Garfene Grandison, Assistant Lifestyle Coordinator

Many might not know, but there's a new gym in town - Core Fitness studio, situated at the new Sovereign North in Liguanea. Since opening in November the new gym has built a reputation of being hardcore, and hot on the heels of the carnival season, the trainers crafted a carnival challenge that started March 2 and continues to April 6.

Within this challenge Core offers meal plans to its gym members via its in-house nutritionist to help whip those carnival bodies into shape. According to owner and fitness expert Selena DeLeon, "we have diet plans that we suggest and we help our members to monitor their food intake so that people can remain on track." Present is also a nutritionist who offers personalised diet plans to members, which is integral to the development of a healthy lifestyle. "We also weigh and follow people weekly so that we can track their progress and see how well they are coping," explains DeLeon. She tells Flair that the response to the challenge has been good and the results from the challenge are even better.

fitness ambassadors

The work being demonstrated at Core Fitness is making an impact on the lives of individuals; and commendations should be given to the fitness ambassadors who are getting the message out. These ambassadors are individuals that have reached their desired goal and are spreading the joy of a healthy lifestyle.

Core Fitness studio was a work in progress dating back 11 years starting in a room out of a town house when Selena DeLeon wanted to shed 60lb after having her first child. Deleon turned that motivation into helping other women "to bring women back." Now on to a larger scale in order to transform more lives, DeLeon thinks that this is the natural progression of time for her to move on to the next chapter, a move she is pretty excited about. Her main aim is to increase the energy of people when exercising, something she says is "completely mental". According to her, "the hardest part is the warm-up, but once you start then something inside of you just takes off." She continued, "it's like this combustion that starts in your head, a complete and total mental shift. It still happens with me to this day when I walk into this gym, but I put out the effort and get started and when I get into the groove, it's like fire," she ended.

Core offers a number of classes ranging from spinning, weights, pilates, zumba, soca dance classes, yoga, personal training, step, boot camps and a learn to run programme. Also known as the 'coach to 5k' programme, this workout trains people who aren't runners and even those who are to increase their form, time and distance while conditioning them via boot camp. At the end of the intense five-week period, the participants are entered in a 5k run. In order to get the required results, the trainers utilise a number of different techniques in any given class. "Sometimes it's kick-boxing and other times it's ply metrics, isometric and cross-fit techniques," DeLeon explains.

The most requested classes at Core are pilates, the firm and Spinning (which is the favourite among male members). Even though males are outnumbered at the gym, DeLeon was proud to state that the male membership is increasing.

You can check out all that Core Fitness has to offer by visiting their website at www.corefitja.com or call: 632-1797.

grandison.garfene @gleanerjm.com