Tag Archives: Ashley Mentzer

Fit Takes Flight: The sky’s the limit at 2nd annual Thrive Fit Fest.

Photo by Symmetry Co. Photography

June 22, according to Ashley Mentzer, will be “the best fitness day ever.”

Except, when she says it, it sounds like “ev-aaahhh.”

Mentzer, organizer of the 2nd Annual Thrive Fit Fest, said that fitness should be approachable and fun. She pointed to a publicity photo.

“This is what fitness looks like—all different shapes and sizes and body types,” she said. “We’re real people.”

Mentzer, 29, a New Cumberland native, is transforming Capital City Airport’s 16,000-square-foot hangar into “a hub for central PA’s fitness and wellness community.”

More than 60 fitness, health and wellness professionals will converge at the daylong festival to offer sample classes, demos, workshops and info—to help attendees’ health and wellness goals get off the ground.

“You can come whether you’re a fitness junkie or a fitness newbie and find something that challenges and interests you,” said Mentzer, owner of Thrive Fit Co., Harrisburg.

Crunch Fitness, Harrisburg and York, will kick off the day’s main stage festivities with a dance party-inspired workout. Additional main stage offerings include matte Pilates with Mechanicsburg’s Absolute Pilates, yoga with Lemoyne’s Central Penn Health Studio, an arms and abs-focused boot camp with Mentzer’s own Thrive Fit Co., and barre with Mechanicsburg’s and Lancaster’s Pure Barre.

“We were also on the main stage last year, and it was amazing to see so much buzz and energy,” said Laura Deitch, owner of Pure Barre Mechanicsburg and Lancaster.

Deitch said that barre is “inspired by ballet” to tone all areas of the body—upper, lower and abs. She launched Pure Barre two years ago but said that events like Thrive Fit Fest help her to continue raising awareness about barre’s benefits, as the low-impact workouts are accessible to all.

“One of the things that makes me most excited is the community aspect, having conversations with people and giving them the opportunity to try a class at the same time,” Deitch said. “The more we educate people about their options, the better their chance to live their best, healthiest life.”

 

Energetic, Engaging

The 2015 south-central Pennsylvania community needs assessment led by Penn State Health, which is Thrive Fit Fest’s presenting sponsor, found that one-third of residents are obese and about half participate in aerobic physical activity. Health providers listed “poor eating habits” as the top “risky behavior,” with “lack of exercise” close behind.

Shawnna Smith, a nurse at Penn State Health Medical Group Mechanicsburg who is also a certified personal trainer, is on the front lines of area health care.

“Some people understand the link between health and exercise; others have resistance,” Smith said. “So, part of our job is to get to the bottom of why they have that resistance. Exercise and fitness, if you find something you like, doesn’t have to be a chore.”

Besides Thrive Fit Fest fitness offerings, Penn State Health will provide blood pressure screenings, Orange Theory will offer a heart rate workshop, and the Healthy Grocer and Harvest Seasonal Grill will participate with food demos, recipes and nutritional information.

Additional activities will involve prenatal health and fitness, foot scans and workouts on two additional stages. Swag bags given to all attendees will contain numerous free passes or special rates at participating studios and businesses.

June is the perfect time to evaluate fitness goals, Mentzer said, because New Year’s resolutions have likely fallen by the wayside. So, fitness studios generally have lighter attendance, which can mean more focused attention and dedicated time for those who enroll.

About 500 people attended last year’s inaugural event at FNB Field on City Island, including Harrisburg resident Nada Walton, who brought her 11-year old daughter. A former competitive swimmer whose fitness routine now includes running, Walton said she enjoyed investigating cross-training fitness options.

“My daughter and I rocked out to a POUND workout,” she said. “I had never heard of it. We used drumsticks called ripstix, and the instructor [from Carlisle’s Fit Forward] was energetic and very engaging. My daughter was smiling the whole time.”

Walton and her daughter also enjoyed making peanut butter, painting kindness rocks and learning about York Barbell.

Fit Fest tickets are $25. Proceeds benefit the Warrior Princess Project of PA, an organization that collects gently used and new sports equipment and distributes it to area girls (and sometimes boys) to encourage athletic activities. Donation boxes will be located at Fit Fest.

Mentzer said that she was inspired to create Fit Fest after noticing a worldwide trend in fitness festivals, such as the U.K.’s Balance Festival. She predicts that 2019 attendance will double to 1,000 attendees. She has even bigger dreams for future Thrive Fit Fests, including community CPR training, a 5K and “bigger and better” collaborations between fitness studios.

“Removing walls and connecting health and wellness providers in one location takes the competition aspect away and helps people make life-altering health choices,” Mentzer said. “We don’t have to work against each other. Together, we can achieve the ultimate goal of getting people healthy.”

 

Thrive Fit Fest takes place on June 22, 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Capital City Airport, 210 Airport Rd., New Cumberland. For more information, visit www.thrivefitfest.com.

Continue Reading

Fight for Your Might: At Thrive, workouts pack a punch.

When Rob Whitaker of Camp Hill began taking classes at Harrisburg’s Thrive Fit Co., he couldn’t physically complete a class.

