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Mar 16

Small gym, big results

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FIVE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER at Downsize Fitness. Five days, that is. Five days a week of fast-paced, boot-campy sweat-fests using unique workouts and machinery worthy of pro athletes.

At any given time, Monday through Saturday, trainer and co-owner Chris Gowens is leading a handful of clients to svelter selves, with a few swings of a sledgehammer here, some nautical rope maneuvering there, or a brisk jaunt on a low-impact treadmill. And with thrice-weekly training built into the cost of a membership, it's tough to slack off.

Downsize Fitness cropped up in late 2011 in Las Vegas and Chicago to help people with 50 or more pounds to lose. Founder Francis Wisniewski wanted to create a comfortable environment for overweight clients where motivation was high and judgment was low. Wisniewski, a hedge fund manager who divides his time between Illinois and Nevada, knew it was intimidating to show up at a traditional club, out of shape and surrounded by hardbodies and show-offs. Through his own experience, he recognized a need.

But starting a niche gym wasn't just a business opportunity for Wisniewski. As someone who struggles with weight himself, he knew it was uncomfortable to go to a traditional club in less-than-perfect shape. Last year, Wisniewski lost 60 pounds, and is still working toward his goal weight of 200.

"I was 360 pounds, and I didn't like to go to the gym," Wisniewski says, which is how he started training in-home with Gowens. There was nowhere else he felt comfortable.

Inspired by the NBC TV show The Biggest Loser, in which contestants compete to lose weight, Downsize focuses on slimming down but also establishing healthy habits and a sustainable lifestyle. Diets and surgeries are a quick fix, Wisniewski says, but they don't work over the long haul. What does, he says, is consistency. Having a regular exercise routine and paying attention to nutrition are the two most important factors in losing weight and keeping it off, he says.

Downsize Fitness Las Vegas is located in the Westcliff House business center, on Buffalo Drive near Summerlin Parkway. The center's atmosphere is almost park-like, with lush, green landscaping and quiet walkways, and the entrance to Downsize is discreetly located in the back of the building.

Inside, there are a number of high-tech exercise machines, meant to go easy on the knees, ankles and joints of weight-stressed bodies. The Woodway "Desmo" treadmill, for example, can accommodate a jogger who weighs up to 500 pounds, and a walker who weighs up to 800. There are also elliptical machines, boxing gear, bikes, hand-bikes and rowing machines, which many clients use initially to work the upper body and relieve weight on their lower halves. Connected to the main room is a small room outfitted with a tractor tire and sledgehammers, and a weigh-in room.

Many times, a person's initial workouts start with "functional training."

"Just getting out of bed or getting out of a chair is a workout for people who are 400 pounds," Wisniewski says. For that reason, his gym will start small and work clients up to the point where they can comfortably and safely complete more thorough workouts. Gowens uses a hybrid program of "circular interval training," which uses "circuit training" to work out the upper and lower body separately, and "high-intensity interval training" to shed pounds. High-intensity training burns calories, Gowens says, while low-intensity training burns fat.

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Small gym, big results

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