Fitness Advantage Offers Diverse Variety of Workouts for Whole Body

Kathy McLean has always been passionate about fitness training and after a 2 ½ year absence has returned to her “roots” of sharing that passion with Medfield residents.

McLean previously owned Fitness Advantage on North Street for nine years in Medfield before shutting the business down to take a position with the Kingsbury Club.

“I started the fitness department in the Kingsbury Club and was there for two-and-a-half years and wanted to take a step back from just managing and get involved with the training, offering more personalized attention in a smaller location.”

McLean re-opened Fitness Advantage in mid-January but at a new Medfield location: 99 West St. – and offers a diverse variety of workouts that focus on a lot of function and movement, taking your body’s muscles through a range of motion to strengthen your core.

“What we try and do is we try and get people to push, pull body weight and take them through a range of motions that incorporates a lot of muscle groups at the same time so the whole body is getting work in,” said McLean.

 Fitness Advantage offers eight programs as well as personal training sessions that you won’t find in a lot of other gyms or fitness facilities.

“We are just ready to take off right now,” McLean said. “We are getting phone calls every single day that are coming from not only the Medfield community but far and wide. Once people know we are here they start coming here instead of commuting into the city. It’s nice that we are able to offer that here.”

Among the most popular programs, according to McLean, are the boxing classes because of the “all-in-one” workout you get from training with the instructors.

“I would say boxing seems to be pretty hot right now because of the kind of conditioning and strength training that comes along with that,” said McLean, who along with two of her male instructors, has a background in the sport.

“Marty [Farrell] has introduced his Fit Force program, which he has been working on for about a year and that incorporates a lot of the strength training with some of the boxing,” McLean said. “That seems to be pretty popular with getting some of the boxing involved. That’s why we have quite a few of those classes on the schedule. I also have another instructor, Todd Sawyer, who’s a fabulous instructor, also incorporates a lot of boxing, he has a boxing background.”

• Farrell, according to Fitness Advantage’s website, has over 25 years of experience in the fitness industry and a strong background in self defense and boxing. Farrell has competed in Golden Gloves amateur boxing fights and has worked as a trainer and sparring partner to UFC and boxing champions. “Everyone has ADD when they workout,” Farrell said. “So what I have done [with Fit Force program] is create workouts in 3-minute drills on a timer to keep people moving.”
•  Sawyer, according to Fitness Advantage’s website, has over 26 years of boxing experience and has been a Golden Gloves finalist. He is also a USA Boxing certified coach.

McLean started boxing seven years ago and she has competed in amateur fights.

“[Boxing] has gotten me through some tough times and it’s the type of thing once you do it you get hooked,” McLean said. “I love working on technique.”

McLean said boxing is more than just throwing punches and taking out all your aggression – it’s a complete workout.

“The reason I think it’s important to bring in something like boxing is it is totally functional,” McLean said. “You are up on your toes, you’re working your legs, you’re in a semi-squat position so you’re working your hamstrings, glutes like crazy, your calves. When you throw a punch you really are throwing from your back so your back is working like crazy. You’re rotating through your hips to get the power through the body and not so much through the shoulder.

“You’ve got the endurance of having your hands up, you’ve got to read your opponent so there’s a lot of mental game and you're reacting as quickly as you can to other body movement. You get the full body workout.”

Other programs offered other than six boxing classes include Pilates Core Fit and Hatha Yoga.

“We try and cover all the different basics,” said McLean. “It’s also important to offer the Zen-like balance: working on breathing and core strength is really important. It doesn’t really matter what you do. The core strength is the important part of your workout because it’s kind of like the powerhouse of your body. So if you’re strong through the core then your extremities will be strong as well.”

Another aspect of fitness training that McLean includes in her facility is the Cross Fit program.

“I can’t call myself a Cross Fit Center because I don’t have the affiliation but at some point we might bring Cross Fit in here,” McLean said. “I still incorporate all the Cross Fit principals of training, which is a lot of function and movement.”

A unique quality of Fitness Advantage is the focus on working with clients at the client’s fitness level and not forcing everyone to participate at the same level.

“You can scale anything to any individual that walks in here,” McLean said. “For instance we have a rope [in our facility]. Some people are strong enough to pull themselves up all the way up the rope where other people are just barely getting up, so we modify that and scale it down to whatever level they are at.”

McLean also makes herself available as a trainer, offering a full spectrum of fitness experience and knowledge to clients on a one-on-one level as well as during classes she leads.

“I really do like working one-on-one with individuals,” McLean said. “It’s also a lot of fun to get a group of people in here. I do a lot of the personal training, I teach pilates and I also teach some of the strength and conditioning programs. I can do it all.”

McLean and her four trainers on staff: Farrell, Sawyer, Marianne Gavagan and Janet Jimenez are gearing up for a summer of outdoor training that will train people to participate in outdoor races like the Warrior Dash but also provide a fun way to workout and get in shape.

“We will be hitting the woods, doing some trail running, flipping tires and scaling hills,” McLean said. “We will be climbing and crawling. The training will be a lot of fun.”

Fitness Advantage offers a free session to anyone who wants to try for the first time and McLean said she has made it “affordable for anybody to try” and experience her passion for fitness.

“There really hasn’t been anything around like this,” McLean said. “We don’t waste time, you get a lot of things in one movement. I have done [fitness training] since I was young and have always been into a healthy lifestyle. This is my passion.”

For more information on programs offered or pricing, call Fitness Advantage at (508) 359-8712 or visit its website at myfitness-advantage.com.