{"id":322169,"date":"2020-05-04T06:06:19","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T20:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=322169"},"modified":"2020-05-04T06:06:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-03T20:06:19","slug":"keeping-sturdy-the-spirit-of-marianas-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/keeping-sturdy-the-spirit-of-marianas-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping sturdy the spirit of \u2018Marianas Strong\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Sami Birmingham is shown doing kettlebell swings as part of her online class called \u201cToilet paper TABATA.\u201d
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last of three part<\/em><\/p>\n

With the stay-at-home directive due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the best time to start your journey to physical wellbeing since you can do it right in the comfort of your own home.<\/p>\n

Derek Cutting<\/p>\n

Thanks to Latte Built-24 Hour Fitness & Nutrition owner Derek Cutting and one of his instructors, Sami Babauta-Birmingham, they keep the fitness fuel burning and transforming people to take charge of their own health and bodies by offering free fitness classes online.<\/p>\n

Cutting became a professional personal trainer 10 years ago in Florida. He then brought his training business to Hawaii in 2013 and finally, moved to Saipan in 2015 and started a boot camp called \u201cLatte Built Fitness & Nutrition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026It has been a great way to help hundreds of people every day with their fitness and nutrition goals. \u2026When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out worldwide, we were forced to shut down our physical locations due to the large crowds that our 24-hour gyms naturally generate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of our class instructors, Kerri Bauer, began offering her \u2018Yoga, Pilates, & More\u2019 class live on Facebook, as a way to continue to be there for her regular class participants. We, as a team, began discussing ways to expand on this idea and how we can give back to anyone from around the world who may enjoy following along with an online class. From that it evolved into multiple types of classes being taught live online six days a week by four different Latte Built personal trainers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The community can join the free online classes, which may be accessed through the Latte Built Facebook page. Yoga classes are every Monday from 7:30am to 8:30am; Wednesday is \u201cQuarantine Quickie\u201d from 7:30am to 8am, Thursday is \u201cYoga Core & More\u201d\u2014all with instructor Kerri Bauer.<\/p>\n

\u201cTP-Tabata\u201d is every Tuesday from 7:30am to 8am with instructor Sami Babauta-Birmingham. Thursdays is \u201cEV-FIT HIIT\u201d from 7:30am to 8:30am and at 6:30pm to 7:30pm with instructor Enrico, and \u201cLB HOME BOOTCAMP\u201d is every Saturday from 7:30am to 8:30am and at 6:30pm to 7:30pm with instructor Alberto.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this time of quarantine, I know many miss their regular schedule of hitting the gym on a daily basis,\u201d Cutting said, hence the migration of their classes online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always loved to see a client\u2019s face when they realize they reach their goals. It is very fulfilling to me to see not only their facial expression, but more so their energy and aura completely change before my eyes and realize I had a part in helping them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For many, the gym has become a type of church, Cutting said, a way for people to release whatever negative energy they may be experiencing and apply it into something healthy for themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to know our Live Page now has nearly 1,000 members following it and doing the workouts from all over the world and it was only launched one month ago,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Babauta-Birmingham<\/p>\n

Sami Babauta-Birmingham got started with Fitness when she was around 17 years old and was one (of two) of the first licensed Zumba fitness instructors on Saipan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI taught Zumba Fitness and Spin at Gold\u2019s Gym and continued teaching Zumba in Guam during my first year of college. A lot of my classes were free at the University of Guam Field House or in support of a fundraiser,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I moved to California, I was able to intern as a group instructor assistant in classes like boot camp, circuit training, and boxing. That\u2019s when I shifted from teaching Zumba to teaching more circuit training style.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a health care professional, having learned public health in college, Birmingham-Babauta promotes physical activity as a means to improve overall health\u2014to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases, lower blood pressure, improve heart function, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaying active is one of the best things you can do for yourself, and it\u2019s completely free at Latte Built online classes every day. \u2026I work with people to encourage making exercise a part of their daily routine and to see it as something as important as eating lunch, taking a shower, or having your morning coffee,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they move from seeing it as a \u2018chore\u2019 or \u2018cruel punishment\u2019\u201d designed solely to improve physical appearance to understanding the physiological benefit exercise provides and begin to enjoy their body\u2019s ability to be mobile and strong, that brings me the most joy. I think that, during this time, especially the notion of needing a gym disappears and more people are getting comfortable using what\u2019s available in their homes and backyards to get the work done. I love seeing more people empowered to take charge of their health at home,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last of three part With the stay-at-home directive due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}