fitness

Wanting to lose weight is a far cry from losing weight. It’s easy to make excuses for skipping your exercise, but it can and should be a regular part of your life. It’s easy to keep eating the way you always have, but simple, whole foods will combine with exercise to get you where you want to be: leaner, stronger, healthier and happier. The power of good nutrition and consistent exercise is almost like magic, and here are our secrets.

Seeking the “Fittest on Earth,” the worldwide fitness competition challenges those who dare to enter in three parts: the Open, Regionals and the Games.

Laura Funk of Lakeland has been attending classes at Jazzercise Woodbury almost since it opened. “I joined with a friend of mine who wanted to get in shape after having a baby,” she says. “I’m still holding down the back corner [21 years] later.”

Kids learn best by example. If you’re tired of telling your children to go outside to play (without you or them getting up from the couch), you might want to consider these Woodbury-based family fitness activities.

There are many wonderful fitness instructors in Woodbury. Meet six, all over the age of 60, who inspire their students to move and have fun through a variety of classes, including tai chi, boot camp and hot yoga.

A new fitness option in Woodbury showcases a community-based style of fitness. F45 Training Woodbury contains a new exercise regime that changes daily, offering 28 different programs designed by the F45 corporate fitness department.

Started in 1991, Run N Fun has been a favorite among runners for nearly 26 years. Owner Kari Bach started the company with her husband because of his love of running. “It was more my husband’s dream; he was a pretty accomplished runner. It was kind of his passion,” Bach says. “He saw some holes in the market that weren’t being taken care of, so we said go for that.”

Lots of energy and action can be found at i Love Kickboxing which opened on Woodbury’s east side at Eagle Valley Marketplace, bringing with it a great workout place. “It is a cardio kickboxing workout,” franchise manager Courtney Mott says. “The workouts consist of one hour. It’s going to start with a 15-minute warmup. After that, we have you cool down with some stretching. And then we’re going to do multiple rounds, where we do different combinations.”

Woodbury has grown into a city with many options for fitness and wellness. Here are three unique offerings to check out in town.

Pure Barre

Sweat dripping off her face, water bottle in hand, Kara Rowan limped out to her car following her first Pure Barre class. She describes it as one of the hardest workouts she’s ever done. She could barely move two days later. And she was absolutely hooked.

“We wanted to bring something to the Twin Cities area that was fresh, new and exciting for all ages,” says Craig Holm, who owns the new CycleBar Woodbury franchise with his wife, Marilyn. Adds their daughter, general manager Mackenzie Holm, “I’ve been an athlete my whole life and I’ve always cycled; I think people are going to fall in love with [CycleBar] just as much as I did.”