Kim Musikant

When one door closes, another one opens was a common phrase we heard from many people when we left our jobs to pursue starting our own business. One year later, Active Life Fitness was born, and three months after that, our gym was destroyed by a fire. When one door closes, another one opens was, once again, a phrase we clung to and believed to be true. But today was the first time I ever heard from someone, “Why didn't you take the insurance money and run?” The thing I love about 90-year-olds is that they tell it like it is, and they don’t care how it sounds. My answer to this particular woman was, “I guess if we had felt that we made a mistake in opening Active Life Fitness maybe we would have, or if we had been in business for a while and were feeling burnt out, this may have been an option, but we don’t fit the description of either of those things.” I told her we love what we do, we love being in business together (although that does have its challenges), and we have...

I recently attended a workshop in New York City led by Phil Scarito, one of 12 master trainers in the world at StrongFirst, founded by Pavel Tsatsouline. In the world of kettlebells and martial arts, he is, like Madonna, recognized by one name: Pavel. He started the Russian Kettlebell Challenge, an advanced kettlebell training certification, with Dragon Door in 2001. Dragon Door is a website and publishing company catering to general health, weight loss, and fitness. Pavel has written many books and articles, he’s involved in martial arts, and he was the physical trainer for the elite Soviet Special Forces Unit in the 1980s. The physical challenge involved in obtaining a Level 1 certification through StrongFirst is intense, so imagine for a moment the level of strength Phil must possess as a Master Trainer or a trainer who trains trainers. One of the points he made was that being pumped or built or huge doesn’t always equate to being strong. Phil was about 5 foot 4 inches tall a...

On the day of our Grand Opening Celebration, my husband and business partner asked me if I was going to be saying a few words that evening. I was annoyed at myself for not preparing something ahead of time but responded to him by saying, “No, I forgot”. I have always been petrified of public speaking and looking back on all of the preparations for the grand opening, addressing the crowd didn’t even enter my mind. Denial perhaps? The land of denial is a powerful place to be but it was time for me to leave the land of unicorns and rainbows to face the truth and face my fears. The issue I have always had with public speaking is that I cannot stand what happens to me beforehand; the nervousness, the gripping fear, and the increased heart rate. This is precisely what happened to me when he merely asked the simple question “Will you be saying a few words tonight sweetheart”? I have purposely avoided this activity my entire life except when I am forced to introduce myself at workshop...

Is that your cell phone? Who is calling us in the middle of the night? I turned over in bed to find my husband looking out the window. He said,  "There's a cop at the door." My heart sank, and a flood of adrenaline pumped through my body.  Before I could remember if any of our teenage children had gone out the night before, I was already up the stairs doing a headcount. Everyone was home.  I knew that I could handle any news after that. We went down the stairs and opened the door. "Do you own a business on South Avenue in Garwood?" "Yes," answered Marty. "There is an active fire in the area." "In the area?" He didn't have any other details. Maybe it's Taco Bell, I thought....that stuff is terrible for you anyway. We were in the car within minutes, parked the car, and headed toward the flurry of activity. A woman with a warm smile and calm demeanor asked us if we wanted a cup of coffee. I found myself unable to answer ...

Marty and I discussed checking out Crunch in Garwood and had some errands to run yesterday, so we decided to put on our workout clothes and pop over after we were done. When we arrived, we stood at the front desk, scanning the room while patiently waiting for someone to acknowledge our existence. In our opinion, if a potential member is not greeted within the first 10 seconds, it is one second too long. We were finally greeted by Jacklyn, a warm, upbeat 25-year-old woman.  Jacklyn's personality made us quickly forget how long we were waiting. "Are you guys being helped?" she asked. We answered appropriately. "Have you guys ever belonged to a gym before?" was the next question. We paused for a moment, looked at each other as if we were dreaming, and finally answered with, "We own a gym." Her confusion quickly turned into empathy when we explained that our brand new gym was destroyed by a fire last Saturday. As she showed us around the facility, she ...

Twelve years ago my world came crashing down on me.  All of my hopes and dreams for the life I had planned were shattered.  My marriage was over, and I had become a depressed, angry, exhausted mother of three children under the age of seven.  My self-esteem was at an all-time low, and I knew I needed to make some changes. Although I was always physically active, I preferred running outside and exercising in my living room.  I needed a change and some adult interaction, so I joined the Westfield area Y. I took a lot of classes and continued to run, but it wasn't until I hired a fitness coach, who gave me guidance and motivation and started me on a resistance training program, that my fitness began to soar! As my body became stronger, so did my mind.  As a result, my confidence rose, my outlook on life became more positive, and my future seemed more hopeful. My passion for this new found “strong body strong mind” connection was thrilling and I wanted to s...

I love dreaming about possibilities for the future and goal setting. I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions because it means that something I like to do only happens once per year. We all have the power to make choices every single day to start a new plan, so why limit that to once per year? For most people, these resolutions have to do with fitness and nutrition. To me, it is similar to the "I'll start my diet on Monday" way of thinking. Waiting for a New Year or waiting for a Monday does not allow you to start now. So I say, start now, but this time, don't stop. If we hadn't stopped in the first place, we wouldn't have to start again! For most people, starting is the hardest part. I have spoken with many people about their diet struggles, and one of the main reasons they stop is because of setbacks. Setbacks for most people equate to failure but, let me assure you it's not. It's called being human and living our lives. I usually te...