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Business & Tech

VO2Max Fitness Looking to Change Lifestyles in Needham

New studio fitness center brings a wealth of knowledge and a desire to push clients into achieving their goals through exercise and healthier eating habits.

Needham residents may have noticed the posters around town advertising that VO2Max Fitness is coming soon.

Now, in about a month, VO2Max Fitness, a fitness studio, will finally be arriving right here in Needham, and for owners Matthew and Jessica Dupee, it couldn’t be more exciting.

“Jessica and I have been talking about it for about a year-and-a-half now,” Matthew said. “We originally went into the fitness field thinking we would join a franchise, and we explored a couple of franchises that are out there and decided that, while the franchises definitely have some great things to offer, our vision of fitness is a little different than the cookie cutter corporate image.

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“We’re looking at something a little outside the box," he continued. "We don’t believe fitness has to be 40 minutes on a treadmill, an hour on an exercise bike or putting up 200 pounds on a bench press. We’re more into body weight training. You can’t plug any of our equipment in. We don’t believe in long sessions. High intensity, short time. Our motto is ‘train like a boxer.’ In one hour, you’re going to burn more calories than someone working out in a month. We’re going to train like you’ve never see before.”

The Dupees' philosophy is built around training like a boxer and using your own body weight to push yourself physically to the most you’re capable of doing. Clients should expect to do many different things in short periods of time with only a little bit of rest in between. That way, the heart rate will go up and then back down before it goes up again.

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The boxer analogy comes from fighters training in short, intense sessions. A round in boxing is only three minutes, but boxers prepare as if the round will be much longer. They don’t ride a bike for an hour at half speed. Instead, they ride the bike at half the amount of time, but at full speed. VO2Max Fitness will also feature a boxing ring used for training. While it won’t have any contact in it, there will be all sorts of high intensity training taking place in the ring.

A big part of the VO2Max Fitness philosophy is “lifestyle change.” They don’t just do the exercise part of it. Matthew is currently getting certified as a nutritional therapist, while Jessica is currently finishing up a degree before going for a master’s in nutrition.

“When [people] come to us, they’re not just getting 45 minutes of training,” Matthew said. “They’re getting 60 minutes. We’re wondering ‘why are you here? What do you need help with?’ We ask every one of our clients to give us a three-day food journal before they start with us. We offer to go grocery shopping with them.”

“This is not just for people who want to lose weight,” Jessica added. “It helps people in every area.”

VO2Max Fitness also has two highly qualified lead trainers in Michael Shea and Heather Sullivan. Both have multiple certifications and are able to work with a variety of different people on a variety of different things.

With the groundwork for the VO2Max Fitness vision laid, it won’t be long before the doors to their facility at 948 Great Plain Ave. open. For now, renovations are being completed and the expected grand opening is the middle of February.

“We’re looking forward to bringing our philosophy of training like a boxer to Needham,” Matthew said. “I think we’re in this to make a difference in people’s lives. I just think once this place is open it’s going to make such a difference.”

VO2Max Fitness is currently taking new clients. They can be reached through their Web site at http://www.vo2maxfitness.org/.

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