EquiVita - Week 1

Client Stories
As EquiVita reached a major milestone in celebrating their 10th anniversary, they gathered some important moments from its ten year history that highlights what makes the clients so special. So sit back and enjoy reading through some of these cool stories.

Not long into the business of fitness training I realized that there was something missing in the way that fitness trainers are taught to address tightness of the body. These restrictions must be addressed because if a muscle is tight and contracted it is not always effective to try to further the contraction through exercise, and stretching could actually make it worse. The basic reason has to do with the fact that when a muscle is contracted it doesn't get good blood flow. A muscle without good blood flow is not supple and will not move fluidly with the flow of the body. Rather than naturally lengthen with a stretch, a muscle in this state is more likely to rebel against the stretched position and contract even further. When a muscle reaches this state, the best approach, by far, is massage.

10 Weeks to 10 Years: Week 3

Week 4

Week 2

So, within the first year the second staff member I added to the business was a massage therapist. When it comes to massage, there are many people that see it limited as something only to be done as a special pampering, but the type of massage that I knew we needed to provide was the type that could address the restricted areas of the body - the areas that were hindering clients through postural distortions.

Postural distortions are changes to the movement patterns of the body. These changes are usually adaptations to how the body is typically used; often the body adapts to the easiest possible way. The easiest way is the most efficient way and efficiency is using the least amount of energy to perform a movement. At first, this sounds good but then if you consider that in our society we often have the exact opposite goal - because energy, measured in calories, is pretty easy to consume and hard to expend - you realize that it is the exact opposite of what you probably want. And even if you are trying to conserve as many calories as possible, the efficient way is the way your body leverages joints and connective tissue. These are tissues of the body that aren't as capable of recovering from stress and can wear out over time.

When we started offering massage as specific therapeutic help for restricted areas I didn't fully realize the benefits to be gained through regular massage. Now I see regular massage, about every 4 - 6 weeks on average, as an important early detection tool for addressing potential restrictions before they cause a problem. That is why we started a membership program that includes a monthly massage: to reward those who choose to place massage into their regular health care.

Meet Frenchy:
Her parents called her Ann. Her students during the 35 years she taught art in the Upper Arlington school system called her Ms. Heineman. To everyone at EquiVita she is "Frenchy".

She spends time between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at EquiVita and soon you too will be familiar with the mellifluous sound of Frenchy counting off her exercise repetitions in Francois-the language she's been studying in retirement (when she isn't walking, reading, swimming, gardening or doing lithography).

Frenchy, who is 66 and lives in Beechwold, exemplifies what it means to live a mentally and physically active life. She's worked out at BodyByMe/EquiVita since its inception. Now with Transitional Fitness Trainer Tami Wise three times a week, at other times she has taken kickboxing lessons and yoga classes. She also continues to be a regular massage client.

"If they had tap dancing I'd probably try that, too," Frenchy said.

This EquiVita mainstay's affiliation with Tammy and EquiVita founder Adam Milligan dates to the late '90s, when Frenchy "received a wake-up call" in the form of a severely broken bone in her arm. The injury required surgery, and after four months of intense physical therapy she was looking for someone to help her continue her rehabilitation. A member of the Columbus YMCA, she met Adam who at the time was one of the Y's personal trainers.

Her initial work with Adam, who was known for specializing in working with clients who had suffered acute injuries, was a continuation of her hospital-prescribed physical therapy. As they worked together Adam developed a comprehensive plan to, as Frenchy put it, "strengthen everything."

When Adam founded the EquiVita precursor BodyByMe in 2001 and moved to Built Solid (now Go Fitness) in Grandview Heights, Frenchy followed him. As she healed and grew stronger she began to work with one of Adam's other fitness trainers, Tami. She continued her pursuit of wellness when EquiVita moved to its own facility in 2003.

Frenchy says she greatly trusts Adam and Tami (and any of the other trainers she occasionally works with) "because they give me everything I need for someone my age and they all know me very well. They always challenge me but they also know my limitations. And everybody here is very professional but they're personal, too, which I like. They're like my brothers and sisters."