About | 101 Fitness

Melissa

101 Fitness’s best testimonial is owner Melissa-Anne herself. It’s difficult to imagine that Melissa was involved in two, near-death car accidents that severely damaged her lower vertebrae in her lower back. Tired of living with excruciating pain, the live wire who is a qualified architect had almost given up hope till she was introduced to this in Abu Dhabi where she lived with her husband.

Thrilled with her miraculous recovery, she decided to bring the revolutionary concept that is the combination of 25 years of scientific research to New Zealand. A fitting beginning to a fitness regime that is now going strong!

Melissa is the living proof that this fitness regime works. Melissa is also qualified in Exercise, Nutrition and Fitness.

Melissa is available as a Speaker

Melissa Smit, owner of 101 Fitness, has an amazing story and loves sharing it to helps others also lead healthier lives.

A qualified Architect by trade, she at the young age of 21 was struck by some serious health issues and soon thereafter was involved in a major car accident. By age 25 Melissa lived life with daily pain and even simple activities for others her age was out of the question.

How then . . . by the age of 33 . . .had Melissa turned her life around? What is it that got Melissa into amazing shape and living life to the full again?

“I am very passionate about this topic and love helping people. I try to make it as simple and easy as possible to have a healthy lifestyle in this crazy, fast paced world we live in.”

– Melissa

What happened?

In her final year as an Architect student Melissa was confronted with a benign tumor on the pituitary gland in the frontal lobe of the brain (yes, a brain tumor). This resulted in a major brain operation and a long recovery due to the nature of the operation. Later that same year, Melissa was involved in a serious car accident, which led to two vertebrae in her lower back being fractured as well as a broken arm and leg.

Medical professionals galore only helped to control the pain to some extent, but a pain free live was now a thing of the past. Within two years, Melissa had to give up her career as an Architect as sitting in front of a computer the whole day aggravated her back pain and the headaches were now unbearable.

She was 25 years old and felt devastated by life.

What changed?

Melissa and her husband was living in Abu Dhabi at that stage, and Melissa stumbled across a fitness concept that offered training with a difference. Desperate and taking all the medical advice in consideration, she knew that she needed to strengthen her back and core again, but normal training sessions or any high cardio activity was out of the question – the pain was just too much.

Three months after starting this slow movement strength training program, she woke up one morning and realised that the pain was gone! After several years of living with constant pain, she slowly regained her muscle strength and her back and neck pain was becoming fewer and further between. . .

A new passion was born, Melissa completed a diploma in Exercise, Nutrition and Fitness and made it her goal to help other people with similar stories. She was astounded to realise that a lot of people with back and neck problems, did not exercise and was ignorant and what the correct training program could do for them to regain their strength and freedom! Most people believed they could not exercise. The general health and fitness benefits of strength training at all ages, not to mention the results with back pain sufferers, are amazing.

Melissa loves helping people find the answer to a healthier life style with a small time investment of only 25 min once a week.

“If this could help change my life, resolve my back pain and help me loose 10kg

… then it can help you achieve your goals too”.

– Melissa.

101 Fitness was born – Melissa and her Kiwi husband Jay, decided to open their doors in Newmarket, Auckland. 101 Fitness offers a safe and supportive environment to those living with pain and a challenging regime to those who generally want to improve their strength, manage their weight or just be functionally fit for life.

The philosophy behind the training comes from a rehabilitation program used on patients after major physical trauma or with physical challenges. Med-X (a medical grade of fitness equipment) is used and the training is always supervised by a personal training who make sure that exercises is done correctly, takes your personal history into consideration but also make sure that you get the maximum benefit from each training session!

The lower back machine was specifically designed by chiropractors and physiotherapist to isolate and strengthen the lower back muscles . . . say “Goodbye” to back pain!

This training is perfect for anyone who feel they are losing their general strength, want more energy for life, maybe preparing for a wedding and wanting to look fabulous, a busy professional who wants results without all that time in a gym, someone suffering from back pain, concerned over osteoporosis, wanting better general health or wanting to lose weight.

Why get Melissa to speak at your event?

Drawing on her own experience and a multitude of studies and research Melissa shares expert advice on healthy eating, the correct kind of training and how to make fitness fit into our busy lives while delivering maximum results for young and old. She also works very closely with dieticians, chiropractors and other health care providers in finding the right solution for each of her clients.

She attends as many events as she can and loves to share her story with others because she believes she can make a difference in their lives.

Topics Melissa talks on includes:

I don’t have time / It’s too difficult to start:

So often “I don’t have time” or “it’s too difficult to start” stops people from staying healthy and in the long run it costs us dearly . . . but the fact is that in just 25 min once a week, we can make a huge difference to our health and wellbeing AND we can help you stay younger for longer.

Why is muscles to important?
Who can benefit from slow movement strength training?
The benefits of having muscle tone and how this can help you with weight related issues.
Effective training in just 25 minutes a week that will help you regain and maintain your muscle mass.
Benefits of healthy eating combined with the right kind of weight bearing training.

The 3 Pillars of a Healthy Lifestyle

1. Fitness:

How does Sarcopenia (Muscle loss due to aging) affect you?
Why and How to build muscles with Resistance Training to stay younger longer – in only 25min a week.

This section includes a live demo of the extremely efficient style of fitness and is always a bit of fun that everyone can get involved in and learn from.

2. Nutrition

Some basics everyone should know

3. Rest and Recovery

The forgotten but magical ingredient

What is involved?

Each presentation is about 20-30 minutes depending on audience participation and Q&A at the end.

Melissa is an inspiring guest speak at your event, or will share and motivate your staff at office wellness day/week.

“I am very passionate about this topic and love helping people. I try to make it as simple and easy as possible to have a healthy lifestyle in this crazy, fast paced world we live in. I do not do a “hard sell” about my business – my aim is to educate people about healthy living and show that 25 minutes a week CAN keep us fit and younger for longer.”