Berkembang Coaching

Berkembang is continuing our birthday celebration with a new August promotion! This time of year is all about back to school, and Berkembang Basics is perfect for starting (or continuing) your own physical education!

The Berkembang Basics series is four stand-alone, 30-minute sessions. Each session focuses on learning the basics of one of the four foundational movement patterns: Push, Pull, Squat, and Hip Hinge.

During a session, you will learn how to perform variations of that particular movement pattern. For example, a Push session will teach you how to do vertical pressing (pushing something overhead), horizontal pressing (push-up/bench press) and a downward press (like a dip).

Throughout the session, we will discuss simple anatomy and WHAT makes these movements work, WHY these patterns are integral for health and longevity, and HOW to perform them in the safest, most beneficial ways.

All movements will meet you where you are: matched to your current strength, available equipment, and any physical limitations you might have.

The goal is to empower you to perform these exercises on your own: at home, at your regular gym, or even in a group fitness setting - so you can work out with confidence!

This series is for anyone - whether you are new to exercise, an on and off gym-goer who needs a refresher, or a seasoned athlete who could benefit from a check-in, Berkembang Basics is for YOU!

Berkembang Basics sessions can be purchased with absolutely no additional commitment. You can be one-and-done, if that’s what you need! BUT, the more you learn, the more you save!

☝️ Purchase one Berkembang Basics movement pattern session for $40.

✌️ Buy two of the series for $35 each.

😲 Buy three, and sessions are just $30 each.

🤩 OR, you can get ALL FOUR MOVEMENT PATTERNS for only $25 each!

DM me for more details!

Berkembang Coaching is celebrating our two-year birthday with a series of limited-time specials - July, August, and September will each have their own month-long promotion! 🥳

For the month of July, check out this $99 new client promo! For less than a hundred bucks, you get a great personalized jump start for your summer fitness:

🙂 15-minute intro consult/assessment
😃 30-minute personal training session
🤩 ANOTHER 30-minute personal training session

These sessions can be completed in person, at Berkembang’s gym, or via Zoom, from wherever you live!

Not sure? Here’s more about what the package includes…

🎯 I will chat with you to learn more about your personal goals, limitations, and exercise/health history, as well as address any concerns you might have.

📝 I will assess your current movement patterns and use them as a foundation to build a personalized series of workouts.

👩‍🏫 I will guide you through two, 30-minute workouts. We will work at your pace, using equipment (either Berkembang equipment for in-person training or the equipment you have on hand at home) and movement patterns tailored for YOUR individual needs.

All of this for less than a hundo! No strings attached, no long-term commitment, and no reason you shouldn't give it a try!

Truth.

📜 These certificates mark 6 years as a CrossFit Level 4 Coach & Certified CrossFit Trainer (CCFT)

…almost 15 years (July) since I got my Level 1

…this also marks SEVENTEEN YEARS since I began working as a personal trainer and coach 🥹

I’ve worked across two states, owned a few gyms, worked at many more, been an individual athlete, a team athlete, personal trainer, group exercise coach, and nutrition coach, trained everyday folks and competitors, kids, moms, dads, and grandmas, folks with disabilities you can see, and folks with disabilities you can’t.

What I have learned on this journey -

🤗 That while we might all have struggles, we are all capable of much more than we give ourselves credit for.

🏋🏽‍♀️ Physical work that challenges us strengthens our mind as much as our body.

💪🏼👵🏻…and that striving to be as ABLE as possible for as LONG as possible is a goal that brings the most happiness and tangible benefits to our lives.

New equipment at Berkembang for all your walking/running/sprinting needs! 🏃🏻‍♀️💨

Generic workout programs are everywhere. You can find them for free on the internet, you can pay a premium to a fit-looking Instagrammer, or you can attend group exercise classes from a running/rowing/HIIT specialty shop near you. These programs are made for the masses. 😶😶😶

They maximize profits for the person writing the program. Write it once, charge for it over and over again. 💰🔁💰

For those participating in the programs, assuming you are able-bodied and injury-free, you will likely see some benefit for a while. 💪🏽😁

🤕Then, at some point, you will get injured.
⏱Or the program won't work for your lifestyle, or your schedule.
❔Then what?
😫You quit. No bueno!

