Meet Wildwood parent Cassie Hecker whose Rockridge and Emeryville gyms can help you reach your 2024 fitness goals.
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From a Piedmont native, Emmy award-winning television journalist-turned-home matchmaker, part-time radio anchor, UCLA graduate, wife and mother of 3.
Wildwood parent Cassie Hecker moved to the Bay Area from Ohio with her husband with a goal to open a gym. She didn’t know anyone but she chased her dreams and this year Sweat turns 10 years old. Learn more about the workout and how to keep those fitness goals you might’ve made for 2024.
LISA: IF YOU HAVE A FITNESS GOAL FOR 2024, LISTEN UP. CASSIE HECKER, THE OWNER OF SWEAT IS HERE TO HELP. HI, CASSIE. HOW ARE YOU?
Cassie: Good. How are you, Lisa?
LISA: SO, WHAT KIND OF WORKOUT WOULD YOU SAY IS SWEAT?
Cassie: So Sweat is high-intensity lifting. We do dumbbells, kettlebells, body weight exercises. Building up the big muscles, but keeping the intensity up. So, you’re also getting a good cardio workout.
LISA: WHO IS IT FOR? WHO CAN DO IT?
Cassie: It’s for anyone. Honestly, it’s tailored towards super busy parents or tech people who don’t have much time. They’ll get a couple of workouts in a week, and they get their cardio and strength training. They get their mobility work in those few precious hours they have to themselves.
LISA: SO IT’S SORT OF LIKE AN ALL IN ONE WORKOUT WHEN YOU COME HERE.
Cassie: Yeah, all in one workout.
LISA: TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO OPEN SWEAT?
Cassie: So I’ve been in fitness for 20 years. I started doing this when I was in college. I worked at the front desk and then slowly got more and more into it. We moved to San Francisco with the intention of opening a gym from Ohio and I just kind of took all the things from the different kinds of workouts I’ve been doing and what I thought was the most effective and efficient for us as busy working parents.
LISA: SO YOU HAVE TWO LOCATIONS, ONE HERE ON COLLEGE AVENUE WHERE WE ARE, AND YOU ALSO HAVE ONE ON SAN PABLO. WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Cassie: Honestly, this one I opened nine and a half years ago and then COVID hit. So we opened up the outdoor one three years ago, and it’s the exact same workout, just indoors or outdoors.
LISA: I KNOW MANY SMALL BUSINESSES STRUGGLED DURING THE PANDEMIC. IS BUSINESS FOR YOU BACK TO WHERE IT WAS BEFORE?
Cassie: Getting close. We definitely have ups and downs, but it’s definitely getting much closer to pre-COVID times.
LISA: A LOT OF PEOPLE MAKE A LOT OF HEALTH GOALS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW YEAR. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE ON HOW THEY CAN STAY ON TRACK?
Cassie: I think it’s best if you set a very specific goal and you set up a system to reward yourself. So maybe that goal is to eat five servings of vegetables every day, and on the days that you do, you give yourself some sort of reward. It could be buying new workout clothes and then the days that you don’t, you just forget them, you ignore them versus punishing yourself. But also people will say, like, I’m going to work out more. That’s just too vague. You don’t win. You need to give yourself wins.
LISA: TELL ME ABOUT YOUR RECOVERY ROOM.
Cassie: So each location will have one private room that you can rent for 30 minutes that will have an infrared sauna and a cold plunge. So the infrared sauna is healing, it increases your metabolism for that time. It improves your immune system and also helps your muscles recover. And then from there, you can jump into the cold plunge.
LISA: TELL ME WHY I SHOULD DO THIS, WHAT WILL INSPIRE ME TO JUMP INTO SOME COLD WATER? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Cassie: The endorphins you feel after you’re out of there, but also the recovery. That shock to your system, that cold, reduces all the inflammation I just put in your body when you lift. It will all be gone when you get out of that tub and you’ll be ready to hit that next workout. But also you want to do it earlier in the day because of the amount of endorphins and adrenaline that you have getting out of there, it’s just like having three cups of coffee.
LISA: CASSIE HECKER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TALKING TO ME.
Cassie: Awesome. Thank you.
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