Posts in Fitness and Health
New Year, New You

Hi Fusers! Happy New Year!! Here at The Fuse we are committed to making 2013 the year to accomplish all your fitness goals. We are here to help with fun, creative, well-designed workouts that will leave you leaner, stronger, more functional, and more balanced in mind, body and spirit.

2013

"Clear your mind of can't." --Samuel Johnson

This quote inspires us to keep going, keep trying, to never give up. It's often too easy to quit when things get tough. Those last 10 burpees for example--are they hard? Absolutely. Would it be easier and more comfortable to quit. Sure. But in the end, is that the most rewarding choice, the one getting you closer to your goals? Probably not.  Rarely is the easier choice the best choice. Results, success and accomplishment simply come from good, old-fashioned hard work.

whatwouldyoudoifyouknewyoucouldn'tfail

The Fuse Fitness, both its instructors and members, is a place where everyone is supportive of each other. We are all in this journey together--to be fit, healthy and strong. To live life to the fullest. Together, we will achieve our fitness goals.

Whether your 2013 goal(s) is to do a strict pull up, complete 20 push ups in a row, sprint that hill without feeling like you're going to die, do the Tough Mudder or some other crazy race, or decrease your body fat while increasing lean muscle mass---you CAN do it. Your support system is here. The year is brand new. Time to clear your mind of can't and make this year all about the new you!

Yours in health,

Kristin, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

P.s. Feel free to email us at thefusefitness@gmail.com if you ever have any questions or need some extra support or motivation. We are here for you!

Good Times

Hi everyone! I know, I know, it's been a while.....all kinds of crazy have been going on over here. Crazy good though! And definitely good times :)

For those of you who don't know, my husband's brand spanking new bar just opened!! It's called The Night Light, located at 311 Broadway in Oakland, Jack London Square. It is gorgeous! He's been working on this project for over a year, and the final results are amazing. There you have it, my shameless shout-out. Come down and check it out!

Happy Spring! I can't tell you how happy I am that it's spring! (although it doesn't quite look like spring out there today) Doesn't matter though, summer is on it's way!! Hip hip hooray!

So let's see...a few things that have been going on this month at The Fuse. At the beginning of the month we hosted a group of St. Mary's high schoolers for a yoga class with Cynthea Denise. Here they are after class:

All month long we've been doing a tuck jump challenge. Whoever does the most tuck jumps in 1 minute wins a $100 gift certificate to Nike. The race is on! There's only 1 day left, and there are a few women who are neck and neck, in the 100+ range....tomorrow they'll both be in do defend their jumps and compete for the prize. Have you tried doing tuck jumps lately? Over 100 in a minute is just down right crazy!! And more importantly, everyone has been improving and crushing their previous scores! Making Pascha and I so proud!

monkey ninja

And that, my friends, is my Monkey Ninja. Yes, they really do exist. Isn't that pretty bad-ass? I think so. And here's my Iron Work's Monkey Ninjas in action, the last few seconds of a really intense workout.

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And lastly, here's a quick video of this morning's TRX Power class getting worked by Pacha in this intense, TRX circuit!

[wpvideo LTBzzzPx]

Happy Friday to you all! And, if you're around Oakland tonight, come have a drink with me at The Night Light! I'll be there for a bit!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

That's a wrap!
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Hi friends! Happy New Year! Now that 2011 has wrapped up, here's to 2012 being a year that brings good things to you and your family!

The holidays have been a whirlwind this year, lots of fun, and lots of crazy :) Here's a quick recap of mine in photos....

I'm sure we all indulged more than usual, but don't let it bum you out. We work hard all year long, we deserve to have some indulgent behavior :)

Now, time to get your booties back into The Fuse.....let's get this new year started with a bang! We're kicking it into gear this month with our New Years Specials and our fitness challenge.

There are two specials--the first is for all members, a 2 for 1 deal--you bring in a workout buddy (spouse, friend, partner, etc), you both receive 50% off a monthly unlimited package AND you have someone to motivate you (reg. $150 each, now $75 each). The second deal is for new members only, which is $50 off a monthly unlimited class package (reg. $150, now $100).

