NEW Studio in SouthEnd #SweatDate
- Grace
- Dec 29, 2016
- 3 min read
About a block south of Sycamore Brewing, a small yet deceivingly effective space is now home to one of the newest studios in Charlotte, Functional Fit. As a new fitness center in SouthEnd, Functional Fit offers a little something for everyone.
I hopped into their group strength class last Tuesday and simply loved it! As their name states, it was a functional approach on strength training which included cardio, kettle-bells, free weights, bosu balls and bands. This isn’t a studio to show up to just once per week. FF rotates the muscle focus every couple of days. Monday and Tuesday are lower body, Wednesday and Thursday are upper body and Friday and Saturday are core focused. The point is to exhaust your muscles and then give them just enough time for full recovery while you work another area making sure you are lifting safely and not over training.
They work to identify and correct, bad habits and muscle imbalances to give you full body balanced strength. Safety in working out is a big topic, along with maintaining correct form and the importance of stretching post workout as part of the class. The idea is strengthening using movements you would encounter in everyday life... functional fit(ness). You won't likely find yourself squatting with a barbell and 50 pound plates above your head. While those styles of workout are effective it’s not part of what Functional Fit practices - and that's not a bad thing.
Located on the same block as King of Pops, this new studio has been ramping up for their grand opening over the last couple months. It is clear that the owners and trainers at Functional Fit value quality over quantity. The goal is to help clients find and maintain an active lifestyle and remain injury free in their athletic pursuits. Class sizes are relatively small allowing individual attention to be where it is needed. The team is friendly, encouraging and inspiring from the moment you walk in the door.
With small classes, you get a more intimate setting, a welcoming environment and the ability to workout with people of all capabilities. We worked out with a crew including some just getting back in the saddle and others that worked out for a living. Both groups of people we were all able to find their edge in a quick class. With strength, stability, and stretching the major focus in this class all of the bases were safely covered. I also found that there were multiple variations of an exercise to make it more or less challenging based on my needs. THIS was awesome as my lower body tends to be significantly stronger than my upper body. I could adjust as necessary and with Coach Taylor’s help, find the weight that challenged me in the particular movement.
Functional Fit uses these 3 month cycles to build up. Each month is built upon the prior upping the difficulty of the movements and rearranging the order in which they appear from month to month. This way, the veterans continue their growth and have a systematically planned program while a newbie can jump in and get the program tailored to where they are on that day and both can get a great workout.
While I have only had the chance to take the lower body strength class, Functional Fit is known for their personal training as well as offering an array of other classes, you may not expect. With barre pilates fusion and urban cardio dance and plans to add in yoga a few nights a week, this spot is a working to be a one stop shop to challenge you physically to an awesome sweat.
The concept of Functional Fit Charlotte is to target the “Active Individual / Casual Athlete” who does like to stay active or wants to be more active and add to their daily routine. Making sure that everyone is incorporating “functional” movements and paying attention to each individual. It’s all about form and critiquing everyone to perform moves correctly to get the benefit from it.
A great combination of a little bit of everything all under one roof, at Functional Fit you will find something new, something familiar, something to challenge and change you and definitely something to love.
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