Just keep moving
The minutes seem long, but the hour goes by fast at Houston’s female-only Kaia Fit
At first glance, the new Kaia Fit Memorial looks like the least intimidating fitness studio in the world.
The physical space resembles the inside of a shoebox, if it were blown up to the size of a Midtown studio apartment, with pale painted walls on three sides and a dancer’s mirror on the fourth.
In lieu of kettlebells, the instructors at the allfemale studio wrapped sand bags in fashionista duct tape and attached handles to create what they call “hand bags” — little weighted purses to be used in arm and core exercises.
And the music of Katy Perry is bumping through the speakers. So, how hard can this be? As hard as you want, and maybe even harder, says Katie Wauters, the studio’s fitness director, as she begins teaching her Monday morning crosstraining class. The hourlong class kicks off with a few minutes of jogging around the room’s perimeter. And when you’re running for time, it doesn’t matter if your space is the size of a minivan or a football field: Your legs still know they’re moving. And while there are plenty of 10-second microbreaks throughout the hourlong class, your legs are moving for just about the entire time. Once the warmup is over, Wauters asks class members
to walk it out while she runs down the menu of workouts for the first few minutes. The class is circuit-style, meaning that while one member is working on lunges, another will do hand bag swings, while still another performs squat thrusts. After a minute at one station, class members shift over to the next.
And while the minutes can feel excruciatingly long, the hour moves by swiftly.
On Monday morning, there are six stations and five class members. But Wauters is hoping these numbers will grow, soon.
“We’re working on building our membership base now, and when we have enough people, we’ll do more,” says Wauters, who envisions adding new classes to her current lineup of cross-training, yoga and power hours. In the future, she’d like to add barre, dance and even triathlon training classes, which have been launched in other Kaia locations.
While this studio, on the Katy Freeway is the second Kaia franchise in Texas and the first in the Houston area, it joins a rapidly growing sisterhood. Nationally, there are about 60 locations, with the highest concentration in California, and a few outliers in Hawaii, Colorado and elsewhere.
And while bootcamp-style programs like Kaia’s cross-training class have been gaining steam in recent years, there’s one thing about Kaia that sets it apart: No dudes allowed.
“It’s group fitness, and you have this amazing community of women behind you, which I’ve always — I’ve done boot camps before, and I’ve taught group exercise, and it’s fun. But I’ve had a lot of hesitant women or people that they might sign up and join, and then never set foot inside again,” Wauters says.
She wanted a welcoming, no-pressure atmosphere for her clients.
“A lot of people, if you’re trying to get an awesome workout, and there’s a man around, it can be awkward. Maybe they won’t give 100 percent, or maybe they want to come in with their makeup on and their hair all done. Here, you have the freedom to collapse on the ground and sweat and cry,” she says. “No judgment. Be whoever you want to be. Grunt.”
And there are plenty of opportunities to grunt. By the end of the hour, towels are moist with sweat wicked from faces, water bottles are nearly empty and legs are shaking.
“I sweat ridiculously,” says Keon Bussey. She’s an instructor herself, who signed up to take the Monday class with Wauters for a quick workout.
“I’ve been in fitness a long time, and this is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done,” she says. “The workouts are never the same, and your body is constantly guessing.”
That doesn’t make it easy, she says. But she grits her teeth through the tough parts and ends with a smile.
“This was a good one,” she says, taking one last slug from her water bottle before walking through the exit. “I feel good.”