BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Are you ready?
That’s the question Champaign resident Ali Kreider is asking Mahomet.
After moving back to East Central Illinois, Kreider decided she was ready to leave her full-time job in Chicago to focus more on a healthy, balanced life.
“Fitness has always been like a huge part of my life, a huge passion of mine,” Kreider said.
Kreider decided to pass on what she had learned by offering a few group fitness classes. Then, as her oldest began elementary school, Kreider started a blog, blendedbalancefitness.com.
“I still run it today,” she said. “It’s kind of like the pillars of it were food, fitness, mindfulness, self-care, self-love, and how my own journey has transformed as a result of all those pieces.”
Kreider said that the changes she made and shared transformed her life. By May 2019, she was ready to take what she had applied to her own life and help others who were ready for the same results.
“I’d always wanted to be certified as a personal trainer. I just felt like before I never had the time to do it. So I finally did it,” she said.
In clients’ homes, Kreider listened to their goals, developed a plan on how to get there, taught them how to properly exercise and gave them tips on how to make time for the self-care in their lives.
The in-home aspect helped her offer a needed service to those who did not want to be part of a group setting.
“I wanted to be able to remove those excuses or roadblocks to be able to include fitness as a part of your life,” she said. “I will come to your living room, we will do it in the comfort of your own home. I will bring equipment if you don’t have anything.”
She also removed the roadblock for people who wanted to work out, but just wanted to do it on their own schedule by producing workout videos that can be accessed through an app.
“I love to try to create something that is helping people develop: what does my workout look like, what are you looking for, how can we do that?” Kreider said.
But Kreider also knows that there is a need for group classes, too. Beginning Jan. 7, Kreider will team with Poeta South, located in Sangamon on Main, to offer group fitness classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m.
“Open to anyone and everyone,” said Kreider, who will focus on what the group needs and tailor the workout to all skill levels.
“The style will kind of be developed,” Kreider said. “As we see how it goes and what who’s attending and what that looks like.”
“There’s much value in working out with friends, you being in a group environment, pushing each other. You have accountability, a lot that goes into working out with the group, so I’m excited for that to be a new thing that I can add into the fold.
“When you have other people that are there, and with you, goals can all be different, but we’re all working to better ourselves at the end of the day.”
Overall, Kreider’s focus remains on educating people, but she also wants people to feel that transformation.
“I’m trying to help people understand that exercise can be fun,” she said. “And it can make you feel good, it can make you feel empowered. It can help your stress and anxieties.”
Finding pleasure in some of the painful moments is an important part of that transformation.
“I think it’s just learning to be comfortable with exercise and your body, stepping out of your comfort zone, doing hard things.
“Doing a burpee is not fun to everybody,” she said. “But what you do, it puts you out of your comfort zone and then when you’re done you feel accomplished; so trying to work the mental muscles, just as much as all the physical muscles.”
Being comfortable with the uncomfortable is something Kreider practices.
Managing Blended Balance Fitness has helped Kreider come out of her shell a little bit.
To kick off 2019, she chose the word “brave” to guide her through the year.
“I think people probably from the past would kind of consider me like a more shy and reserved person,” she said. “I mean it’s still like a part of who I am, but I have learned how to open myself up to others, to the community.”
At the end of every session, Kreider guides her clients through five minutes of mindfulness and gratitude practice.
“Just to kind of help with that grounding, of you showed up for yourself today, you put in the hard work, let’s kind of just recenter ourselves before we go on and get into the business of the day,” she said.
The first two Blended Balance group fitness classes (Jan. 7 and Jan. 9) are free for those who are ready. Instead of expecting clients to pay a monthly fee, she has developed packages that allow each client to attend a bootcamp class at Poeta South.
“I like the kind of idea, but do it at your own pace,” Kreider said.
