Burning calories is part of many Santa Monicans’ lifestyles and their New Years Resolutions but some need a little extra help.
A new fitness studio, Manduu, opened on Main St. at the end of last year. The studio offers personal training to everyone, regardless of age, or fitness level. Whether working on your beach body or just gaining muscles, Manduu could be the place for you, if you are okay with electronic muscle stimulation (EMS).
Manduu uses EMS to strengthen all 656 muscles within the body, in fifteen minutes and once a week. According to their website, “EMS reinforces body tension and is really nothing but an intensification of electrical impulses of the body’s own electrical impulses.”
Anthony Newton, a certified personal trainer works at Manduu. He explains Manduu is very popular in Europe, and currently only has two locations in the country, with one in Miami and other on Main St., in Santa Monica.
“You get a full body workout and burn a ton of calories,” said Newton. “I would only recommend doing this workout once a week. If your body fat is low, it hits you harder, rather if your body fat is higher, you have more protection from the impulses that are sent to the body.”
The client wears a Manduu suit connected to an electric panel that sends electricity to the body, ultimately shocking the muscles. Trainers have the ability to alter the voltage, making it higher or lower and hitting certain muscles groups while working out. The technology has been used to help individuals recovering from injury or those that are unable to work out in a traditional way but it does involve electric shocks and it does have risks.
Newton explains that Manduu is meant to help clients lose weight, lean out and gain muscle mass with one fifteen minute session per week. He said at least four days rest is necessary between sessions.
The first session is free, and after you can decide what plan would work best for you. Manduu cost $387 a month, unlimited, “I think that is pretty cheap for what it does for you,” said Newton.
Manduu brings an interesting take on fitness, with some life risk, to the city of Santa Monica. However, if this does not fit your workout lifestyle, maybe more traditional personal training could be an option.
Brandon Lees, a personal trainer in Santa Monica works with all sorts of clients who each have different goals.
Lees has bachelors in Kinesiology and has been a trainer for 13 years. He has gone through multiple certifications, but the past five years he has been focusing on Z-Health.
Z-Health is a movement training system that is changing the way people feel and move. It focuses on the nervous system, the part of the body that controls the muscles, heart and lungs. As a result of focusing on Z-Health clients, regardless of age or activity, have the same potential for tapping into their best performance.
“I experienced my own personal injury and through the whole medical process between the orthopedic surgeon and the physical therapy, I wasn’t really getting anywhere,” said Lees. “That is when I went out on my own and I was referred to Z-Health back in 2011. With just a couple of lessons I was feeling better and then I was hooked.”
Lees works with various clients, stroke victims, people who have had traumatic injuries and also the average athlete. He has seen multiple of his clients exceed his own expectations.
Z-Health has changed the way Lees analyzes the human body when training someone.
“I can usually help people find tweaks in their body that can help them excel,” said Lees. “Many people would not find the little things that can improve their movement without Z-Health.”
Lees explains many of his training sessions targets specific joint ranges of motion exercises, otherwise known as dynamic joint mobility drills.
“Most people think the knee just goes front to back, but it has a rotational aspect to it that I like to explore with my client,” said Lees.
Santa Monica is a city where many people are health conscience and Lees believes that with a lot of competition within the city, also comes a lot of opportunities.
Which leads to Personal Trainer, and Group Fitness Instructor Kris D’Amico. She is NASM certified and CrossFit Level 1 certified.
This Florida native did not live, and breath the fitness industry until 2006. D’Amico was severely overweight, and lived an unhealthy lifestyle, until it finally hit her. The fitness bug. She knew she wanted to live a long and healthy life and in order to get there she needed to workout and eat right.
“I got into fitness and lost a ton of weight, I became confident and it really just changed my life,” said D’Amico. “Now I want to be the motivation and the support to the people in my class.”
D’Amico started out as a personal trainer and felt her calling was to be a group fitness instructor because of the community and environment that surrounds everyone, whether it be in a CrossFit box or an Orangetheory studio.
“The best part about this job, I get to train people at different fitness levels,” said D’Amico. She continues her passion within the city and truly believes there should be no diet, no six-week goal, and healthy living should be a lifestyle.
D’Amico has always been a fan of high intensity interval training, otherwise known as HIIT, and says it’s a great workout for beginners. When in Santa Monica, hit the beach or the San Vicente stairs, and do a Tabata workout.
D’Amico said, “Include a 20-second-high intensity exercise with a 10 second rest. Quick sprints on the beach or running up the stairs in between will work, and it will bring your hears rate up. Also grabbing a partner makes it a little more fun and adds a friendly competition.”
“At the end of the day, I want to help people achieve a fitness goal of theirs,” said D’Amico.
marina@www.smdp.com