“I was not fit at all,” said the 34-year old financial planner. “But when you come from a non-fitness background like I did, you want to be surrounded by positive people.”

Those positive people include his wife (the couple attends Thrive’s 6 a.m. class together twice a week) and Thrive owner Ashley Mentzer.

“Ashley is very optimistic and helps you want to achieve more—not just on a fitness level,” Whitaker said.

He has attended Thrive’s boxing-inspired workouts and boot camp classes for more than a year and is feeling much healthier as a result, both physically and mentally.

“I’m 6-5, a big guy,” he said. “My blood pressure went way down. I lost and continue to lose weight and inches.”

 

Passion, Positivity

Mentzer launched Thrive Fit Co. in 2017 through unconventional channels. She gained a following by holding pop-up classes in public places throughout Harrisburg, such as on the state Capitol steps.

“I started with two people on the first day,” Mentzer said. “It turned into eight and 10 and 20, and, some days, on the Capitol steps, we had 30.”

She began partnering with established fitness studios, hosting classes in their locations, bringing her tribe along.

Last summer, she organized the inaugural Thrive Fit Fest at City Island’s FNB Field. The daylong festival attracted nearly 500 people, who sampled fitness sessions and mingled with more than 60 Harrisburg-area health and wellness professionals.

The momentum continued.

Last September, Mentzer established a home for Thrive Fit Co. in the historic King Mansion on Front Street. Now, more than a dozen classes are offered weekly, including boxing-style HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workouts and boot camp classes targeting strength and toning in specific areas such as arms and abs.

Mentzer, who turns 29 this month, grew up in New Cumberland playing softball at Cedar Cliff, then got into cycling, triathlons and group fitness instructing. She earned her degree in communications design from Kutztown, works in marketing and is now a Harrisburg resident. Where does she get all her energy?

“Finding passion and positivity, seeing how fitness can change lives,” she said.

 

In a Flash

Boxing is a unique component of Thrive workouts.

Mentzer trained under Claudie Kenion at Capital Punishment Boxing Club and became certified to teach boxing two years ago. But there’s no sparring at Thrive.

“I’m not teaching you how to become a boxer,” she said. “I’m teaching you boxing for fitness.”

She said that was inspired by “the hottest studios in New York City” to offer boxing classes with a nightclub vibe.

I sampled her offerings, signing up for a “Box + HIIT” class.

After some quick warm-up exercises in the main studio, where a prominent sign proclaims “GOOD VIBES ONLY,” we moved into the boxing studio, took our places at 16 boxing bags and donned boxing gloves.

Mentzer, wearing a headset with a microphone, dimmed the main lights, launching a party atmosphere complete with dance music and disco lights.

Right away, she taught us proper stance and the one-two combination, a soft jab with the left glove followed by a powerful cross with the right. We quickly progressed into the three-four (left and right hooks) and five-six (left and right uppercuts) combinations, with Mentzer carefully explaining and demonstrating each move. Within a few minutes, she began calling out creative combinations (one, one, two, five, six) with the class punching out her combos for 30 seconds at a clip.

Every few minutes, we broke up the boxing with HIIT movements—100 jumping jacks, squats against the wall, arm circles and more. Mentzer constantly circulated, offering pointers and encouragement, adjusting posture or stance. Enthusiasm was high, and the 45-minute class went by in a flash.

“Once you learn the moves, you become more fluid,” said Emily Menario, 26, of Harrisburg.

Menario never boxed prior to her classes with Thrive, but she was “intrigued” by the concept, she said. A special education teacher for the Susquehanna Township School District, she began taking classes more than a year ago and was hooked.

“People are usually shocked when I tell them the workouts involve boxing,” she said. “But I explain that anyone can do it because Ashley is a highly motivating instructor.”

 

Change Lives

Perhaps it’s appropriate that Mentzer’s innovative fitness concepts are housed in the historic King Mansion, as the 1920s-era, Mediterranean-style manse was actually constructed with athletic components.

The basement, where Thrive is now located, housed the King family’s swimming pool and bowling alley. Today’s parking lot was originally a tennis court. The Kings believed in providing their six children with opportunities for both academic and athletic pursuits.

Mentzer said that today’s boxing studio was specially engineered with shocks to accommodate the weight of the boxing bags. Filled with water, each weighing 190 pounds, they are the only aqua bags offered in the region, she said.

The building’s longest tenant, for 54 years, was the Merchants & Business Men’s Mutual Fire Insurance Co. The King Mansion’s newest owner is Marc Kurowski, a principal at K&W Engineers and Consultants, whose offices are in the building.

Thrive continues to evolve. Mentzer said that heart-rate training, cooking and wellness classes are coming, and the 2nd Annual Thrive Fit Fest is set for June 22.

Her vision for Thrive is ambitious, going beyond just instruction.

“It’s bigger than fitness,” she said. “People coming through our doors want to change their lives.”

 

Thrive Fit Co. is located at 2201 N. Front St., Harrisburg (entrance on the Woodbine Street side). For more information, visit www.thrivefit.co or the Facebook page.

Continue Reading