When Felicia Maxwell gained a few pounds earlier this year during quarantine, the fitness guru looked within herself and got it all the way together.
The good sis is right and tight now, and as the CEO and owner of Fit4Life Health and Fitness, LLC Detroit, she is continually getting others back in shape, too, but in a different way. Primarily she is using Zoom to hold exercise classes until the facility can open back up.
Felicia Maxwell doesn’t play when it comes to fitness and she is helping others stay trim and healthy during quarantine and into 2021 and beyond.
Photo provided by Felicia Maxwell
“Personally, I believe it’s more mental and emotional than anything for most people,” she said of getting started with exercising. She added that she was always at the gym facility, so when the gyms closed due to pandemic orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, Maxwell veered slightly off course — some of her clients did, too. “Most of my clients who were already consistently training with me four or five days a week never stopped.… However, they picked up weight because they felt the Zoom training is a little different from face to face because of the accountability, motivation and encouragement from others.”
She said that no one expected the pandemic to last this long, and her clients steadily became used to Zoom and started to be more accountable for their eating habits and more committed to exercising through virtual encouragement.
“Everybody is like, okay, enough is enough,’” she said of being fed up with unhealthy gains and “quarantine fluff.”
Maxwell and her clients are like many others in Detroit, and elsewhere, who gained weight during the pandemic because of anxiety, stress and being stuck at home more.
“It caused people to just eat the wrong things.” She said that coming into the new year means staying fit, keeping your body moving and making better and smarter choices. “I need my clients just as much as they need me for accountability.”
Maxwell added that she has heard so “many different excuses” of why people are not getting started on their health journey. She added that within the Black community, she learned that many that she spoke to at different churches locally just didn’t know where to start — and that trickled down to their children. Also, she learned that during COVID-19, a lot of them had increased numbers in high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
“I think it was a wake-up call to the Black community,” she said, adding that a lack of knowledge and access to fitness resources were the main factors behind them not working out. “I did not realize how much they did not know.”
She added that she encourages people to change their attitude, think healthy thoughts, and then act out their thoughts. “Because if you change that attitude and think healthy … over time that is what you will become,” she said.
For more information go to https://www.livewellmaxwell.com/fit4life.
It is her ministry and Latricia Wilder, owner of boutique cycling studio Vibe Ride Detroit, doesn’t play when it comes to spreading the word of fitness through her cycling. Wilder said that while the pandemic closed her business temporarily, she pivoted and is renting out bikes for her clients looking to shed unwanted pounds.
She said it doesn’t matter if a person is in their living room or kitchen fixing something to eat — exercise can happen anywhere at any time.
Latricia Wilder is on the move and isn’t allowing quarantining to slow her, or her cycling, down.
Photo provided by Latricia Wilder
“For me what we’ve been telling our clients is to keep moving whatever that means for you,” Wilder said. “Have a dance party every day. Do some squats in your house. When you’re cooking do ankle raises and go up on your toes … if you have steps in your house go up and down the steps.”
Wilder added that quarantine has forced many people to stay home, resulting in inactivity. But the key is to also get your metabolism pumping — and let’s take that first step in 2021.
“I think what happens is people are more intimidated at the thought of starting than actually starting,” Wilder said.
Wilder added that spinning is a good workout option appropriate for all ages. The high cardio exercise on a bike is low impact, she said, adding that it won’t “kill the joints.”
And while it’s nice to feed off of other people’s energy during in-person group fitness classes, it is important during this time of isolation to also pump up the mental stamina.
“It can be very hard to energize yourself when you’re just in a house,” she said, adding in her weekly fitness newsletters she provides her clients with self-care tips that get them to the next week. Self-care mentally can range from mind workouts including playing a game, dancing or stretching.
“If you can get your body starting what we call the feel-good juices, the endorphins will kick back in and your brain will start pushing you again,” Wilder said. “But something has to kick start it.”
For more information on Vibe Ride Detroit or renting out exercise bikes visit theviberide.com/detroit.
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