And the challenge for this month....the dreaded/loved burpee....dreaded by you, loved by us, dreaded because they're tough, loved because they get results. The most burpees (no push-up on the burpee) in 90 seconds wins. The prize? A $75 gift certificate to Lululemon...a little something toward showing off your hard-earned, toned muscles.

And that's a wrap. Happy New Year!!!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

What's Going on at The Fuse These Days...

Hi everyone! Happy end of the week! I know, it's been a little too long since my last post...sorry, things have been busy!

Let me fill you up on what's been going on around the studio....

Last month was a great month, thank you to all our members and clients! We really love what we do, thanks for being a part of it! We got some new equipment (exciting for us, possibly scary/exciting for you :) )...more kettlebells, medicine balls, a dynamax ball, a sandbag, balance disks and a body-fat scale. That's right, more stuff to torture you with ;)

Our donation boxes have continued to fill up with food and warm clothing. Again, thank you all for your kindness and genorosity!

As we're all aware, the holiday season is in full swing! We are really looking forward to our Holiday Cocktail Party, which will be at our studio on Friday, December 16th, 7-8:30pm. We got our mini tree yesterday and will be hanging our lights and decorations today and tomorrow. Pictures of said decorations will follow :)

Either Pascha is really in the holiday mood, or she just lost her water bottle....maybe both :) She's been using this awesome Christmas mug these days....

Our little holiday wreath, waiting to be hung....

This time of year is always really busy, there seems to be lots of birthdays as well as holiday parties, shopping to do, visitors stopping by.....while lots of fun, its often really stressful. It's easy to get off track with your health, missing workouts to run errands or indulging in too many treats. While it's important to allow yourself to indulge, it's a good idea to keep it in check. Decide what's really worth it to you and go for it....for those things that aren't quite worth it, skip it. Try to stick to your workouts so that your stress levels stay in the sane level and the scale stays in the sane level too :)

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

p.s. If you'd like to sign up for our newsletter, go to this link: Fuse Fitness Newsletter

Thankful

Hi friends :) First off, I want to wish my wonderful friend and business partner Pascha a very happy birthday! This has been a wonderful and crazy last few months, and I'm so very grateful to be doing this with you :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did :)

Mine started with an awesome morning Monkey Ninja Bootcamp--shout out to Beverly, Damon, Josh, Kristin, Lashunda, Kattt, Beth, Noa, Rebecca, Joanne, Daniela, and Samantha. We jumped, lunged, chopped, crawled and sweated our way through an intense calorie and fat burning workout--no guilt eating later for us :)

Afterward, I joined my family at my parents' house--we had a small gathering this year, my parents, my husband Doug, my lil' bro Jase, and my step-daughter Ava. Major props to my mom who had been cooking and preparing food for a couple days. I joined in helping her as soon as I arrived. My main contributions were a pumpkin pie and preparing and cooking the green beans and brussel sprouts.

A few pics of some of our food....

Lastly, I'd like to share a few things I'm thankful for, as well as some of the things my family is thankful for (we shared what we were thankful for during dinner)....

1. My family--there is nothing more important to me than my family. I appreciate how close we all our and how accepting everyone is. We are notorious for always having a good time, filled with laughter, joking around, lots of food and drinks.....my friends love coming over for celebrations because my family is just that fun.

2. According to Ava, my 10 year old step-daughter--"I'm thankful for my family, my friends, my pets and the planet Earth." Well said little one, and well rehearsed. Her response, "I know, we had to recite this in class."

Luckily for her, when she recited what she's thankful for, she had no idea what was coming. Something else to add to the list--dessert :)

3. My mom told a touching story about seeing a woman at the grocery store helping her daughter out of the car. She said the litte girl was probably about Ava's age and had cerebal palsy. Seeing this woman made her feel very grateful for everything we have. It's not perfect, but it's plenty.

