Conversations with the Inspiring Lauren Zaslow Saks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Zaslow Saks.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Lauren. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I used to actually hate exercise. In fact, I dreaded it because it was hard, intimidating, and boring! I didn’t have a lot of motivation to do it even though I knew it was important. However, when I began working in an office environment in 2011, I was spending most of the day sitting behind a desk. It was unbelievable how sitting all day behind a desk just zapped all my energy. I reluctantly joined a gym, but since I had minimal motivation and felt clueless as to what to do at the gym, I started with some of the facility’s group fitness classes.

I started exclusively taking Zumba classes, which was like an exercise in disguise. I wanted nothing to do with lifting weights or doing pushups! At the strong persuasion of my fitness instructor, I started branching out and trying different types of workouts, even though lifting weights was so scary to me at first! With the encouragement and guidance from my instructor, I began to feel more comfortable at the gym. And that’s when I really started feeling stronger not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. That’s when fitness really started becoming more of my personal time. The way it helps relieve my stress and anxiety was remarkable.

Now, I am a full-time fitness professional. I am the Group Fitness Team Lead at VASA fitness, and I also teach on-site corporate fitness classes to companies throughout the valley. I am passionate about finding a way to motivate and inspire others to live healthier lifestyles, especially because I know from firsthand experience that fitness is not something that everybody loves.

Last year, I brought that motivating approach to FitPHX, an initiative the city of Phoenix started in 2013 with the goal of improving the region’s health and wellness. In January of 2017, I approached the City of Phoenix with the idea of holding a series of fitness classes in a local park.

I wanted to find a way to make fitness fun, to make it doable for people of all ages and all fitness levels. I wanted to make it more like a party and to take the emphasis away from the exercise and just get people moving and doing something good for themselves.

After securing local sponsorship for the program, the FitPHX Fall and Spring Into Fitness series launched. We have about 150 people who have attended the weekly fitness parties!

The events are true fitness parties! We alternate the fitness formats every week so people get a taste of different types of exercise because not everybody loves dance fitness, not everybody loves muscular conditioning, but they’re all important for overall physical health. In keeping with the goal of being inclusive of all ages and fitness levels, I co-teach alongside multiple instructors who lead the classes with me. Each instructor presents a slightly different series of movements with varying intensity and impact. Every week’s class has a different theme, so people even come dressed in costume to exercise! We have done 80’s night, sports night, color wars, aliens and astronauts, and more!

What I love about the Fall and Spring Into Fitness series is that it brings such a unique event to downtown Phoenix. It gets people of all different ages and different abilities of exercise to come out and have a good time.

Has it been a smooth road?
Creating a fitness business has definitely not been a smooth road! For years, I was teaching fitness classes outside of working a full-time job. That meant early morning classes before work and late night classes at the end of a long work day. Finding the time required for learning new material, memorizing choreography, developing class plans, teaching, and still having time to spend with family and friends on top of working 9-5 was hard! It was a lot of hard work before I was able to let go of my steady office job to turn my side-hustles in the fitness industry a full-time gig.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I hold my primary group fitness certification through the Athletics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and hold multiple specialty fitness certifications including P90X, INSANITY, Turbo Kick, PiYo, Country Heat, Core de Force, HIGH Fitness, and Zumba, I am a Beachbody LIVE! Master Trainer, which means that I teach fitness enthusiasts how to be fitness instructors, and I also help current fitness instructors improve and refine their teaching skills.

I am also the creator and lead fitness instructor of the Fall and Spring Into Fitness fitness series, a program I designed in partnership with FitPHX and the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department. This program really is my passion project. We launched the series in the fall of 2017 and for a relatively new program, this social fitness experience attracts roughly 90-100 participants weekly! It is designed for all ages and all fitness levels and has received significant coverage in the local media. Following the success of this program, I implemented a similar fitness series for downtown Chandler: FitDC. My involvement with these programs allows me to recruit, hire, and train fitness professionals as well as cultivate community partnerships with businesses, sponsors, and employee wellness departments.

Outside of fitness, I worked as the Volunteer Coordinator at one of the largest nonprofit hospice organizations in Arizona. In this role, I not only managed hundreds of volunteers to ensure they complied with all legal and medical regulations, but I scheduled volunteers in around-the-clock shifts at multiple inpatient units valley-wide. Working within the end-of-life setting deepened my appreciation of health and wellness, which led me to seek out opportunities to promote health and fitness in my spare time. In fact, after I resigned from my role in hospice, I ended up returning on a weekly basis to lead weekly on-site employee fitness classes!

In addition to my independent projects through my LLC, Energized By Exercise, I work in group fitness management, where I hire and train fitness professionals, along with coordinating the group fitness services at a local gym in Phoenix. and is a leader in the fitness industry.

Check out my  latest fitness party series: https://bit.ly/2tO0RJA
March 19th – May 21st (Tuesdays, 6-7 at Margaret T. Hance Park: 67 W. Culver St

For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I think women are capable of any opportunity they desire! It may not be easy. It will take a hell of a lot of HARD work, but with enough drive, motivation, persistence, and perseverance, anything can be accomplished.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 14803894367
• Email: energizedbyexercise@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/energizedbyexercise/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/energizedbyexercise/

                        Image Credit:
Full Exposure by Kris Kasas, James Ritter (the photos of me in the black FitPHX shirt)

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