The best exercise program is the ONE YOU CAN KEEP DOING. One that recognizes your training history, lifestyle, available equipment, and physical considerations. One that can adjust based on your feedback, and provide personalized coaching cues to improve your form and understanding of movements.

If you enjoy it, if it fits in with your life/family/work, if it keeps you motivated…you will get RESULTS.

😐➡️😄➡️🤩

Berkembang Coaching aims to do just that, with custom remote programming coming March 14th. Stay tuned.

Oooooo, look what came in to Berkembang today! A Christmas gift from and 🎁!!! So the next time you are working out and use these convenient in-between-er weights, you know who to thank! 💪🏼😁

Curious about Berkembang or the VIP Life? 🤔

⭐️ Try out two full weeks of VIP services for just $200! ⭐️

You get FOUR 45-minute personal training sessions, plus access to exclusive, VIP-only Saturday classes.

❤️ Love it? Sign up for a VIP membership! 👍🏼

😑 Hate it? No worries - there won’t be any additional charges or obligations! 🚫

‘Tis the season for snickerdoodle protein from 💪🏼🎅!!!

New Regupol Aktiv flooring installed, steam sanitized, and ready for clients! This flooring is:

🇩🇪 German engineered
🇺🇸 American-made
♻️ 100% post-consumer tire and post-industrial EPDM rubber
🟢 GreenCircle Certified

There is still a wee bit of rubber to install by the door, and certifications and such to hang on the walls, but we’re almost there! 💪🏼😁

Small daily habits practiced consistently yield progress.

🛀 If you only showered once or twice a week, you probably wouldn’t be very clean.

🎯 If you only practice a skill once or twice a week, you probably wouldn’t be very proficient.

😵 If you only ate or slept a few times a week, you might survive, but you would never thrive.

So why do we think that only being active a few times a week will get us to our health and fitness goals?

It’s because we think a little should be enough. Or that we don’t have time this week, but maybe next week. Or that we don’t know how, or we’re tired, or…insert one of a million reasons here.

Movement should be a priority as important as eating, showering, or sleeping. We are MADE to move.

Instead of thinking of movement/exercise as ‘all-or-nothing,’ try to visualize a dial and think ‘ALWAYS SOMETHING.’

If you find it hard to schedule workouts one week, don’t give up and stop moving altogether. Take a few walks. Do a quick bodyweight series at home when you get up in the morning. When you CAN schedule training sessions, continue to try and adjust the dial on your movements over the course of the week so you find the balance of daily activity that actually helps you reach your goals.

But once or twice a week is NOT a habit, and it becomes easy to push pause whenever life gets busy (which is always). With this cycle, the pause is what becomes the habit! 😱

Trying to do SOMETHING most days is a habit that can benefit your mind and body, your mindset and your happiness.

Start small, be consistent, and you WILL make progress. 💪🏽😊



https://www.precisionnutrition.com/pause-button-mentality-infographic

Posted •

Whoever said becoming a better person is easy has probably done more talking than changing.

Traditional personal training has always been priced and sold per session; no such thing as “all you can eat” private training options.

If you want to train often and consistently, options have been to either shell out a boatload of bucks for a big personal training package, or settle for a group training membership, which doesn’t provide individualized programming, attentive coaching, or a specialized plan to help you reach your goals.

It’s common to skimp on how many times you train each week when each one feels like a huge expense. 😔

It’s just as common to throw yourself into daily repetitive group exercise classes trying to get the most bang for your buck, leading to overtraining and injury. 🤕

Neither one of these options is very successful in improving your health, strength, and fitness long-term!

is changing the game.

Coming Sept 15: new monthly draft options which combine private training sessions with access to VIP member “Freestyle” classes. There will be fixed-session memberships as well as UNLIMITED options! That’s right - use as many 45- or 30-minute sessions as you desire each month for one flat rate!

“Freestyle” classes will be semi-private 2-hour windows of time where VIP members can enjoy:

👩🏻‍🏫 High-level coaching to guide you through your work. Personalized attention and professional service every time.

🖐🏽 Privacy…but with friends! Each Freestyle class will be limited to 5 clients, and those 5 will come and go independently during the two hours reserved for class. That means no large groups, no jostling for equipment, and the attention of a private session.

⏰ Flexible workouts. Use as little or as much of the 2-hour window as you want; arrive and leave on your schedule.

🔀 Choices for training. Strength and conditioning work will be posted, but you also have the option to work on your choice of specific skills or accessories.