4. "Margaritas!" A little out of character, but that was my dad's response. He spoke the truth though, maybe even what we were all thinking in the back of our heads, margaritas are something to be very grateful for.

See that bottle of tequilla behind the turkey...um yeah, so we have a thing for  margaritas. We'll keep working on that bottle the rest of the weekend :)

All joking aside, I'm truly grateful for the love and support of my family and friends, for the amazing oppportunities I've had thus far in my life, for my health, and for being able to do what I love--share my views on fitness and health with all of you. Thank you for being a part of my life :)

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Someone very special is coming to town!

Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend! We had an awesome workshop at the studio this weekend--our wonderful yoga instructor Tia did an amazing workshop called Unwind, Unknot and De-stress. Wow, it was really good! If you missed it this time around you really should come to the next one she does--I think we'll bring her back in late winter/early spring. I'll keep you posted...

Just wanted to post this awesome video of my client and friend Ale, kicking ass doing the side to side reverse crunches on the TRX last Thursday.

[wpvideo gE9DrBvH]

Nice form Ale!

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to get into the holiday mood just a bit. I hardly even realized that Thanksgiving is just NEXT week....time really is flying by. It was brought to my attention because my youngest brother is coming into town Thursday(!!!!) and in case you couldn't tell by all the exclamation marks, I'm very excited.

I know it's a little up close....lol, sorry about that. This is the most recent picture we took, back in September when I went to visit him in NY. Isn't he cute? ;)

As many of you already know, I am just the luckiest sister in the world, because I have 3 brothers! Unfortunately I don't get to see all of them this holiday. But they all mean the world to me.

Here they all are being their awesome, dorky selves, clowning for the camera person (me!)! I'm obviously biased, but I think that's a good looking group of boys! More importantly, they are all so incredibly intelligent, inspiring, funny and so much fun to be around....I love being the only sister!

Anyway, I can't resist sharing a couple mores pic of my little bro and me....like I said, I'm ridiculously excited to see him :)

Jase, if you're reading this, get ready for lots of Mexican food, margs, laughs, cupcakes (I saved you some!), and good times! Can't wait to see you!!!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Fitness, fun and pets!

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! Mine got off to a great start with an awesome TRX Power class--way to go Beverly, Kristy, Scott, Rebecca, Susan and Pascha!

While I wasn't able to get in a video of today's class, I was busy sweating away, here's a clip from last week's same class with a few different people. Last Wednesday I was taking a rest day....I somehow have a few ribs out of alignment (wtf?!)....so I've been trying to take a bit more rest here and there. You're probably wondering the same thing I have been....how does one go about knocking multiple ribs out of alignment without falling off a roof....I'm still working on the answer to that one :)

[wpvideo rLiCOfKC]

If you've been following my blog, you've probably started to realize that I'm a huge advocate for letting loose and having fun....all the hard work and dedication of training hard and eating healthy has to have its rewards. For me, it's about enjoying the pleasures of life while maintaining my level of fitness. However, sometimes I get carried away....this past weekend was no exception. I ended up going out to eat 4(!) nights in a row....not normal for me AT ALL. I celebrated my best friend's birthday on Friday night....here's a photo of how it went down.

Many, many margaritas :) The following 3 nights my parents were having a mini-vacation and staying in SF...and invited us to dinner 3 nights in a row. Wow, I'm one lucky girl. My parents are so much fun and we had a great weekend. Lots of food, lots of wine, lots of laughs :)

And last, I have to recap on my chronicles with my clients' pets. Here's a video of Kit....if you read my blog then you know she is having a love affair with my gym bag.

[wpvideo mN8AtWQI]

And here is a photo of Rudy, another client's pet.

....isn't he handsome? He's so sweet and despite his size vs. my size, he always tries to sit in my lap. He's definitely not a "lap dog." I'm usually covered in dog fur by the time I leave their house...and doggy kisses :)

Hope to see you all in class soon! Please feel free to leave me a comment ;)

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Focusing on the Positive...

