BUCKHANNON – MOVE 304 is no 21-day fix, and they definitely won’t ask you to eliminate carbohydrates from your diet.

The nutrition and fitness coaches at MOVE 304 are instead focused on three ideas: sustainability, accountability and community – concepts they believe enable people to maintain healthy bodies, minds and spirits for the long haul.

The newly remodeled gym, located in Traders Alley, staged a soft opening Nov. 2, 2020 for members of its predecessor gym, Almost Heaven CrossFit. Nutrition and fitness coaches Taylor Foster and Jena Fealy and owner Rick Johnson say with the freshly updated renovations and sparkling new equipment came an opportunity for them to forge a whole new attitude and model around fitness.

They’ve done that by offering group functional fitness classes, one-to-one nutrition coaching and individualized personal training, all of which emphasize a holistic model of health and aim to aid people in developing healthy habits that stick.

Foster, who owned Almost Heaven CrossFit, said when the former gym was forced to shut down amid the COVID-19 pandemic in March, it provided a much-needed time for introspection.

“I had just run myself into the ground with the prior gym,” she said. “I had definitely done too much. When I looked at my own health and what I was providing for other people, it just didn’t match up. MOVE 304 came at a time when we were trying out this virtual world, and I quickly saw that virtual fitness didn’t suit me. We were all fatigued and burned out from COVID and trying to keep things going in general.”

Foster said Johnson’s willingness to take the reins as far as gym ownership goes, allowed her to focus on what she does best: coaching.

“What I’m good at is coaching. What Jena’s good at is coaching, and COVID came as an opportunity to step back and look at [ownership] and also this virtual world of fitness, and I decided it wasn’t for me,” she said. “Community is so, so important, and that was such a big factor for all of our people because there is success when you come together versus what you will do on your own. That’s what we’re good at, building relationships, and this is a relationship business more than anything else.”

MOVE 304 has three fitness and nutrition coaches, including Foster, Fealy and Lukas Samargo.

Through individualizing nutrition and personal training plans, encouraging people to look at their sleep hygiene and overall wellness and creating accountability, Foster, Fealy and Johnson said people who join MOVE 304 have a much greater chance at achieving their long-term fitness goals – and maintaining them.

“In coming back in, our whole goal is to keep it more individualized and not return to hordes of people coming through the door. Many times it felt like after we sent members into classes, we would lose touch with them and in turn, they lose that accountability,” Foster said. “We’re opening up a set number of memberships per month, so for nutrition, we opened up eight spots for January, and I think it is going to allow us to give each person the support they need. Our goal is for MOVE 304 to be able to grow alongside our coaches and members.”

Johnson said the gym wants to grow at a realistic, sustainable pace.

“We want to grow at our own pace,” he said. “We don’t want to wear anybody out or burn anybody out, and we want to give our clients as big a bang for their buck as we can give them. We want to keep it real.”

Framing nutrition and fitness as two pieces of a complementary puzzle is a something Foster said she felt Almost Heaven CrossFit didn’t stress enough.

“One of the things I felt like we dropped the ball on before was nutrition because people came through the door, and we focused only on movement. We were really good at getting them to classes, and really good at checking in on them if they weren’t coming to class, but the other 23 hours of the day weren’t getting enough attention.”

“Before, we’d see people stall out,” she added. “They would have three months of hard work in, see improvements and then they’d get to that point where fitness wasn’t enough by itself. You have to tie your diet into it. The addition of our nutrition program also helps us reach more people because not everybody is looking for the group classes or the personal training. You don’t have to be a member to join our nutrition program, so I am looking forward to how that will help us expand.”

Foster and Fealy say nutrition and fitness fit together and you can’t achieve your fitness or wellness goals by neglecting one or the other.

“That’s the best thing about this, too, is we start by simply building habits,” Fealy said. “I’m not going to look at someone who comes to me for nutrition coaching and tell them, ‘cut out this macronutrient.’ Maybe, we have them drink more water to start out with because a lot of people are dehydrated and don’t get enough water intake.”

One of the benefits MOVE 304 offers is an InBody Scan 270, which provides a detailed analysis of body fat percentage, muscle mass, water weight and much more.

“It’s really just great data to have,” Fealy said. “It’s somewhere to start off at, and you can watch those numbers grow, decrease and move. The scale alone cannot tell you all of this.”

Following an initial nutrition consult about a client’s goals, Fealy said weekly in-person meetings take place as well as scheduled daily check-ins via an app.

“There’s always support,” she said. “We’re their accountability partner because for a lot of people, that’s what gets lost in translation. It’s important in nutrition to be held accountable. It’s also like guidance, and we don’t do restrictive diets.”

Foster said so many people who come in for help have tried every single quick-fix diet advertised and have predictably failed.

“I have a background in disordered eating, and Jena and I have both tried everything under the sun. The more people I talk to, the more we see this is widespread,” she said. “They’ve tried everything that the diet industry or society and weight loss ‘experts’ – the whole spectrum – sell them. They say ‘do 21-day this’ or cut out that food group, and it’s so unrealistic. We are left asking ourselves, what happens on day 22?”

“Plus, then, your self-confidence and your self-esteem are shot, too, because we experience another failed attempt at healthy living,” Foster added. “These quick fixes aren’t systems that are meant to last forever. They’re intended to fail so you will try them again.”

On the strength-building and cardiovascular side of the coin, MOVE 304’s fitness coaches offer personal training, in-person and virtually. In addition, in-person group classes – with plenty of COVID-19 prevention measures via cleaning, masks and not sharing equipment – are held three times a day every day the gym is open at 6 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. MOVE 304 is closed on weekends and Wednesdays for a mid-week deep cleaning.

Johnson said MOVE 304’s ultimate goal is to instill in clients the idea that staying fit and healthy is a lifestyle – not something that can be achieved overnight.

Foster agreed.

“Our biggest priority is for people to work with us and come out with sustainable habits that will last forever,” she said. “You’re making this investment now so you’re not making these investments [in quick fixes or elimination diets] for the rest of your life.”

MOVE 304 is located at 6 Traders Alley. Check out their website, read their blog or sign up for a free introduction here. Looking for more in-depth information? Email MOVE 304 at info@move304.com.