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

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

Hi friends :) Happy very almost weekend! Isn't it funny come Monday morning it seems as though the weekend will never rear its head again....and then before you know it, it's Friday afternoon! I love hearing about everyone's plans for the weekend and love to know how you spend your down time.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm heading out to the parents' Saturday afternoon. They only live 45 minutes away, however it seems a world of difference....at least in terms of my relaxing abilities :) My Saturdays always start with a 9am client (let's me sleep in a little bit!) and then teaching my Monkey Ninja Bootcamp over at my studio, The Fuse Fitness in Kensington. I love teaching my Saturday class! Most of the people who take it have been taking it for a long time, so I can really.kick.their.asses! Love it! And for some weird reason, they keep coming back for more :) Tomorrow's workout is already planned, and it's no joke. The kind of workout that will leave everyone laying in a sweaty puddle at the end of the hour, unable to move. And even though I am up front and honest about what kind of workout we'll be doing (HARD!!) they show up anyway! Like I said, weird, huh?

After class I clean the studio from top to bottom, getting it ready for the beginning of a new week. We close down Sundays so we can all get a bit of rest. And then I'm heading to the parents', where I will get to chill (so looking forward to that, it seems like it's been a while), maybe even by the pool (we strangely get our summer weather in September and October), take a nap, *try* to cuddle with our cat (mainly chase her around and most likely get bitten by her), and go out to dinner with my parents and husband to one of our favorite restaurants, Town. I think that name is so cute...going out for a night on the Town. Anyway, they have great cocktails(!), awesome food and the atmosphere is fun and lively. And the company is wonderful :) Sunday I will get to really sleep in (woo hoo! it's been forever) but I'll probably wake up early anyway....at least I don't have to wake up to an alarm, that always makes for a great day. And if the weather is nice and warm, which it's supposed to be, I'll head out to my parents' pool with my book and probably fall asleep in the sun :) In case you couldn't tell, Sundays are my rest days and I plan on resting to the max this Sunday!

Anyway, just wanted to wish everyone a great weekend and see what you guys have planned. Partying, working, resting, exercising? Please share!

Yours in Health,

Kristin @ The Fuse Fitness www.thefusefitnessstudio.com

Hey everyone :) Hope you're all having a great week so far! I'm definitely enjoying this beautiful weather :) And, as of Sunday, our beloved SF Giants are on a 7 game winning streak! They're playing the Dodgers tonight, let's keep that streak up boys!

I wanted to congratulate 2 of our awesome instructors, Jennifer Lynch and Leanne Dow, for completing the totally crazy awesome Tough Mudder this past weekend! From the words of the Tough Mudder website, this race is "probably the toughest event on the planet! Tough Mudder is not your average lame-ass mud run or spirit-crushing ‘endurance’ road race. Our 10-12 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honor."  Yeah, we don't mess around over here. Way to go ladies!!!

Also, a special shout out to my friend Toné Chin, who trained his butt off to prepare for a boxing match last Sunday. The fight was part of a charitable event and the proceeds went to Alcazar Scholarship Fund, By Any Dreams Necessary, and Rocha Scholarship Fund. It was his first fight and he did awesome! And I witnessed it, he really did train hard :)

While everyone else was working their booties off last weekend, Pascha and I were on the opposite end of the spectrum. She was in Miami with all of her girlfriends, partying the nights away, and I was visiting my family (3 brothers, my nephew and my parents) in NY. We celebrated my oldest brother's birthday, and I think I can honestly say we ate and drank our ways through NY. It was a blast :)

While we are big promoters of tough workouts and training hard here at The Fuse Fitness, we do like to kick back, relax and have a great time. It's important to balance work and play ;)

What are your favorite ways to relax and have a good time? Please share!

Yours in Health,

The Fuse Fitness, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com :)

Happy hump day everyone! (The mid week hump, Wednesday ;) ) So one week ago exactly, I hurt my neck. I was teaching my TRX Power class at 8:15am, and around 8:30am I felt the left side of my neck seize up and suddenly I could not bend my neck to the left. Ouch. So you ask, what was I doing? Nothing out of the ordinary, just some medicine ball burpees. At least not out of the ordinary for me, or anyone else who comes into our studio for that matter. Just a regular part of my day, as regular as brushing my teeth, getting dressed and eating.

