New gym, The Garage, gets people tuned up

Amanda Solomon has been a personal trainer for years and decided to open her gym, The Garage, to continue her passion.

She and her husband used to be personal trainers in California before they moved to Havre, where her husband is originally from. Her husband now works for the railroad, and she decided to continue her work as a personal trainer.

She took on Paula as a client over a year ago and helped her lose 70 pounds.

"I really enjoyed doing personal training, so I just started doing it with clients in town," Solomon said.

She worked with Paula in her home, and in August, they talked about her desire to start group exercise classes. Paula's father, who passed away 10 years ago, left her the garage on 2nd Street, and she suggested Solomon take it and renovate it.

"The garage was just sitting vacant, full of stuff," Solomon said. "That was August we were talking about that, and one month later, we were here. It just happened."

Sept. 23 was her first class and since then, she has found herself fairly busy. Her group classes have become so popular that she has found herself needing to balance time between her new child and still giving quality time to her clients. She said because of this, she is thinking of taking on another trainer.

"For me, it's quality; it's not about the quantity," Solomon said. "It's about people who want to come here, want to word hard and want to get a great workout in."

She said all kinds of people show up to her classes - from beginner to advanced.

She offers two classes so far: bootcamps and high-intensity interval training, or HIIT.

She does not like to waste any time at her gym, she said. This helps with people's busy lives, as they can come in to one of the classes that she holds throughout the day most every day, put in a solid half-hour of exercise and go on with their lives.

"Twenty-five minutes," Solomon said. "You hit it hard and you go home."

The difference between her bootcamp and HIIT classes is boot camp uses the equipment she has around the gym. In bootcamp, you work hard for 30 seconds and rest for 15 seconds, and repeat this for 25 minutes. Every day has variety to work different areas of the body, she said. Mondays and Thursdays, she works people's upper bodies, Tuesdays and Fridays focuses on the core and Wednesdays and Saturdays are lower body.

"What I would love to do is see the group classes grow," Solomon said. "That's when you begin to see commitment and accountability when people are improving each other."

During her classes, she roams and helps people keep motivated or keep their form correct and safe.

She said beginners should not be afraid of coming into the classes like her bootcamps.

"They hear bootcamp and think 'oh, she's going to kick my butt,'" Solomon said. "Which I will, but I'll do it nicely with motivating them, getting them to be their best for that specific day, 'cause I don't ever want them to feel like they ever have to compare themselves to the person next to them."

She said the classes help with people who want to work hard but cannot afford or do not want to pay for a personal trainer, which she still does at her gym. She said anyone interested in hiring a personal trainer should contact her to talk about prices for one-on-one training.

Those interested in getting a free 30-minute consultation to talk about personal training prices and what she has to offer each individual can contact her through her website at http://www.asolomoncoaching.com.