THE FIRST THOUGHTS on exercise for many people are usually about being in a gym all hot and sweaty or engaging in activity that is so strenuous it hurts and hurts. But Chiara Citro, the owner and founder of Move Two More Fitness, is hoping to change that mentality.
Citro, who founded the fitness club in September 2010, promotes mind and body fitness in all aspects. This she does through pole fitness, showgirl dancing, RealRyder cycling exercises and Pilates.
“Everything you do at Move Two More promotes your mind and your body,” she told the MIDWEEK NATION. “Mind and body is that you connect both together, you never let your mind take over and you never let your body, so you want to make sure both are in balance. Everything happens in the mind, but a lot of things you do, you feel it is just the body.”
With the classes and exercises she offers, German-born Citro tries to motivate her clients to create a positive mindset for exercise and to engage in it at their level and for their body.
“I am not trying to change them at the beginning; I am trying to get them to work with what is there,” Citro said.
One of her classes that tend to raise an eyebrow is pole fitness – an exercise and dance class incorporating the use of a pole. Citro said some people do not want to do the class because of its association with pole dancing in nightclubs or because of the objection of a partner.
However, she said the stigma had not stopped many clients from taking the class, which is well subscribed.
“I do not teach for athletes,” she said. “I teach pole fitness for fun and for toning and you can stay fit because it is a complete workout.”
For persons who may think that it is too tough, Citro disagrees. “We have multilevel classes and everyone according to their level of experience can come and participate,” she insisted. “It is completely sold the wrong way.”
Citro acknowledged that 99 per cent of her clients were women and they tended to be in the 25 to 55 age range.
Most of them exercise to change their body and to be fitter, because of health problems or the need to work on injuries. “Very seldom you find someone come to exercise because they love exercise,” she said. “That is the main problem, if people do not love what they do, it is always a hard start.”
Therefore, Citro wants to see all her clients get to that point where they love what they do and can maintain it.
She noted that some people loved exercise “because for them it is not exercise per se, it is fun and that is what we do”.
There is a social aspect to her classes. As there are almost all females, members can let their hair down or come dressed with their hair half-done, with everyone working to achieve individual goals, she said.
Citro, a Pilates expert, carries Stott Pilates machines only but gives her instruction in the Move Two More way. The former gymnast said she uses the system of exercises to help transform the body without putting it under too much pressure.
She has tried to change the mindset of “no pain, no gain” approach to exercise that she says is common in Barbados.
“You have to kind of work around that to give the clients a full workout in the gentle way,” Citro said. “The Pilates machines help those people who are used to this vigorous exercise and are used to weight training but need a resistance exercise that is gentle.” She said she had been doing Pilates since she was 14 years old and after she stopped gymnastics she did dancing.
As to how she came to be running a fitness studio, Citro said she wanted to give herself a challenge as well as promote her way of exercising.
That led to her taking up the RealRyder, which is different to the stationary spin bike, moving from side to side like an actual bike.
For those who are interested in dance, there is showgirl dancing, which involves a variety of dance styles including salsa, reggae, soca and jazz, as a precursor to pole fitness.
Citro said that the main thing about exercise is not to stop doing it. Her advice is that beginners need to start slowly and build up as some people want to do too much too quickly and then cannot maintain it.
The Cadillac Trapeze Table is one of the pieces of Pilates equipment Chiara Citro uses, her she demonstrates one of the exercises it is used for. (Picture by Nigel Browne.)