So I did what any other "normal" person would do--I finished teaching my class, going through the rest of the workout pretending that it would just go away. Well I was wrong. I guess the term "normal" doesn't really apply here, from what I hear, most normal people would stop and rest. Well you see, rest isn't usually in my vocabulary--I have one speed, and it's GO.

I made a chiropractor appointment the very next day, found out a vertebrae in my neck had come out of alignment, probably caused by a muscle tweak or pull in my traps, which caused some nerves to become pinched...sending shooting pains through my neck, down my arm and across my shoulder. So after a 20 minute appointment, I was adjusted and massaged, ready to get back to my normal pace of GO. I was warned not to go "crazy" with my workouts. But who says 50 burpees the next day is crazy? Not me.

Well, I have to tell you...it certainly is crazy. I made it through a couple of workouts, through the weekend, my neck was feeling better each day. Monday came along, in the middle of teaching a mid-day bootcamp my neck seized up again, sending shooting pains up and down my arm and neck. And suddenly I was faced with the reality of the situation. Rest most definitely needs to be added to the top of my vocabulary list.

The point of this post is to stress the importance of resting. The body needs rest in order to grow stronger and heal. So, another chiropractor appointment has been made for today, after 2 very painful, sleepless nights. And a commitment to at least one week of rest--no bootcamps, no burpees, no jumping. Letting my body heal and get the rest it needs.

Yours in Health,

The Fuse Fitness

Hi again! Mondays are always exciting. Of course unless you have a case of the Mondays--can't help you there :) Mondays are when we choose our food of the week and our exercise challenge of the week. Something to get you guys thinking, eating and moving healthy all week long.

This week's exercise is the Kettlebell Goblet Squat with Forward Extension, the challenge is to add 3 sets of 15 reps to your workout, 4-5 times this week. Now I have to admit, this is one of my current favorites. My clients and students can probably attest to this, as we've been working on it consistently over the last couple months or so. It's an awesome, powerful full-body movement that targets the glutes (and who doesn't want strong, toned glutes--didn't you hear, butts are all the rage these days?), legs, core and shoulders.

In case you're not sure what this exercise is, check out this brief instructional video below:

[wpvideo J9vtb69B]

(Hmmm....for some reason I cannot get this video to upload so it's vertical. My technological shortcomings are quickly becoming visible to the rest of the world....Anyway, you can also check this video out on our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Fuse-Fitness/154316971264544.)

Hope you enjoy this challenge! Let us know how it goes!

Yours in Health,

The Fuse Fitness

Hey everyone! That's right, I said it. Holy TRX. Last night we had an epic TRX class. Since we've just been open almost 5 weeks (5th week anniversary is tomorrow, just in case you want to celebrate :) ) classes have been up and down. We're still trying to figure out what the best schedule is. The fact that people are vacationing left and right and parents are busy with summer vacationing kids, finding the perfect class schedule is a challenge. Definitely a challenge we're up for :) Needless to say, we were so incredibly happy to have a full class last night! Thank you to all who made it--Susan, Patty, Jana, Tracy, Cynthia, Beth, Ale, and Livia. It definitely felt like a TRX party up in here, you ladies rocked it!

So, let's get this party started (again), and join us this week for class. Want to know the class schedule? Visit our website, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com.

Happy Friday!

Yours in Health,

The Fuse Fitness

Hi everyone! Welcome to our new blog! Our studio, The Fuse Fitness, just opened 5 weeks ago! It's been a very exciting and crazy journey and we are so pumped to share this experience with all of you! We want to invite all of you to join us on this journey. We will share fitness tips, workouts, playlists, recipes, fitness challenges, and nutrition challenges, as well as personal stories about ourselves and families. We would love for you to do the same. The blogging process becomes more fun the more involved everyone gets. Please check out our website, www.thefusefitnessstudio.com to check out our class schedule if you're interested in taking classes. And welcome to our fitness family :)

Yours in health,

The Fuse Fitness