What is The Hub?
Essentially yoga and cycling training. We do yoga, pilates BioCored and aerial yoga. We’ve been open just about a year. We have classes as well as personal training. We have package discounts or you can drop in on a class any time. You can buy memberships — monthly unlimited packages or sets of classes. It depends on clients’ schedules.
What do you specifically do?
I’m a Level One USA Cycling-certified coach — there are only two in the state. I coach young athletes of all makes and models, as well as weekend warriors and those trying to get to national podiums. My partner (Wendy) does exercise physiology and cardiac rehab, and she is a yoga teacher.
How did you get started?
Wendy and I have a business, ProMotion Fitness, where we do corporate wellness and fitness. We go into clients’ places of business and run their program for them and work with their employees on fitness goals. We’ve been doing this for 20 years. As the coaching business grew, we found ourselves at a place where people were looking for somewhere to go outside of work, so we knew it was time to open our own commercial space. It’s earthy and unpretentious, but it’s a hub for corporate clients, my coaching clients and new clients to come and gather.
Who are your clients?
Most of our clientele on the yoga side are 30 to 60-years-old. On the cycling side, they are probably 15 to 65. Lots of people come in here if they are experiencing any injuries, as it’s good cardio exercise. We try not to cater to any demographic — we have something for everybody. If you’re interested in yoga classes, we have some where you move slowly or we have classes that are rigorous and you work up a sweat. One of my clients is a bank president whose goals are to be able to ride with the weekend warriors to a breakfast spot without falling behind. It is very individualized. I don’t do any remote or online coaching, as I want to be able to ride with an interaction with clients on a personal basis.
How is The Hub different from other fitness options?
First, we take a real personal interest in all our clients or athletes. We don’t try to slide people into a box. We meet them where they are and work with them to determine what’s best for them, where they want to go and what they might need. We often hear from people that they can’t do yoga because they’re not flexible enough. One of our most frequent clients started doing yoga in a chair because she couldn’t get up and down from the floor. She now comes in two or three times a week. We love working through that sort of thing. I coach a half dozen junior cyclists, and I like to expose them to a number of different cycling disciplines — even beyond competitive cycling — while they’re young.
How do you personalize a workout in a cycling class?
With our training system. We have classes, but we’re really reinforcing the concept of individual training rather than a competitive environment day in and day out. Our system allows everyone to work at their own power zones. We can have a national-caliber athlete with a lady new to cycling and everyone is working in their own training zone. As long as they’re in the zone, they’re doing the workout properly. Our system does that well. It is time based instead of speed and distanced based. No one falls behind or gets ahead.
What are these different types of yoga?
BioCored is kind of like TRX on steroids. In TRX, you use straps to exercise — you’re suspended and you hold yourself up. Our straps are bungees, so they’re not fixed. We employ bosu balls as well. We incorporate balance and vision into the core conditioning classes we do. We get really deep and specific with the core muscles we’re after.
We offer BioCored in classes and individual one-on-one therapeutic modes where we deal with specific issues, like hips, knees, shoulders or the lower back. We try to find a reason for misalignments and work to strengthen the core.
In aerial yoga, we use aerial silks and gravity to get the body to do things in a way that it doesn’t do on its own, because gravity is helping you. For instance, you can take the pigeon pose deeper, because gravity helps.
What do you like best about your job?
Cycling has been a passion of mine for decades and I get to share that passion with others.
Do you or someone you know have an interesting job? Or is there an occupation you would like to know a little more about? Send your story ideas to [email protected] and we might feature you in an upcoming issue of The Carmel Business Leader.
