Fuerte Fitness

Wallingford may have found a solution to the energy crisis. Her name is Adriana Medina.

She’s not a solar scientist, but we swear if we could somehow figure out how to harness the energy this woman exudes, oil tankers would be turned back from U.S. ports.

Adriana is the owner of Fuerte Fitness, the little gym you pass as you cross Stone Way on 45th St heading up into Fremont (1225 North 45th St), and she is a powerhouse. She gave us a tour of her studio on a recent afternoon, and she seemed to hop from station to station, eagerly showing off what each one did: here, try on these boxing gloves, give me your best shot; catch this medicine ball, now crouch and bounce it off that wall; grab this trapeze, now see if you can hoist yourself up; over here, here’s a hula hoop, let’s see your moves. It felt like being a kid again, over at a new friend’s house who is pulling mysterious and bright toys out of her bin, one after the other after the other, wanting you to try each one, enjoy it the way she enjoyed it.

And that, we think, is what impressed us most about Fuerte Fitness: all the people we met there really seem to enjoy what they do. It wasn’t about big muscles, protein shakes and ‘roids, but rather fitness, health and the joy they can bring you.

Not so much a traditional “access to our equipment” gym, Fuerte Fitness focuses on personal training: you can hire a trainer to meet with you as often as you like: every day, once a week, once a month, depending on what you need (do you need someone to keep you focused, to watch your form, to keep you challenged?) Trainer’s fees range from $55 – $95 / hr depending on who you choose, what you need, whether you buy membership, as well, etc. (Not all trainers offer introductory specials, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.)

Both Adriana and Ken Unterseher, a trainer we tried out, had a very “real life” approach to fitness. For Adriana, this came through in the exercises she talked about: a constantly changing variety meant to keep you engaged. When she asked her about the relative paucity of machines compared to a 24 Hour Fitness-type gym, she said a good trainer only needs a 3-foot square of space to get you in shape.

Ken, who described himself as a Montana farm boy, talked about how growing up, “keeping in shape” meant just doing his daily chores: baling hay, chopping wood, walking in to town. He carried this philosophy through into his workout routines: there’s less “lifting weights” and more natural movements of a body at work: tossing balls, passing the kettle ball from hand to hand.

Fuerte has regular classes including pilates, kickboxing, core / abs workout and yoga. The studio is relatively small, so the classes are as well: they’re generally between four and eight people. They also have special program for new moms, brides-to-be and sports specific training.

It’s also easy-going: if you’ve got a kid, bring ’em along. If they’re old enough, you can pay an extra $10 and have them get trained with you.

Now, we’re not sure if you’re aware, but there’s such a thing as “sympathy weight” that new fathers get. We are painfully aware of this fact. So, looking at all the energy and action at Fuerte, we got it in our heads to swap Wallyhood sponsorship for Fuerte Training. We’ve had one session already and been in a few times to keep up the routine. So far, we are not in shape and we are still fat, but we’ll let you know how it goes.

[Note: this blog post is not part of the sponsorship package. We were really impressed with the Fuerte crew, and wouldn’t have agreed to the swap if we weren’t.]

Fuerte’s contact info is on their web site. Ken’s e-mail address is [email protected].