After 25 years in the industry, nationally recognized fitness expert Chris Freytag has developed a platform to take away any excuse for not getting moving. Freytag, who lives in Wayzata, has been starring in workout videos for 20 years, and is locally known for her expert spots on KARE 11. She writes columns and books for Prevention Magazine, and she still teaches group fitness classes at Life Time Fitness. Two years ago, she expanded her fitness blog, Get Healthy U, into a full platform for all kinds of top-quality fitness content, and she recently launched a streaming service to help women easily access great workouts affordably right on their mobile devices.
“We offer free workouts, tips and nutrition advice. The workouts are either written workouts or short videos,” says Freytag, who now employs three full-time and four part-time employees. “We’ve spent the last two years curating quality, awesome content. We’ve created a huge community through our newsletter as well as our social media,” says Freytag. Get Healthy U reaches over 2 million people a week on social media and over a million people a month via the website and emails. The site also now sells e-books, as well as sports bras, headbands and motivational bracelets. “I also do lots of corporate speaking events,” Freytag adds.
Last January, Freytag launched a new feature on her platform: Get Healthy U TV (gethealthyutv.com) is an online fitness membership, providing full access to a catalog of over 200 full-length workouts for a $59 per year subscription.
Members enjoy workouts from dance to cardio, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to kettlebells, yoga and Pilates. The videos are accessible on a computer or mobile device and can be streamed to a TV using devices like Apple TV or Google Chromecast. All of the workouts are connected to calendars with scheduled workout plans. Members can engage with one another via private Facebook groups, which Freytag says help encourage and keep members accountable. Most of the workouts don't require any additional equipment, although Freytag says a set of hand weights or resistance bands can be helpful to go along with the videos.
Freytag says she hears two common excuses for not exercising. “No. 1 is ‘I don’t have time,’ and No. 2 is ‘I don’t know what to do; I am out of shape.’ So we try to combat that. We try to take away [the time excuse] because, with this, you can work out anytime, anywhere, on any device, and you can be efficient: do a quick HIIT workout and get it in. Our tag line is, ‘It’s not about having time, it’s about making time.’ ”
She adds, “I also tell people to allow yourself to be a beginner. We also have a couple beginners’ programs, and we tell people to take baby steps. There’s not one big thing that gets you into shape or into fitness. It’s a series of small steps.”
If you’re looking for some motivation this new year, Freytag suggests signing up for her free newsletter, which provides weekly tips, at the website here.
