LAKEPORT ? Fitness instructor Melissa Mabery is opening her first workout studio, PULSE, next week, less than a year after switching careers.
“It”s never too late to pursue your passion even when you”ve had to overcome physical challenges in your life,” the Kelseyville resident said.
Mabery rediscovered her passion for working out about three years ago following back surgery that helped bring an inactive, painful period in her life to an end.
She said she suffered from “severe back herniation” for 15 years, a result of “probably not taking care of myself when I was younger, not knowing how to protect the back.”
After undergoing the procedure in 2008, Mabery said she knew she had to improve her life. Those changes started slowly with physical rehabilitation, which soon developed into an opportunity to challenge herself.
In September 2010, Mabery got introduced to Zumba, a Latin-based dance workout.
“I was very concerned about the fact it involves your whole body,” she remembered thinking before her first Zumba experience.
Mabery said it didn”t take long for her to fall in love with the fitness program.
“It takes practice, focus and drive, and also, I suppose, a passion,” she said about Zumba, later calling it “one way to get out and engage yourself in life.”
Becoming a certified instructor was the next step, which Mabery said she accomplished in April. Still, she was set to pursue a nursing career late last summer but felt that would be the right choice at the last minute.
Instead, she set her sights full-time on bringing a “different type of fitness to the community.”
With experience teaching classes at Sutter Lakeside Wellness Center, Clear Lake High School and other places, Mabery decided it would be time to open her own place.
She seized on the chance to lease a spot on Bevins Street in Lakeport just a couple months ago and has spent the last several weeks intently watching over construction inside the building.
PULSE will have an “industrial, urban, edgy feel to it” when it opens Monday evening, she said.
Work picked up right before the holidays, according to Mabery, and though it”s getting down to the wire, she”s confident the studio will be ready to welcome members next week.
Once fully completed, PULSE will feature a store, office, changing room, storage area, stage and workout floor, she said.
The grand opening is set for Monday evening. Mabery plans for the event to begin with a ribbon cutting at 4:30 p.m. followed by the first workout session at 5:30 p.m.
PULSE will offer men and women a variety of fitness programs, including Zumba (beginning, regular and gold levels), extreme cardio kickboxing, body sculpting, step class and power yoga.
Mabery said she”ll look to add new classes in the future, “making changes based on members” needs and requests.”
The studio is set to be open six to seven days a week with up to four classes daily, which Mabery said would take place mainly in the evenings though some daytime sessions would be scheduled. She hopes to teach about a dozen a week herself.
PULSE is located at 851 Bevins St. in Lakeport. Additional information can be found at www.pulse weraiseit.com or by calling 533-5013.