🙌🏽 Opportunities for building community. Be social…or not! Semi-private = plenty of space to focus on your work but still benefit from the energy of others 💪🏼😁

More info will be posted in the coming weeks! If interested, message me for more details!

Strong mom + strong kid = stronger together 💪🏽🤩

Exciting new things coming together! 💪🏼

Posted • When you think of sugary foods, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of warm, freshly baked chocolate cookies. Perhaps, the eclectic but delightful flavours of Ben and Jerry's. Or, maybe the moreish deep-fried wonder that is the glazed donut has you salivating.⁣
⁣
But, here's the thing: all the foods you're picturing aren't "sugary" foods, they're heavily processed hyper-palatable foods.⁣
⁣
This is an important distinction.⁣
⁣
Sugar (think table sugar) is just sugar. While heavily processed foods–like cake, candy, donuts, chocolate, etc.–aren't JUST sugar. They're a perfect mix of sugar and fat and salt (among other ingredients).⁣
⁣
These foods, while not inherently 'bad' (or fattening), can be problematic because:⁣
⁣
𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲. ⁣
⁣
Calorie density is a measure of the calorie content of food relative to its weight. ⁣
⁣
For example, there are ~50 calories in 100g of apple–a low-calorie density. While there are ~500 calories in 100g of chocolate–a high-calorie density. ⁣
⁣
If you’re constantly eating calorie-dense foods, it’s going to be much harder to control your daily intake. ⁣
⁣
𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. ⁣
⁣
Contrary to the claims that sugar is 'addictive', sugar alone isn't very palatable and tends to follow an inverted U-curve: preference for sweet taste increases with added sweetness and then declines when the product is perceived as too sweet (known as the "hedonic breakpoint"). ⁣
⁣
But Interestingly, when you add fat to sugar, the hedonic breakpoint no longer exists and people continue eating. As researchers from one paper noted, "For both normal weight and for obese subjects, hedonic preferences for taste stimuli were a joint function of sugar *and* fat content." (Emphasis mine.)⁣
⁣
So it's not sugar on its own that's the problem but heavily processed hyper-palatable foods. ⁣
⁣
And yes, you *should* reduce consumption of these foods because they make it very easy to consume too many calories.

Most of us sit all day.

Our shoulders round, our head shifts forward.

Our hip flexors get short and tight. This tightness causes dysfunction in the pelvis, glutes, and hamstrings.

Basically, it kills us - slowly, painfully, day after day. 😵

But you have the power to counter this deterioration! Small actions, done consistently, can help reverse this downward spiral and prevent it from hurting you in the future.

🕺🏻 Sit less! Try to get up and move around as often as you can.

🧎🏽 When you are sitting, try to sit up tall, with shoulders back and down. Look for alternative seating that allows you to change your position, kneel, etc. When you are standing or walking, same idea; big chest, shoulders back and down.

💪🏽 Get stronger. Work both pushing and pulling movements to keep the shoulders healthy, and get the posterior chain active with glute and hamstring work.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Improve your mobility. Move in full ranges of motion, using a variety of weights, rep schemes, and modalities. Challenge your body and mind with new things, and choose to get better at them.

Learn to be as comfortable and confident moving in your own body as you are when you’re driving your car.

Posted • There is no success with growth. There is no growth without struggle. While we want to run from the pain, it's only by working through it that we grow.

Full episode: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project/daniel-gross/

Posted •

You can squat below parallel.⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
And if you have the adequate range of motion, you should.⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
Stopping a squat at parallel places more compressive forces on your knees than going below parallel.⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
There are reasons you might be struggling to get below parallel, but protecting your knees isn’t one of them.⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Loading full ranges of motion - with appropriate progressions and technique - improves flexibility, mobility, stability at joints and overall strength. ⁣
⁣
Happy hump day, do your squats.

Posted •



YOU control where you go from here. Where do you want to be?

After a long, cold winter, we are STOKED FOR SUMMER! 🌞

💪🏼😄 Want to start the season feeling strong, healthy, and confident?

Commit to yourself for six weeks and see what a difference it can make! Join the STOKED FOR SUMMER challenge at Berkembang and get yourself geared up for the season!

STOKED FOR SUMMER is a 6-week challenge; each week costs $185. If you pay up front, you get 10% off! ($999 vs $1110 for the weekly option). If paying the weekly option, you are welcome to pay only for the weeks you want and skip the weeks you don’t!