Hey everyone! Happy almost Friday to you! Probably will be Friday by the time you read this :)

So this week has been kinda up and down for me. There's been a lot of great things, but I've felt pretty run down all week. I think I hit a wall....and really needed some extra rest. Thankfully, I had a free hour yesterday due to a client being out of town, and I was able to hit the sauna at Iron Works...yeah, I totally fell asleep. But I woke up feeling really rejuvenated...sometimes a little extra rest does the trick ;)

But I'd rather focus on the positive things....so here's a recap in photos and videos.

We have a new studio mascot, first discovered last Saturday. She's stayed around all week, hanging out by our front door. And yes, she's still alive, she was crawling around just earlier this evening.

Awesome Sunday sunset, captured from my living room:

This never gets old :)

I had to take a photo of my second favorite cat (1st favorite being my own of course :) ). Her name is Kit and I'm pretty sure she's having a love affair with my gym bag. For 3 years I have been going to my clients' home to train them, and Kit just can't get enough of my bag. She loves to rub herself all over it, get in and hang out. She gets a bit embarrassed when I try to take her picture, so I have to be covert about it :)

I wouldn't want to hurt my kitty's feelings, so I've gotta post a pic of her too. She is not as sweet as Kit, she bites and scratches....but I love her anyway :)

Cute, huh?

I also wanted to give a huge shout out to all our students and clients! We have been so impressed with everyone's pushups this week! It's been really awesome seeing you all break your records day after day....lovin' it!

Here's an awesome clip from this evening's Monkey Ninja Bootcamp, you guys killed it!

[wpvideo 7Tu20Ew7]

We're finishing getting ready for a Halloween party for my daughter and her girlfriends this weekend. She's very excited....and I've got a lot of baking left to do! Call me crazy, but I couldn't bear buying her a whole bunch of junky, processed candy for the goody bags. Instead, I signed myself up for making homemade Halloween treats to put in the bags....you know, in all my spare time :) It's a win win--I feel better about knowing that the homemade treats have quality ingredients. She's happy because even though she would love a bunch of candy, she knows that homemade treats always taste better in the end. I've got my work cut out for me tomorrow evening :)

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Happy Weekend and Happy Halloween!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness

Inspirational Words

Hi everyone :) Here we are again, successfully made it through the mid-week hump. Which means the weekend is on the horizon :) I hope your week has been great so far. Mine has been pretty rockin'--some great workouts, funny conversations, inspiring words and healthy food. Not too shabby :) Here's what my Monkey Ninja Bootcamp at Iron Works did today, pretty tough, definitely awesome.

As you know, our winner for last month's "Highest Class Attendance" challenge was the awesome Rebecca Merino, with a whopping total of 28 classes. That's right, 28 solid hours of hard-core exercise....pretty inspiring, wouldn't you say? It was a very tight race, and while we could only give away one prize (a gift certificate to the awesome masseuse Adrienne of Mend in downtown Berkeley, website http://www.adriennesaltzbergcmt.com/), I also wanted to give a shout out to Kattt Atchley, our runner-up, attending 27 classes!

In the spirit of letting these fabulous women inspire you, we invited them both to do a quick interview to share with the rest of our students/clients. Thankfully, they both agreed :)

Here are the questions we asked, along with their answers. Be inspired ;)

1. How long have you been coming to The Fuse Fitness?

Rebecca: "Since it opened, but before that, I was going to Kristin's Saturday Monkey Ninja Bootcamp at the park."

Kattt: "I have attended classes since the last week of June."

2. What are your favorite classes and why?

R: "I take TRX, Bootcamp, and Metabolic Surge regularly.  But my favorite class has to be Yoga Tune Up.  After a week of doing all the other classes, it feels like heaven to massage and stretch the muscles.  However, I love Yoga Tune Up because of the other classes.  So if I could only take one class a week, I'd have to go with where it all began for me, Saturday Bootcamp."

