ZAKTi Fitness Studio, Your Body Will Thank You

The 411

I was cutting radishes for my kids to snack on and noticed that, as usual, my shoulders were rounded and my core lax. Although I have always been generally aware of my neolithic posture, it is often not top of mind. My perspective has changed since taking the “Balanced.Fit.Functional” class with Conor Millstein (@conorjacobfitness) at ZAKTi Fitness.

ZAKTi, which according tho their website means energy, strength, power and potential, is all about correct body positioning for both during your workout and in daily life. They pay equal attention to output and execution and guide you through weight bearing intervals that provide comprehensive, full body training. ZAKTi services range from group functional fitness and yoga sessions, private training to bodywork and nutrition.

I live about a mile away from the studio and ran there and back. On the way to the studio I was launching from my quads, but on the way back, thanks to ZAKTi’s thoughtful schooling on form, I focused on lifting my core and driving the power from my booty. As a result, I was faster and not as quad heavy (that full feeling you get in your legs). I’ve never had any real athletic coaching because I caught AOA (Adult Onset Athleticism as Stacy G. from Soul Cycle names it) in my early 20’s and therefore found ZAKTi's form and function aficionado invaluable.

Since experiencing ZAKTi fitness, I have been more conscientious about keeping my feet shoulder width apart, lifting from my core and rolling my shoulders back. ZAKTi is more substance over style and your body will thank you.

Class: Balanced.Fit.Functional

This particular workout consisted of three rounds of five different one-minute long full-body strength/plyometric moves. It looked something like this: overhead ball slams, sideways wall ball slams, squat walkout pushups, step-up jumps, squat jumps, and rows. Although I was not overly exhausted or sore the next day, I was satisfied that I got in a thorough, head to toe workout. Aside from the ball slams, I also really liked that we relied on our body weight for the majority of the exercises.

Instructor

Conor is solidly in the “stickler for form” camp. He did a great job of correcting my position on the various moves. In my experience, instructors rarely assist until you have shown up to their class numerous times. I like Conor’s style because it fed into my need for insta-grind gratification. Due to his adjustments, I was able to get a lot more out of the session. And as you have learned by now, I hate when a workout has a steep learning curve. This is fitness, not physics. I wanna feel the burn right away.

A good Coach Conor anecdote: he urged us to power from our glutes and noticed pretty quickly that I am very quad-focused (which means all my might comes from my thighs). That was a very insightful observation from someone who I just met. After he assisted with some adjustments, I was able to do step-up-leaps using raw booty power. And isn’t Raw Booty Power everyone’s #lifegoal?

Vibe

Chill, welcoming vibe without any pretense.

Space

Although you can bank on a lot of personal attention, the studio itself is simple. There are no complimentary amenities. Water is available for purchase.