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CARMEL, Ind.– In college, there was the “Freshman 15” but nowadays we’re hearing more and more about the dreaded “Quarantine 15.” And when it comes to fitness, there are plenty of options out there but do they fit your schedule?
Originally co-founded in 2014 by Olympic decathlon gold and silver medalist, Bryan Clay, Eat The Frog Fitness is a high-tech, personalized group fitness studio that sets itself apart by offering classes 24-hours a day.
We decided to check out the Carmel location — which opened just over a year ago off Pennsylvania Street near Carmel Drive–to see what it’s all about.
We’re hopping back into fitness on this trip In Your Neighborhood.
“Eat The Frog’ is actually a quote from Mark Twain, who said ‘If your job is to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning,” explained Eat The Frog Fitness Carmel owner and general manager, Daniel Frausto. “Which basically means that you have to do the most difficult task of the day first and the day is only going to get better after that… so stop procrastinating and just do it.”
For some, that first task is a workout.
And since not all schedules are the same, Eat The Frog Fitness is open 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, with both in-person coach led-classes and in-studio virtual classes.
“We have 2 big IMAX screens in the room so they can follow the prompt from those IMAX screens,” said Frausto. “The IMAX screens are prescribing the class, how much time you have left of a particular exercise, how many repetitions, what exercise is coming up next and what your heart rate target should be at.”
Four Things You Need to Know About Eat The Frog Fitness:
- Eat The Frog Fitness was co-founded by Olympic decathlon gold and silver medalist, Bryan Clay, in 2014. With studios around the county, Eat The Frog is small group training program offering classes 24/7 through both in-person coach-led classes as well as in-studio virtual classes.
- The name “Eat The Frog” is derived from a Mark Twain quote that says, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning.” Which means—basically— to stop procrastinating and do your most difficult talk of the day first.
- Locally, in addition to the Carmel studio (located at 12751 N Pennsylvania Street, Suite 120), Eat The Frog Fitness also has a location downtown on Massachusetts Avenue as well as a brand new Zionsville location set to open soon. They offer a variety of membership options and if you want to try it out, your first session is always free!
- Many gyms have struggled during the pandemic, which forced fitness studios and gyms to shut down for almost 10 weeks. Frausto says they are taking precautions at the Carmel studio such as limiting class size to 12 people (50% capacity), sanitizing after every class and a daily professional deep cleaning, new state-of-the-art air purifier, mandatory mask wearing in the lobby and other protocols to keep the facility as clean and safe as possible for both members and staff.
The studio itself is divided in two different sides.
“On the right side, we have what you call the traditional side, where we have the low-impact equipment including Keiser spin bikes and Concept2 rollers,” he said. “On the other side of the studio, that’s what we call the functional side. We have TRX straps and Alpha sandbags to do the functional component.”
Classes are about 55-minutes long and differentiated by three different formats: cardio, strength and agility.
During the workout, you can monitor your heart rate and progress on the big screens using their “Frog Pod” heart rate monitor.
But Frausto says the monitoring feature is less about the competition aspect than it is about tracking their effort and progress.
“All of our members go through a fitness assessment so we can understand the baseline fitness level, their fitness goals, and based on that we give them a personalized fitness plan for the next 8 weeks,” he said. “And we continue to reassess every 8 weeks so they can track their progress objectively.”
For more information about Eat The Frog Fitness Carmel, check out their website by clicking here. To see more photos and reviews by local Yelpers, check out their Yelp profile. You can also connect with them on social media via Facebook and Instagram.
If you’re looking for more fitness studios and classes in the Carmel area, check out some of these local hot-spots:
