Kim Musikant

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 share it with others. I be

I was out on one of my thinking walks the other day and was reminiscing about a workshop I had attended the weekend before. At this fitness conference, one of the speakers, Martin Rooney  asked us to do what I thought was a ridiculous activity. He wanted this room full of fitness professionals to stand up, jog in place with our hands in the air and sing the theme song from Rocky. I was remembering how annoyed I was when he asked us to do this. After getting up much earlier than I usually do on a Saturday, driving for about an hour in the cold rain, running through the parking lot dodging big puddles of water, and making my way through the crowd to find a seat, I was looking forward to sitting with my coffee in hand and listening to the presentations all day. I had ZERO interest in participating in this foolish activity. I started looking around the room to see if anyone began to follow his instructions and saw a few who were starting to stand up. I thought to myself, “I am g