CLEVELAND — A relatively new type of workout is allowing people to jump and fly through the air, all while being low-impact on the body.
Innovative Fitness in Cleveland is aiming to be just that: innovative.
Some of the classes they offer, including “Jump Fit” and “Bungee Fit” fall under the category of rebounding, a type of aerobic exercise performed while jumping.
Nicole DeCore is the owner of Innovative Fitness, which launched in 2016 and has recently expanded to a new space.
“It’s been like my baby since we started in 2016,” DeCore said. “And it’s hard for me to be away from it. I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into building this.”
The year of 2020 had its own challenges, but DeCore was fighting for more than just trying to keep her business afloat during the pandemic.
On New Year’s Eve of 2020, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I had bilateral breast cancer,” she said. “I had a mastectomy at the end of January last year and I went through chemo for six weeks.”
To some, working out while going through something that major may sound crazy, but to DeCore, her gym, along with her husband and kids, were the only things that kept her going.
“As much as I needed to show them that I was still around and that nothing’s gonna keep me down, I needed them to help keep me pushing,” DeCore said. “I needed their energy as well.”
She was back in her Kangoo Jump boots only a month after her mastectomy.
Her gym is one of the only places she goes where her cancer isn’t top of mind.
“They all thought I was crazy,” she said. “I had to get out of bed to get here, but once I got here, all the women here and all the instructors are so empowering and uplifting and positive. And that’s where I needed to be. I felt like getting here was, it is my happy place.”
Her “Jump fit” and “Bungee fit” classes may look intimidating to some, but they’re designed to be low-impact on the body.
In the Jump Fit classes, participants wear Kangoo Jump boots, which were first developed in Europe in the early 1990s.
In the Bungee fit classes, participants strap into a bungee cord that hangs from the ceiling.
Lesia Hawrylko has been coming to Innovative Fitness for a few months now.
“It’s hard work,” she said. “But I use myself as my own competition. And it took me a long time to get where I’m at now to make it through a whole routine and everything too. But I’m proud of myself and I show up. And that’s what matters.”
She has arthritis in her knees and never thought she’d jump again before coming to Innovative Fitness.
“I’ve ordered workout videos, DVDs,” she said. “I’ve been to different studios and just my knees hurt if I contort them a certain way. I can’t do those moves. And this is so light on your feet. But it gives you such a good cardio workout that I don’t feel at all like I’m cheating myself just because my bones don’t hurt the next day.”
Success stories like that fuel DeCore.
She still has a long way to go with her recovery from cancer. She said she has joint aches and pains from the medication she has to take for the next 10 years to decrease the chance of it coming back.
But her mindset is positive.
She lives by the motto motion is medicine and continues to move her body not only for herself but for everyone at her gym and other breast cancer patients.
“A lot of women that I’ve run into are just like they don’t know where to start, where to exercise, and what to do from there,” DeCore said. “So I would like to create a program here little by little and reach out to those communities and start a breast cancer group where we meet maybe a few times a week or twice a week where it’s just those women and I’m helping them rebuild and get their muscle back and their energy back, get their endurance back.”
She wants to help inspire everyone, despite their challenges, to jump over life’s hurdles and feel free again.
Innovative Fitness Cleveland also offers Drum and Tone classes and is neighbors to DeCore Martial Arts.
For more information about Innovative Fitness Cleveland visit here.