EACH WEEK from May 1st through June 11th, you will receive:
🏋🏽‍♀️ THREE 45-minute in-person training sessions
~AND~
🏠 THREE conditioning pieces designed for you to do at home.

We will focus on strength and quality of movement during in-person sessions; at home, the conditioning programming will get your heart pumping and improve your cardiorespiratory fitness.

Each week there will be three cardio pieces - one short (~10 minutes), one medium length (~15-20 minutes), and one longer workout (~30-40 minutes). You will learn how to approach different timeframes with different intensities; shorter ones are more about power, while longer ones are more about endurance.

🤔 But what is a “cardio” or “conditioning” piece?
A workout that elevates your heart rate, gets you huffing and puffing, and improves your cardiorespiratory fitness.

🤔What kind of equipment is needed?
Nothing! BUT, if you have some items at home, they can be included.

🤔What if I have injuries/limitations?
No problem! Customization options are always provided.

Here are a few examples of what you might see:
SHORT - 7 Rounds of: Row/Jump Rope/Bike/Sprint for 30 seconds; rest 30 seconds.
MEDIUM - As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of: 30 squats, 20 push-ups or shoulder taps, 10 v-ups.
LONG - Run, bike, row, or power walk for 35 minutes. Every 5 minutes, starting at the beginning, perform 20 walking lunges.

This combination of muscle-building strength work and huffy puffy conditioning pieces will provide the perfect combo of stimuli to stoke your metabolic burn 🔥!

Get STOKED FOR SUMMER! 🙌🏼

We are all a work in progress. We all have to start somewhere.

It begins with the decision to try.

You will feel intimidated. Maybe excited. Afraid. All of those things are NORMAL!

It could be choosing to start working out, changing careers, or learning a new language. If it’s new to you, it’s impossible to feel confident, and THAT’S OK!

Recently I made the decision to try yoga. Yoga has always been intimidating to me; while I feel at home in the gym, yoga has seemed unapproachable. The quiet, the slowness...the stretchiness...🥨😳...if I don’t like sitting still, I’m not very flexible, my back is crooked, I’m no lithe 20-something, and I have injuries that have haunted me for over a decade - why would I even attempt yoga? 🙈

It’s BECAUSE of all those things that I try.

It will only benefit me to try something new; to attempt to calm my mind, to slow down, and to work on these physical things that are a challenge for me.

Being humbled is an opportunity!

Case in point, my first somewhat successful attempt at a crow pose. It’s not anywhere close to perfect - I’m not in the best position, and I couldn’t hold it for very long...but that’s to be expected, because this is NEW to me! I have been trying - unsuccessfully, and often hilariously - to balance AT ALL, so for me, this moment = progress! (side note: the Unity mat from does a great job of keeping sweaty hands like mine from slipping💦!)

I say all of this to remind everyone that we are ALL A WORK IN PROGRESS. You might be intimidated to try something because you aren’t good at it, or it might be hard, or you might feel like people will make fun of you because you’re just starting, but don’t let those feelings hold you back from taking that first step! Do it for YOU!

Before you know it, you might be the veteran helping someone else begin their journey! 🤗

Posted • Wednesday Wisdom all up in yo face

Movement is life. It is at the heart of health, happiness, fitness, and longevity.

Unfortunately, many of us experience pain and dysfunction with various aspects of our movement. We can’t move in ways that we want to, and as a result, we become unhappy and frustrated. We move less and less, but the pain and dysfunction remain. This is a downward spiral...and it doesn’t have to be this way!

I spent this last weekend attending the Active Life Seminar from - and are exceptional instructors, and provided a thorough introduction on how to properly assess movement limitations, eliminate pain and improve function.

I have wanted to expand my knowledge in this direction for a long time. If I can help my clients out of pain; to improve their movement patterns and live happier, healthier lives as their BEST version of themselves - that is my ultimate goal as a coach!

I’m so passionate about bringing this level of service to Berkembang that I have also signed up for the Immersion Course that begins in a few weeks. It’s a more in-depth, 13-week program that will give me even more tools to benefit each and every client.

I’m STOKED for all of the great things coming our way, and I hope you are too! Look forward to some brand new assessments and challenges in our STOKED FOR SUMMER programming cycle, coming this May!