Talking to Jay Kihiu on breaking the fitness mold!
By Keldine Hull
Pacific Beachside Fitness offers a uniquely tailored and holistic approach to fitness and health. Founder and certified personal trainer Jay Kihiu combines High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) with guided meditation that aims to strengthen not only the body but the mind as well.
“It’s a boot camp fitness, but it’s different in that it has a meditative element at the end and in between there’s a workshop,” Kihiu explained. “It’s not just a workout and then one and done. You come back each week and there’s diet tracking. We habit track. I really want to get to the root of how you can put meaningful change in your life.”
The personal outdoor group training classes, which run for 10 weeks, come complete with tracking methods and assessments on the first and tenth class to help gauge each client’s personal progress.
“I’m all about metrics so that means everything from sleep to holistic metrics as well, not just how you’re exercising but also your connection to the community. Are you getting out? What is the quality of your relationships? I really want to look into your life as a whole,” Kihiu said.
Kihiu’s personal fitness journey inspired her to get into personal training and nutrition. “My understanding of health expanded and matured when I realized there are so many other components for wellness and a happy life,” said Kihiu. “I deepened my studies into philosophies surrounding eastern teachings that emphasize peace, meditation, self-awareness and the African values I grew up with that emphasize the important link between community, belonging and wellbeing.”
Kihiu added that each course is driven by evidence-based science. “Quality of life is determined by health of the body, but also more holistic components of a good life we ignore like our connection to others, the quality of our relationships and if we’re prioritizing them, our support systems,” Kihiu explained. She focuses on the individual needs of each client to help them on their journey towards a healthier existence. “I use our time to coach and guide them to get the results they want physically through the workouts and health metric tracking, but I also use exercises to invite them to think about all these other things and how they can set goals to have a holistically richer existence through exercise and self-reflection.”
Pacific Beachside Fitness also offers discounts and one-on-one online holistic fitness coaching for health professionals and emergency service workers like firefighters and EMT’s. “They do so much for the health of others and often neglect their own so this is a thanks to them. Online I offer the same guidance, support, and accountability check-ins as the in-personn classes. I do build a personalized training program, which is even more valuable since it’ll be tailored, so I’m still directing and guiding their fitness journey even if it’s not in person.”
Classes begin this fall in September, and anyone interested in learning more about Kihiu’s holistic approach to fitness can visit pacificbeachsidefitness.com or follow on Facebook.
“At the end of these I don’t want you to just be really fit. You’ll get really fit. You’ll feel better,” Kihiu said.
