Looking for a way to attract more customers to Santa Monica’s Pico Blvd., the Pico Improvement Organization needed an idea that would get people to explore the entire boulevard, from the 10 Freeway to the beach. Since Pico Blvd. is too spread out for a pub crawl or street fair, the PIO decided to produce LA’s first “Fitness Crawl.”
Sixteen fitness businesses along 2.5 miles of Santa Monica’s Pico Blvd. will hold 10-minute workouts, every 20 minutes on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 8 – 11 a.m. Crawlers will run, jog or walk from workout-to-workout, which includes traditional favorites, like CrossFit, Zumba, Pilates, Gyrotonic, yoga, and karate and “totally LA” workouts, like professional dance choreography onstage at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre, resistance training at the Original Muscle Beach, surf instruction on the sand at Santa Monica beach, belly dancing on the lawn at Virginia Avenue Park, virtual golf and virtual ski instruction. All crawlers will receive a free gift bag and giveaways. Tickets are $5.
Santa Monica’s Pico Blvd. is home to some of the LA area’s most prestigious fitness businesses. Altus Sports Institute has trained professional athletes from forty-seven countries. Several major studios send movie stars there to train for their action films. Sensei Vassie Naidoo, owner of Goju Ryu Karatedo Seiwa Kai USA, holds the highest rank in martial arts, an 8th degree black belt. He is only one of three such masters living outside of Japan. Long before Santa Monica was “Silicon Beach”, Player’s Club Golf was the first virtual golf course on the west side. PGA pros train members in their instruction academy. Sa’eeda teaches at Santa Monica Dance; she is a world renowned competition belly dancer, performer and teacher. World Champion freestyle skier Bob Salerno is in the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. He owns and operates Virtual Snow, an indoor training facility for pro skiers and newbies alike.
Participants include 34° North, Altus Sports Institute, Bands and Body Fitness (Resistance training, at the Original Muscle Beach), CLARE Foundation/NAAM Yoga, CrossFit Reflex, Goju Ryu Karatedo Seiwa Kai USA, Good Body Pilates, Gyrotonic (Core training), Learn to Surf, Morgan-Wixson Theatre (Choreography), Pilates on Pico, Players Club Golf (Virtual golf), Restore Muscle + Movement (Pilates), Sa’eeda (Belly dancing on the lawn at Virginia Avenue Park), Venice Family Clinic (Zumba) and Virtual Snow (Virtual skiing).
For tickets and reservations, go to: SantaMonicaPico.com/Pico
- Submitted by Matthew Gibbons
