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[3]By Meaghan Bury [4]
BELLEVILLE – Meredith Leadbeater is trying to make fitness fun for the people of Belleville.
Leadbeater is the owner of Your Fitt [5], a downtown studio with a difference. Instead of focusing on traditional workout routines such as weightlifting and cardio machines, Leadbeater and her instructors encourage people to break a sweat in group exercises like Zumba.
One of the newest workouts she offers is piloxing [6] – a high-energy combination of Pilates and boxing. Leadbeater participated in it for the first time at a Canadian Fitness Professionals conference. “It was such a cool class,” she said. “I was hurting that same day – the good hurt. I found it a total body workout.”
Group exercises like piloxing are great for relieving stress, Leadbeater said, because during the workout you have no time to think about anything else.
Leadbeater, a graduate of the Health and Fitness program at Loyalist College, took dance when she was younger and says she was introduced to fitness at an early age: “When I was a little girl my mom taught fitness classes and I always used to go to her classes, and I had fun doing that.”
Her main goal is to keep Your Fitt – located upstairs at 314 Pinnacle St. – a safe, comfortable place where people can relax, de-stress and be educated, she said. She also hopes to teach the “how, why and what” when it comes to exercising, she said, and is trying to reach a broader range of people, including seniors and children. Leadbeater has visited gym classes at some elementary and high schools in the city to introduce group fitness to young people.
Not only is group exercise fun, she said, but it also brings a family atmosphere to the studio because everyone is supportive, encouraging and caring.