Kinetics Personal Training & Group Fitness — Attraction in Highland Park

On May 11, 2013, I ran my first 5K. I was in shape, happy with my body, and after having left my corporate gig a few months earlier, was excited about a career change and what lay ahead. Three days later, on May 14, my dad suffered a strange fall out of bed that left him temporarily paralyzed from the neck down. It was a hard adjustment, even with the eventual blessing of him recovering much of his mobility, to now have to visit him in nursing care and take over responsibilities at home with my mom who has progressive memory issues. I stopped working out, stopped eating well, and the pounds packed on in my stress and worry, as well as substantial hair loss. In 2014, I added financial stress to my life as the result of an ill-fated move to Paris (hit my 401k to do so - - folks DO NOT TOUCH YOUR 401ks - you WILL REGRET IT!) to pursue an MBA only to have to abort that early due to my 3-year old son having some issues getting adjusted and the first terrorist shooting in January 2015. More weight (40+ pounds at this point), more just being totally out of it. Something had to change. I thank God that finally He moved things around in my life so that that change could happen. July 2016 was the start, when I accepted Metra Lundy's little Black Dress 21-Day Challenge and joined Team Kinetics! As the challenge moved on and pounds started to drop, the seeds of my long-held dream to run a marathon by the time I turned 50 began to take shape. Fast forward to April 9th 2017 and I was blessed to complete the Paris Marathon, returning to that beloved city with my son, now 6! Today (May 15, 2017) I turned 50 and I’m back to my fighting weight (all 40 pounds gone!) and feel better than I’ve felt in all my 50 years! I’m so grateful to Team Kinetics for the journey I've been on since walking through those doors last July! This is the BEST, MOST LOVING, MOST SUPPORTIVE Fitness - really LIFE & WHOLENESS - establishment on God's green earth. Getting back into shape, running the marathon, and falling in love with long distance running and warm yoga (their classes are exceptional) would not have been possible without Kinetics. Kinetics was the X factor. No class is ever the same and they know how to make it fun while still kicking your behind with EFFECTIVE workouts. I am forever, and utterly grateful to Metra, and the AMAZING instructors and all my fellow students....

Kinetics has a small vegan cafe which also functions as its lobby and waiting area for classes. Two single-occupancy restrooms are located on the far side of the building. I came here for a Yelp event and found the "Anti-gravity Aerial Yoga" experience to be more of a fun gimmick with a hammock rather than anything resembling yoga. If anything, this was a calisthenics class with a prop.

The back of the classroom has suspended black cloth hammocks that need to be raised or lowered based on the student's height. The only reason the hammock sizing was necessary was because of one upside-down maneuver, which the class only did once. The hammock height was based on where each person's waist was, which is not a reliable indicator for the midpoint of a person's body since some people have legs that are longer than their torsos. My hammock ended up being way too high and had to be adjusted a second time midway into the session.

The instructor, Erica Lee-Arnold Rodriguez, began the session with a series of fun but ineffective warmup movements which did very little to prepare me for the rigors that followed. Had I known that there would be no actual stretching in this class, I would have done my own stretching beforehand while I waited in the cramped lobby with the other students. Erica provided individualized attention to the students in my session after she demonstrated each pose, which was appreciated.

The hammock session did feel a bit rushed for a "yoga" class, and the amount of physical stress that was required for some of the poses is not something I would ever associate with even hybrid yoga. I think Aerial Yoga is worth trying once if you've never done it before, but it's not a practical addition to or a realistic replacement for an actual...

I joined as part of their 6 week challenge promo. At my team’s consultation, we were told that the rules for the challenge were that we’d get our $349 deposit back if we followed a point system and completed the requirements. At the end of 6 weeks, the coach told me that I could not get the deposit back bc I had not lost 20 lbs. This was a shock bc no one at the club had said I needed to lose 20 lbs and it was never in writing.

Thankfully I was able to get my deposit back, but I had to argue with the coach for a while. I was very sad bc overall the classes were great and I looked forward to taking more in the future. But I can’t trust a business that tried to cheat me out of $349 and make it seem like it was my fault for not losing enough weight when that was never said to me or my teammates.

If you join through the 6 week challenge make sure to get everything in writing before paying money. If it weren’t for that experience, this would be a very...