Grant duo creates online fitness program

Shana Kraus and Lauren Klima, best friends from Grant, have created a fitness and nutrition website designed to improve the user’s overall health habits called Fusion Fitness and Nutrition.

Kraus is a registered dietician and licensed medical nutrition specialist. Klima has owned and operated Image Total Fitness in Grant for 16 years, and she is certified to teach group fitness, yoga and pilates.

The two women felt their areas of expertise go hand in hand, and over the years they discussed combining that expertise, but for a long time it did not get further than conversations while training for marathons.

“When we would do our long runs, we would talk about this, and then we would just go on with the rest of our day,” Klima said. “During the pandemic is when we started to talk about it more.”

In April, the talk became more than just talk, and the duo dove headfirst into creating their program. 

In late April, they had a meeting with a representative for their online program. By May they were finishing up paperwork.

Now, the web service and companion app have been developed and Kraus and Klima are excitedly waiting to take the site live.

Klima warns that it is important to be careful when it comes to where people get their nutrition information, and spoke very highly of Kraus’ knowledge and background in the subject.

Kraus says people come across a lot of misinformation regarding fitness and nutrition, so she wants Fusion Fitness and Nutrition to be a place where people can find the proper information and ask questions if people have any.

The program will be available with a membership, and it will provide resources for users to be fit and eat right at any age.

Meal planning will be a portion of the program, and meal plans can be edited and tweaked to fit each individual.  

One of Kraus and Klima’s favorite parts of the program is its ability to create grocery lists with ingredients that can be purchased locally.

“You can find healthy meal options at our grocery store!” Klima said. “You don’t have to buy the shakes, the bars, the supplements.”

While Klima enjoys protein shakes herself, she says it is a whole food approach and it doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be simple, and if it’s not over the top, it can even be fun!

Kraus says making it easy is an important factor to maintaining proper nutrition.

“It needs to be easy to do and maintain so that people can maintain their healthy eating,” Kraus noted.

The program will also include fitness plans, weekly encouragement and follow-up and more to help create an uplifting and educated environment. Kraus wants the program to be like an online support group for people seeking to improve their health.

Kraus and Klima also plan to host in-person events for those in the Grant area to add a personal and local aspect to the program.

Their first get-together, the kick-off to Fusion Fitness and Nutrition, will be a Yogurt and Yoga event where those who participate will taste-test healthy yogurts and have a group yoga session.

The event will be on Saturday, July 25 at 7 a.m. 

If weather permits, the event will be hosted at the park. In the case of inclement weather, the event will be moved to Image Total Fitness.

They hope to do these events regularly once their program gets going, perhaps even once or twice a month.

Overall, Klima and Kraus are excited for the launch of Fitness Fusion, and hope it will be beneficial for the overall health of the community.

An official launch date has not been decided on, but the upcoming program will become available after their first group event.

“Being healthy in total wellness, especially right now, is critical,” Klima said. “We can provide that package.”

 

The Grant Tribune-Sentinel

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PO Box 67
327 Central Ave in Grant
Grant NE 69140