GETTING FIT AND TONING UP AT KTY – THAT’S KATY TO YOU – IS JUST WAY MORE FUN THAN A GYM HAS ANY RIGHT TO BE. MEET KATHRYN TRACEY YOUNG
KTY Gym and Fitness in uMhlanga Village is the brainchild – and baby – of Kathryn Tracey Young. She’s spent 16 years steeped in the world of personal fitness training, and in that time has developed her own philosophy on regaining or retaining fitness levels, but more particularly, what makes for an ideal gym environment – one where everyone feels safe, comfortable and confident. She took all her experience, good and bad, from her work in large local gyms, as well as life as a trainer in Saudi Arabia, and created her own personalised programmes and happy space. You’ll feel the difference when you step inside stylish little KTY.
For Kathryn, KTY is closest to the look and feel of the Saudi hotel’s boutique gym which she loved as a trainer – small, good-looking, with not an intimidating or negative attitude in sight. One of her driving forces was to create a space where she could empower women, where women uplifted other women: “There’s no body-shaming here, no self-belittling, and no obsession about thinness. This is not that kind of gym, and those comments and conversations are nipped in the bud. I want everyone to feel good about themselves.”
Judging from the laughter and banter in her classes, it’s clearly working. It’s a healthy, positive atmosphere for women (there are quite a few men too) to look after themselves. At KTY, you start your journey with a private assessment: “You’ll have a basic health questionnaire, an unimposing fitness test (heart rate test), a flexibility test and strength text. Nothing strenuous – it gives me the opportunity to get to know you, and you to know me,” says Kathryn. Once she knows the times you’re available to train – she suggests a minimum of twice a week – she fits you into a group with which she believes you’ll be compatible. That’s not age related, nor about fitness. It’s about personalities.
A major advantage is affordability. You can’t train at KTY by yourself, so you aren’t paying membership fees. You just pay the trainer. You can choose to join a class – maximum eight in a class – be alone for a one-on-one, or opt to join with a friend or two. The lowest rate is R150 a person per session in a group, to R300 a session, solo. It might even happen that you begin solo at the R150 rate because there isn’t a group into which you fit yet. Once again it’s not about fitness – group classes contain a mix of ages and stages. Each person has their own “workstation” and space, with their personalised programme, always overseen by Kathryn. No one’s competing because everyone was there in the starting blocks, once.
You pay one month in advance, and give a month’s notice if you want to stop or change the number of classes. If you miss classes, you’re actively encouraged to make them up that month. Thereafter you forfeit them. It’s clear Kathryn loves exercise, and her energy is contagious. Every programme she devises, every exercise in the programme, she’s done it, and knows what it’s like, and what the outcome is. She spends hours every week working on the programmes, mixing them up so they remain fresh and fun.
Kathryn is at KTY from five in the morning until mid to late afternoon, and has two other strings to her bow. Michelle Strydom, a functional fitness trainer, focuses on weight loss, strength and conditioning, sports specific rehab, and kids functional fitness – she works until 7pm; and the third member of the team is Richard Morris, who focuses on EMS (a training system combining Electro Muscle Stimulation and Active Exercise), personal training, Muay Thai, boxing, and sports specific programming. At KTY, it’s about functional fitness. There aren’t dozens of machines – only the ones necessary to build strength – but rather TRX suspension straps, kettlebells, dumbbells, gliders, fitness bands, Bose Balls and more. KTY is an unintimidating environment … but that doesn’t mean you don’t work hard. You do, but you love it. This is no boot camp. Most join because they want to shape and tone, lose a little weight, or – after an injury – build or regain fitness.
Kathryn laughs, “I hear this one so often: ‘I don’t like gym’. My response to that is, “You haven’t done MY gym.” Ask the KTY girls (there are a few men). They’ll tell you it’s true.
FOR YOUR INFO
You can find KTY Gym and Fitness in uMhlanga Plaza, uMhlanga Village; 079 113 7166; ktygym_sa;
W KTY Gym & Fitness; www.ktyfitness.co.za; gym@ktyfitness.co.za
1 Comment
Nice article. Thanks