K: "My favorite classes are power yoga, pilates fusion, monkey ninja, slow flow yoga - from intense to subtle. I like the classes because I always feel better *afterward* and I like the feeling of accomplishment. I like the "I did it!" feeling. As I've developed stamina and feel more secure in the poses and movements, I am learning (and enjoying) how to increase the intensity. Also, through doing these exercises, I am learning anatomy, and beginning to understand my body in new ways through these exercises (e.g., incorporating breathing, and using core muscles, especially my gluteal muscles)."

3. What Fitness goals have you set for yourself if any and have you achieved any of them?

R:  "I don't really have any specific fitness goal. I primarily workout because I love the feeling of being in shape and the adrenaline rush after a tough workout.  Also, to be honest, I like to eat.  I love Little Star Pizza, onion rings, and pretty much anything sweet.  I don't go crazy everyday, but come Friday or Saturday evening, I definitely don't stick to any diet that The Fuse would recommend.  I guess my fitness goal would be to keep working out so I don't feel guilty about some of my nutritional choices."  Rebecca, don't worry, we love to eat too :) A cheat day is always welcome after a week of hard work, sweat and discipline.

K: "I achieved my early goals: my clothing fitting and increased energy. My long term goals are strength, increasing intensity, and learning how to relax after working out."  Kattt, just what we love to hear, clients/members/students ninja-kicking one goal after another...keep up the good work!!

4. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

R: "In the spirit of Halloween, I read Bram Stoker's Dracula at a much too early age and have been scared of vampires ever since.  Most people have fears of spiders, heights, or things like that, but I'm just afraid of a vampire floating into my window while I sleep.  Aly likes to sneak up behind me with fake fangs and freak me out.  Lesson learned, never tell a 9 year old what you're afraid of."  Alright, now I know what to dress like for class on Halloween! Thanks for the idea ;)

K: "I am a visual artist working with pen and ink on paper. I am an experimental vocalist, composer, keyboardist, and combine disciplines into performance, which means I have my own artistic language. I also have an electronic pop laptop band called "The Atchleys", with my husband Kenneth; and "Kattt and Ron" with vocalist Ron Heglin, which is more meditative. I have performed work in art galleries, dance lofts and bars."  Wow Kattt, so cool! Very impressive :)

Well there you have it friends, the words of our two most dedicated and very inspiring members. Let it be motivation to push yourselves in your workouts, today and everyday. Whether it's going to that next level of intensity in Metabolic Surge or letting your mind/body center itself and calm in Slow Flow Yoga, work hard! Nothing in life is worth it if you don't give it your all. Know what I'm sayin'? :)

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Super Awesome Sidekicks ;)

Hi everyone :) Hope your day has been good. I wanted to share this awesome clip from my Monkey Ninja Bootcamp with you guys:

[wpvideo quQKNm76]

What I love most about this video is my super awesome little sidekick, Anai. By little I mean 5 years old. By awesome I mean she had already completed Slow Flow Yoga earlier that morning, and after bootcamp went to Kung Fu. And by super I mean she's one of the funniest little girls I know. We're BFF's....we pinky swore....many times :)

While I'm in video-sharing mode here, I also have to share this amazing video. This little girl, 6 years old, has got Nicki Minaj's Super Bass down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7hTAp6KrGY

Um yeah. Pretty freakin' awesome. Love her bad-ass little attitude. And her little sidekick. Who by the way is lovely, but nowhere near as super awesome as Anai. Just sayin'. ;)

So back to The Fuse Fitness....classes have been rockin' here these past couple weeks! We're so proud of all the hard work you guys have been dedicating to yourselves and to us. Nothing makes us happier than to see all your sweaty faces in class :)

And a quick reminder--we are hosting Cynthea Denise's "Jumping In Feet First" workshop this Sunday, Oct. 16th, 1:30-3:30pm. It will be a very engaging, interactive and informative workshop focusing on how the feet play a pivotal role in most things going on with the lower extremities. Cynthea will be teaching everyone various stretches, strengthening exercises, and reflexology tips to help take care of your feet. And really, we do kinda abuse our poor little feet. So come on over to our studio, The Fuse Fitness in Kensington, 377 Colusa Avenue, and learn how and why to take better care of your feet.

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness