Fitness for Life
By Maggie Caldwell
Seascape Village Fitness Center evolved when Jim Tucker saw a need for people to safely continue their physical fitness journey after completion of physical therapy. Jim, who is Board Certified in Orthopedic Physical Therapy, spent seven years at Watsonville Community Hospital before opening Seascape Physical Therapy in 2003. “There was a need for a quality personal training center that specialized in safe, sustainable fitness for adults,” he said. He and his family – wife Kathy, a RN and Massage Practitioner, and daughter Erin, a Personal Trainer – opened Village Fitness Center in 2012 as the solution to community’s fitness needs. Members have access to a range of classes, private and semi-private personal training, massage, nutritional counseling, and most important of all: highly qualified and supportive therapists, personal trainers, and staff in a community-oriented atmosphere.
Individualized Assessments
Before any actual training takes place, Jim meets with each new client for an individual assessment. He takes a medical and physical history and discovers his or her level of fitness. “I look for prior injuries, weakness or tightness, imbalances and postural asymmetries, he explains. He also writes precautionary notes and other considerations and creates a client file that is then accessed by the personal training staff to provide individual support. “We meet you where you are and bring you to a reasonable level of fitness.” he says. “Our job as trainers and therapists is to guide people in the right direction.” Jim oversees and meets with the training staff on a regular basis to follow up on members’ progress. “I take what I do as a physical therapist and bring it into a fitness realm. We work on an accountability and support system with goals-focused and results-focused training.”
Functional Training
Because Jim sees fitness from a physical therapist’s perspective the focus is on safe, function-based training. What does that mean in practice? Workouts consist of a vast array of compound movements that are designed to integrate different body parts and muscle groups at the same time. The Personal Trainers utilize boxes, bands and balls, free weights, suspension trainers, foam rollers, kettle bells, and a turf track to work on balance, flexibility, coordination and functional strength. “Everything we do is scalable,” Jim points out. “Members are taught how to identify their own abilities, and how to safely work around their personal limitations, like learning how to do squats and lunges safely despite have arthritic knees, or how to build total body strength while at the same time, protect an old injury.”
Nutritional Support
Weight loss is all about exercise and diet,” Kathy points out. “However, a bad diet will always win” she says. To help their clients with nutrition and diet support, Village Fitness Center offers two different programs. One is a three-month intensive program with weekly meetings. And this year they are introducing an online nutrition support program. “We’re committed to promoting long-term, sustainable healthy lifestyles. Just get in the door and we’ll take care of the rest!” she says.
Community Support
Seascape Physical Therapy & Village Fitness Center participates in numerous events to benefit the community, for example, Kathy is on the board of the Santa Cruz Children’s Charity. “We hold one fundraiser for them every year, a beauty bash,” she says. They are also the official sponsors of Run for Rio Del Mar Elementary School, and they host an annual dance party to raise money for Relay for Life. “Last year we raised over 25 thousand dollars combined for these local organizations,” said Jim.
“We really love it here,” says Kathy. “We’ve embraced the saying ‘It takes a Village.’ Our training center offers such a community experience. We have all ages and stages working out and everyone is comfortable together. Members, both young and old, often help each other during the training sessions. It’s really beautiful to see.” Come see for yourself what makes Seascape Village Fitness Center so special and start your path to fitness and a healthier lifestyle today.
•••
Village Fitness is located in the heart of Seascape Village in Aptos. They offer private, semi-private, and group training with various levels of membership to meet a variety of budgets. Massage, physical therapy, and nutritional support services are also offered. Hours are 6:00AM to 7:00PM Monday — Thursday. 6:00AM — Noon on Fridays, and Saturdays. Visit them online at www.SeascapePTandFit.com or call them at 708-2323 (fitness) or 687-0985 (physical therapy).