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Kontendas offers high-impact fitness regimen
KUAM's own former professional baseball player and boxer Brant McCreadie, along with his wife Dina, opened up Kontenda's Gym about a year ago. They say working out at their gym is a gift you may want to consider for just about anyone on your Christmas list. The McCreadies are blessed with what has become a hugely successful gym in a very short amount of time.
But according to Dina, making the idea come to fruition was difficult as the pair resorted to creative fundraising ventures in order to obtain the funds needed to realize their dream of owning their own gym. "We sold lunch plates to different companies and friends for a few months and we also had car washes. We had to do all that just to buy the equipment needed to start up the class. So we really started down at the bottom," she said.
Sparked by the idea of creating a family oriented gym where parents could have the option of either working out with their kids or ensuring their kids are taken care of while working out, Dina says that's how Kontenda's came to be. "But being that I was a mother of two kids and my husband was working so hard, so nobody was able to accommodate me as no one was able to watch the kids while I was working out. So that's what made us go into Kontenda's Gym because now, the parents as well as the children are allowed to work out together. Like in our jiu-jitsu class, we have a father and son working out together. In our boxing class we have a father and son. So there's quite a few father and son, mother and son and mother and daughter working out here," she explained.
In Kontenda's effort to take fitness to a different level, Dina says they offer stimulating workout classes for women and children, guaranteed to make you sweat. She said, "We have the women's self defense boxing class, it's no longer a women's only class, it's a self defense boxing class that caters to men, women and children in that class. We have tae kwon do where the national team trains out of here every Tuesday and Thursday."
Since this year's official opening date of January 16, Dina says they've grown to an active membership of 100 people. So giving the gift of fitness at the Konteda's Gym is perfect according to Dina who says they cater to the working class, hence their hours of operation, Monday through Friday from 6:30-9:30 in the evening and Saturdays from 10-noon. Besides offering an array of direct instruction classes who's teachers work with you one-on-one, Dina says come the new year, Kontenda's will have a whole new line of cutting edge equipment that's designed to stimulate even the muscles you never thought existed.
Brant is the self-defense boxing instructor, followed by a jiu-jitsu instructor who's competed all over the world, plus a silver medalist kickboxing instructor. And talk about a win-win situation that's made Kontenda's a success during school breaks is their oh-so-popular self defense kids camp. "We teach boxing, kids boxing in the morning and then kids jiu-jitsu in the afternoon. But between all that, was arts and crafts and we had field trips, and all of that. Everything that a summer class does but more because we added boxing and jiu-jitsu," Dina explained.
Because their summer camp was a smashing success measured by much-needed weight loss, many of the parents brought their kids back to Kontenda's two-week holiday self-defense class.
In closing Dina says Guam residents should consider giving the gift of fitness from the Kontenda's Gym, as they're the only gym that offers a money back guarantee. "It's an eight-week program and you join the self defense boxing class and you're guaranteed to lose ten pounds or your money back. That's how we stand behind our classes. You're guaranteed to be fit and guaranteed to lose weight and whatever you're looking for, we have it."
So if you're looking for a work out that incorporates both fitness and fun for the entire family, then Kontenda's is definitely where you want to be.
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