Eat The Frog Fitness opening location in Hamlin

Ready to make a leap forward and get in shape?

Eat The Frog Fitness plans to open its new Hamlin location in late fall, giving Horizon West residents a place to chase after their fitness goals.

The location is set for a space between Abbott’s Frozen Custard and The Pizza Press in the Hamlin plaza off New Independence Parkway.

It’s a boutique fitness franchise that’s picking up steam in Central Florida, with new locations set for Oviedo and Maitland, as well.

“What makes it super special is the fact that we are a boutique fitness studio and we offer classes 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Studio Manager Dominique Gobeil said. “That means people can come in at any time of the day and take a class. Some of the classes are live-coach led — so real people and personal trainers are leading those workouts — and then we have, during the not-so-busy times of days, virtual coaches.”

The latter is led on screen through Tad — an animated, green instructor that walks you through the workouts and the proper form.

Gobeil said the equipment used at Eat The Frog Fitness also is unique. There’s an emphasis on low-impact machines, so rowers and bikes are used for cardio instead of treadmills, she said.

For strength sessions, Eat The Frog Fitness uses TRX cables, sandbags and Nubells, which are circular dumbbells that go all the way around the wrist to keep the weight evenly distributed and prevent wrist-joint pain.

They’re all decisions made by  Bryan Clay, a decathlete, 2008 U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist and Eat The Frog Fitness co-founder. He wanted the studio to reflect his own workout regimen when he started the company alongside business entrepreneur Joe Culver. 

“He has an Olympic style in the workouts itself, but it’s not made just for athletes,” Gobeil said. “It’s created so that beginners and athletes can both take advantage and gain from the class.”

Gobeil said new members get a free fitness assessment at the beginning of their membership, thus developing an eight-week program to work toward whatever goals they might have. 

Members can take three different styles of classes: Strength, Cardio and FlexCore, which focuses on power, agility and core strength. Heart-rate monitors — or Frog Pods — also are used to keep track of how hard everyone is pushing themselves during a class, allowing trainers to customize programs even further for members.

“(Coaches) can figure out where their starting point is, and every eight weeks they can take another fitness assessment and customize a program to make sure they are reaching the top of their game,” Gobeil said.

But what’s the story behind the name “Eat The Frog Fitness”? Gobeil explained that it’s derived from a Mark Twain quote that goes, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.”

“What we ask people is, ‘What’s your frog?’” Gobeil said. “For a lot of people, your ‘frog’ is fitness. Fitness is something that’s really difficult, it’s a challenging task to get through in a day, so we try to explain to people, ‘Hey, if fitness is your frog, come in, it’s an hour class, you do it and for the rest of the day you feel great.’ Even if you do it at the end of the day, you know that you’ve accomplished something that will be a positive impact for the rest of your life.”