MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

Having opened in January 2019, LVL Fitness (pronounced “Level” Fitness) has quickly been embraced by Bakersfield residents as a new workout that is accessible to all fitness levels but will still humble even the fittest of athletes. Owners Kristi Windtberg

Kristi Windtberg & Nicole Lazzerini and Nicole Lazzerini, gave us some background on what makes their studio so unique and how they have adapted to the changing climate during the COVID pandemic. “The Lagree method focuses on every movement being very slow and controlled. The workout is low-impact, which makes it accessible to all ages and safe for people who have issues with bad knees, backs and other joint injuries,” said co-owner Windtberg. Don’t let the low-impact description fool you. This workout is high-intensity and clients can expect their muscles to start shaking, sometimes within the first minute of class. “The way we design our workouts and target the slow twitch muscle fibers allows our clients to get a full-body workout, which tests and improves their cardio endurance, strength training, core, balance and flexibility training all in one 45-minute session. However, we are not jumping or running, so the joints are not getting the impact that could cause further injury,” added co-owner Lazzerini. This studio has always offered only small group training sessions for a maximum of 10 clients per session. Each client has their own Megaformer to work on during the class, which is led by one of their certified Lagree instructors. “The set-up of our studio has actually put us in a great position to adapt to the new COVID precautionary guidelines. We have never shared equipment and the nature of the workout provides each client with their own space. At any given time, you would never have more than 11 people at the studio, which includes the instructor. Many people who are not comfortable with returning back to a big-box gym with hundreds of people or gyms where everyone is sharing equipment and space have been coming to us to work out safely,” said Windtberg. When the studio was forced to close in mid-March, they were able to quickly pivot their business to a virtual

platform the very next day. They offered 2-3 live virtual classes a day as well as free kids’ yoga, free community classes on Sunday with guest instructors, and even virtual social events. “We wanted to give our members a sense of normalcy and community during this crazy time, so we put all our efforts into making our online classes stellar. We know there is a lot of online content available, but there is something about seeing the familiar faces of instructors you know and being able to interact with them. The instructors could see the clients and give them personalized form corrections and motivation,” said Lazzerini. The studio offered live virtual classes for nearly six months; however, they now have a library of more than 300 workouts that they continue to offer to clients. “We created some great content that we can now offer our members when they are traveling or don’t come to the studio for a class that day. Even though this situation was not ideal, it did force us to think outside the box and expand our offerings to our members,” said Windtberg. The obvious challenge for the studio, like many other businesses, was the income level, which was drastically reduced as they had to cease studio operations. “Our goal for our online classes was just to break even to pay our instructors. We wanted to give them the ability to keep working and getting paid since they are such valuable assets to our business. We were grateful to receive the PPP funds to help us with payroll expenses during this time. We also appreciated several of the roundtable sessions that the Chamber facilitated where we were able to talk to other business owners and community leaders about our concerns and reopening plans,” said Lazzerini. Changes that you will see are increased cleaning and sanitation procedures between classes as well as changes in the class schedule to adapt to changes in the clients’ schedules. The studio is now open and they couldn’t be happier to see their member community back together. “We want to offer a safe place for our clients to improve their health and wellness, and we feel that we have taken all the precautionary steps that we can to make that happen,” said Windtberg. Located in Southwest Bakersfield at 8800 Stockdale Hwy., LVL Fitness offers 5-6 classes per day, 7 days per week from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. They offer drop-in classes, class packages and monthly memberships. For more information, visit www.lvl-fitness.com or call 661-412-3091.