There are so many things to love about this fitness brand. I am a diehard fan since I was a kid, and I’m still a huge fan. From yoga to Pilates, to cardio, to boot camps, riviera fitness really pushes you to be your own best version of yourself. I’m a big believer that the best way to find the passion that makes you happy and healthy is to surround yourself with people who do the same thing.
The founders of all of this, Robert and Mark, have found themselves in a situation that is extremely polarizing. They have made both a business and a fitness business and have been vilified from all sides. The difference is that while the business side has gotten a lot of press, the fitness side has gotten a lot of bad press. The good press came from the fitness industry, and the bad press came from the business side.
In the last year Mark and I have played one-on-one with our team of four kids and have seen a dramatic transformation of the company in terms of how we are approaching this time, including a lot of people who have a great deal of experience with fitness. The fact that Mark and I have been able to make progress on this front in terms of being able to get on board with our team of 4 kids is a testament to the power of our company.
We’ve found that all the big guys are extremely competent at getting on board with the kids. In fact, we’ve just gone from about 10-15 with some 2-year-old boys to just around 15-20 with 3-year-olds and so forth. The last few years I’ve seen the results we’ve had with the kids seem to be pretty good in terms of the team, but they seem in an even worse state of mind.
The reality of the situation is that if you have an old dog that likes to chase you around the house, you can get on board with your team and get the kids to play with you. Weve had some very good teams and we have some good kids.
In my own opinion, there is so much more to fitness than the basic idea of working out. For instance, you need to do more than just go outside to run and run and run. You need to get your core strength and your core endurance. You need to train your body to be able to handle stress that you dont even know the stress is. That is the real essence of fitness and in my opinion, it is the real test of a coach.
So, how do you get your kids involved in fitness? It starts with them, but you have to start somewhere. The best way to get them to exercise is to let them. Let them feel the burn. Not in the gym, but at home. And that is where I was at for a while.
For a long time I was reluctant to let my kids start doing cardio at an early age. My own parents were not big on exercise as they had a gym in their backyard. So I set up a gym in the basement of our home. I encouraged my kids to bring their own weights and cardio equipment and I got them to do the first few classes. It was a good start, but I was worried for my kids’ safety.
I was a student at the University of Miami while working on this project, so I was very excited that I got to do it. For an hour, I went to work, took out my own weight and cardio equipment, and took a class by myself. It was a great experience. I got to do it for a few hours, and I got back to work.
Well, not so much. I had to make sure I had the equipment, I had to have a spot to put the weights, I had to have a space to exercise, and I had to have a place to clean up. It turned out that I had to take an hour just to get everything in place. And, let’s be real, I was only one person working on this thing for one hour.