Vital Performance Celebrates Launch of New Fitness Technology

If you love the idea of exercise, but are constantly searching for new ways to keep your routine exciting and fresh, Vital Performance might be worth a look.

This Southfield gym, which opened its doors over a year ago, welcomed the public Wednesday night to showcase the Power Plate, which is among the newest innovations in exercise.

Vital Performance is the first fitness facility in the state of Michigan to house three separate machines of this “vibrating” technology, designed to burn calories by working all muscles in the body in under a half-hour. Typical resistance and strength training exercises, such as lunges and squats, can be done on the plate.

“Everyone who gets off the plate loves it,” said Casey Czuj, a former Farmington Hills resident and co-founder of the business. “They almost don’t want to go back to that traditional way of training.”

“It’s a quick and easy workout,” said Patti Whybrew, Czuj's mother and business partner. “There’s 20 minutes of stretching, balance and cardio, 10 minutes of massage and then you’re done.”

Whybrew and Czuj have both been certified as trainers for the machine.

To help celebrate the fitness center's new addition, former Biggest Loser winner and Sterling Heights resident Helen Phillips stopped by. Phillips dropped 54.7 percent of her body weight and lost 140 pounds in 2009 to win the $250,000 top prize on the NBC reality television show.

“Exercise is so important for a healthy lifestyle, not just for losing weight,” said Phillips. “It’s amazing just to get those endorphins going and moving and get yourself out into an atmosphere like this where you can try new things.”

Vital Performance is located at 29864 Northwestern Hwy. For more information, call 248-327-7195 or visit the business' website.