By Bill Petzold
Staff Writer
CARO — Alyssa Rahn’s dream is to help people reach their fitness goals, and the 2008 Caro High School graduate is putting her plans into action.
Rahn’s Studio A fitness center will celebrate its grand opening at the end of the month.
“I’m already holding classes now, but January 28 is going to be the Grand Opening,” Rahn said. “I have my personal training certification and my group training certification, and then I also do the Beachbody (programs).”
Rahn said she will offer a number of classes at her studio, 194 North State Street in Caro, where Miss Erin’s Dance and Fitness is located.
“It’s for men and women,” she said. “I have about three to four classes a day, most of them are 45 minutes to an hour long. They come in, we do our workout, it might be yoga or like a boot camp-styled workout or sculpting, and then they can do another class.
“I’ve always been athletic, and I think when I was about 16 is when I really started to get into the exercise portion more to make myself better with my volleyball and everything like that. … I really got into it for that aspect, and really just fell in love with it.”
Rahn is the first trainer in Michigan to offer the Box Mania system.
“Box Mania is almost like kickboxing,” Rahn explained. “We use a target, and we go through punching drills, combos, kicking, stuff like that. You have a partner, the partner holds onto (the target) while you go through your combos, and then you would switch. It’s a really fun strength training and cardio workout. It’s martial arts-based..”
Rahn said she’ll host an open house on January 28th, as well as a free class at 7:30 that evening. She said anyone who comes to the Grand Opening event can try a free week of classes.
“February 4 I’m going to be starting a Biggest Loser challenge,” Rahn said. “It’s going to be three months long and I’m going to have weigh-ins every two weeks. People will come in, take classes, weigh-in, I’ll give them nutrition tips, fitness tips, and I’ll basically be here for their accountability. I’m going to ask them to send me their meal logs for the day, that way we can really work on changing their lifestyle, because that’s what this is: You have to live the lifestyle.
“People do all these diets, and at the end of the diet they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m done!’ and two weeks later they’re right back where they were. So it’s really a lifestyle change, and that’s what I believe in. I really want to be able to dig in with people and really start making small changes for them to have a healthier lifestyle, be able to do more things and feel better about themselves, feel the best they’ve ever felt. That’s really what drives me to do this, I just love seeing the smile on someone’s face when they reach a goal. That’s what I want to do with the challenge, and it’s not necessarily about who loses the most, because everybody’s winning with it. They’re starting to make those small changes. If I can even help five people change their lives and get healthy, then that’s good for me.”
Rahn said her “boot camps” will give clients an interesting and mobile fitness experience that she hopes to take outside once the weather gets warmer.
“With my boot camps, a lot of that is body-weight oriented,” Rahn said. “Once it’s nice out, we’ll be able to go outside and really get the boot camp feel. My husband just got out of the military, so I take a lot of what he did and incorporate it, so it’s a lot of pushups, lunges, pull-ups, squats and running. Doing it that way you’re getting the cardio aspect of it, you’re getting your heart rate going, blood flowing to the muscles, plus you’re working on your strength training. It’s a great workout.”
For more information about Studio A’s class schedule, visit studioaitsalifestyle.com. To contact Alyssa Rahn, email alyssa.rahn@studioaitsalifestyle.com or call (989) 670-6478.
Bill Petzold is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. He can be reached at petzold@tcadvertiser.com.
