I have encountered were working out with other people, as well as being inflexible.  I now enjoy working out in a group setting and have slowly achieved flexibility victories over time at the Fuse. Lastly, I hate Turkish Get Ups or any other exercise that begins with the word Turkish and still cannot jump rope. However, I do have many strengths and would like to focus on the things I'm good at.  I'm able to keep up with people in class who are considerably younger than me and I like the challenge of a rigorous workout. I can also sprint up the hill several times in a row like a bat out of hell and able to to exercise and play well with others.

"Overall I feel like I am in much better shape than when I was just running."

Very true, Geoff! When he says he can "sprint up the hill several times in a row like a bat out of hell" he is not joking one bit. Geoff, you are an inspiration to everyone here and we truly appreciate you!

Yours in health,

Fuse Fitness

Hey Fusers! As 2016 has come to an end, we want to wish you all a very happy new year, filled with good health, good food and good times!

We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead, and as we have been planning what's in store at Fuse this coming year, we wanted to take a few moments to stop and reflect on where we came from and where we're heading--so here's our story....

Pascha and I met in 2008 while working together at a small personal training studio, where we worked side-by-side, learning about each other personally and professionally, and forming the start of a life-long friendship and soon-to-be partnership.

During these early years, we realized we shared many values that deepened our connection and inspired us to open a business together. The values we share are a dedication to family and friends; having a high-level of integrity, honesty and loyalty; helping others; a passion for health and fitness; working hard; and a mutual respect and admiration for each other.

Three and a half years after meeting, in June of 2011, we opened the doors to Fuse Fitness in Kensington, CA. We spent many months searching for the right space, until we found a place where we knew we wanted to build our community. Many long nights and weekends were dedicated to renovating/cleaning/building this space--we opened 1 month after we signed our contract/lease, while both working full-time during the days and raising families. It was an intense but very exciting month!

What makes us a great team and such great friends is that we have so much in common and really respect each other. However, our business challenges lie in that both our strengths and weaknesses are very similar. It would be great from a business perspective if we excelled in opposite ways, but that's not how it worked out.We both excel at being great teachers/coaches and designing fitness/lifestyle programs, and both have very similar training philosophies and styles. Our biggest struggle/weakness is in business operations, specifically marketing and business organization. We are also challenged when it comes to building and putting things together, esp. anything from IKEA--while this has created some frustrating moments, it has created many more hilarious moments where we've found ourselves laughing uncontrollably. At least we know we are pretty much always having a good time!

A couple of months ago, Pascha and I decided it was time to face our challenges head-on and committed to and invested in a 1 year minimum intensive business coaching program. We want to continue to grow, prosper and provide our community with excellent fitness and health programs, and we realized we couldn't reach our goals if we didn't tackle our challenges. We took a good, hard look at our business and accomplishments thus far, and were honest with each other--we needed to make a big change if we wanted to continue to grow. We are proud of ourselves for recognizing this and making the big decision to invest both financially and time-wise to the business coaching program.

Our goal is to continue to grow our business and provide a space where we can have the room to have a couple of class options at one time, as well as more room for private and semi-private training for the entire Kensington community. We would love to be able to expand into the space next door sometime this year. Our desire is to continue to help the people in our community reach their health and fitness goals--this includes those who need to lose weight; those who are wanting to increase their strength; those who have fallen off the wagon due to family and career commitments but want to feel healthy, young and fit again; those who are injured and/or in pain; pre and post-natal women; athletes; and senior citizens.

That being said, we are very proud of ourselves. Through much trial, error and tribulation, we have created a space that truly is a close-knit community. There is no greater feeling in the world to us than being able to help people take control of their health, improve their quality of life, and be a supportive part of their fitness journey. The fitness community here at Fuse is one of the biggest accomplishments in our lives so far--we love all of our clients so much and are so grateful for each and every one of you!

Cheers to a great 2017!!

Yours in health,

Kristin and Pascha at Fuse Fitness

Over the next few weeks we are celebrating our amazing clients here at Fuse Fitness. Everyday we come in to work we can’t believe that we get to work with such amazing people that inspire us by showing up day in and day out.

Today I have to tell you about Lia Swindle.

We are so proud of Lia! She has made amazing progress this year towards her goal of feeling stronger and empowered. It hasn’t been an easy path for Lia, as it isn't for anyone to reach his/her goals. But Lia has consistently shown up and worked hard at getting stronger one day at a time. Her results have been amazing.

Lia joined Fuse Fitness two years ago, and she has been a pleasure to have in class and witness her growth over these past few years. While having an ongoing pelvis injury, she is careful to modify certain movements to avoid further injury, but is still a beast when it comes to lifting weights. Watching her goblet squat a 35lb kettlbell, push press two 35lb weights overhead and then deadlift a 70lb kettlbell is so inspiring.

Lia now looks forward to coming to class with a drive to work on getting stronger and feels good about lifting her bags full of groceries within one trip, as she says "I got this"! Lia is also proud of setting a positive example for her cute, yet "rock star" daughter Hannah. Lia loves that Hannah sees her working out and representing what a strong female is capable of. Overall, Lia feels so much better about herself physically and mentally.

Fuse Fitness is a boutique fitness studio, in which we work hard to provide the safest and most effective way to achieve an active and healthy lifestyle, build strength and lean muscle. Our fitness program is also known for injury prevention and helping our clients keep up with their kids, in a supportive, noncompetitive and community oriented environment.  As you can see from Lia's success story, we are so proud to know that we have amazing clients who have achieved their goals and understand that health and fitness is a lifestyle and not a trend or something you only participate in during the new year.

Sign up HERE to schedule your free consult today and be our next success story!!

Keep up the amazing work Lia. We are all inspired by you and so proud of you. Bring on 2017!

Yours In Health,

Pascha at Fuse Fitness