When Tom and Tammy Sliney decided they wanted to open their own gym in Bend a few years ago, they spent weeks working out at other fitness clubs around town.
“We researched the area to see exactly what was going on,” Tom says. “We watched the way people were working out.”
What they saw scared them, Tammy recalls seeing an elderly man lifting weights with such bad form she thought he would hurt himself. She saw people coughing and sneezing into their hands but never wiping down the machines. And she realized she hated working out in front of other people. She didn’t want them to hear her grunt or strain or groan when lifting.
CORE
-Gym schedules one-hour solo workouts for clients-
“I would not lift if there was anybody else lifting there,”” she says. “I would wait until that person was out of there.” Eventually, she decided that if they were going to open their own place, it would be a place where she would feel comfortable working out. “When we open our gym,” she told her husband, “We’re only going to let one person in at a time.”
The result was CORE Sports Wellness Spinal Conditioning – a gym on the periphery of downtown Bend that schedules individuals for one-hour solo workouts. Tom and Tammy wipe and sanitize each machine before each session. Weights are present for the individual working out. And either Tom or Tammy devotes the full-hour to help the individual meet his or her fitness goal.
Some of their clients are elite athletes looking to maximize their strength training workouts. Others are general fitness enthusiasts or couch potatoes hoping to finally lose weight. Still others are individuals with medical conditions that preclude them from working out on their own without expert supervision.
“Some people come here because they want to get in shape. They want the knowledge and then go and do it themselves,” Tom says. “Some people come in here want tot make it a way of life.”
On the initial visit to CORE, the client sits down with Tom and Tammy and they go over their fitness goals and nutritional habits. The Slineys like to take a “before” picture so that clients can compare it with an “after” shot. Many people are to embarrassed to take a photo at the start, but then lament they didn’t once they finished their program.
The Slineys are all about results. They maintain that anybody willing to put in the work can make significant progress in a short amount of time. Tom says CORE based its approach on mounds of sport medicine research on the effects of strength training. Individuals generally work out in two one-hour sessions each week.
“There are a lot of myths involved in exercise,” Tom says. “So, the first thing we try to do is educate people about what is actually required to achieve the change they’re looking for and what out there is a myth designed to sell more unneeded products.”
One myth is that you can work out without putting any work. The Slineys had one client who signed up for a training program but was unwilling to put in the effort during her workouts.
“She didn’t want to do it,” Tom says. “She wanted the magic pill. People think if they go to the gym and move weight without any effort, they should lose weight. Your body will not change if you’re constantly doing what you can already do.”
The Slineys make sure their clients are using proper form, breathe properly and improve their eating habits.
“Everybody thinks they know how to lift weights,” Tom says. “They think it’s a very basic thing, that anybody can do it. When you watch them, they have poor form, which is very inefficient workout.”
The equipment at CORE is rehab facility quality. That also allows the Slineys to help people recovering from injuries or other health conditions who couldn’t work out in a standard gym. They had one client who came to them after bypass surgery and wanted to exercise but couldn’t elevate his heart rate above a certain level. The Slineys kept a heart rate monitor on him throughout each work out. They’re able to strap people into the equipment to work the targeted muscle groups without placing undo stress on the spine or back muscles. Toms says CORE’s program can’t make elite athletes out of everybody. They can only work with what nature has provided each individual, but they strive to maximize what is genetically possible for every client.
The training sessions cost $75 an hour
By: Markian Hawryluk / The Bulletin
Community Life: Health & Fitness
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Photo by: Pete Erickson / The Bulletin |
WELLNESS 