What makes our community different?
We are a community - driven together by the desire for a long and highly functional life outside the gym - that is partaking in a fitness regimen designed by a renowned exercise physiologist to support and extend the functionality of our bodies and minds. If you’d like to tone (not bulk) your muscles and rejuvenate (not stress) your joints, while exercising sustainably (not sporadically disrupted by injury) for a lifetime, request to join today.
It began with a mission
At age 45, FitSpan founder David Berger, began a journey to regain his health after years of neglect. He sought out the best doctors, nutritionists, physical trainers, and other experts. He began eating better and exercising. The resulting weight loss, muscle growth, and improved functionality of his body and mind were measurable. Then he got hurt when the his form went askew while lifting a free weight over his head and he wrenched his shoulder. All his hard work was threatened as the injury made exercise, and even basic activities like sleeping on his side and lifting up his kids, extremely painful. As he nursed the injury, he learned that his experience was common and that injury derailed the fitness journey of an untold number of people. The fitness industry was failing its customers by encouraging them to run on treadmills - slamming their joints with impact - and lift heavy weights - that all too often resulted in twists, strains, and tears. There had to be a better way.
David was introduced to Andy Baxter, a renowned medical exercise specialist, who had spent his career working with older adults. His gym in Ashland, Oregon, served a membership of 240 people aged 65 to 92 years old. David traveled to Ashland to peer into his own future and better understand what it would take to live a functionally better life well into his 90s and beyond. As he spent days with Andy in the gym working out alongside inspirational octogenarians - and learning the science of sustainable exercise - Andy said “I only wish I could reach more people at your age before they suffer years of impact on their joints and are burdened by unnecessary injury.
With that statement and this photo atop Mount Ashland, Fitspan Studios - a no impact group fitness program that emphasizes form and function through compound closed chain and concentric-only exercise that increases heart rate and builds the mitochondrial density (not size) of muscles - began its mission to help people extend their “fitspan”.
All our workouts include:
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Stop running! If you're running on a treadmill or outside, you either have already been injured or will be injured as you age. Our programs provide impact free contralateral movements (which work the abs, arms and legs) as well as rowing movements (which work the glutes, arms, legs and abs) while increasing your heart rate for an excellent cardio workout.
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Strength in a vacuum is insufficient for the proper function of our bodies. Power - you may recall from your high school physics class - is force times velocity. It's power that enables you to climb stairs, get up from a chair, or reach for the top shelf of your cupboard. Through the use of proprietary exercise machines that provide resistance to counter the force exerted by the member, our programs increase the body's functional power.
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Strength training is critical to building muscle and bone density, both of which - if not addressed - deteriorate as we age. However, many free weight based fitness routines today lead to fatigue, along with muscle and joint tears, sprains and strains - injuries that lead to more sedentary days without exercise at all. Eccentric movements tear the muscle fibers, leading to soreness and bulky bodies. Our program favors concentric movements (the opposite of eccentric movements) to tone the muscles without tearing and bulking them, leveraging tools that create resistance without the dangers of free weights.
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Speed training is critical to building reaction times and overall quickness of motion. Our workouts vary intensity and tempo so that our members are forced to adjust on the fly with little notice - much like they are asked to do in life.
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Each year, one of every four people over 65 in the United States suffers from a fall. One of every ten falls results in an injury that leads to activity restriction. 3 million people go to the emergency annually and 1 million are hospitalized due to falls. These falls cause hip fractures, traumatic brain injuries and other life altering or ending injuries. Our members improve their balance and stability in each session to reduce the risk of falling as they age. Coupled with the rest of our workout, our time on balance and proprioception enables our members to stay upright and know their place in space as they move about their lives.
“My one wish is that all of our members are one day able to give their grandkids a horsey ride.”
— David Berger, Founder, FitSpan