Since its opening on May 1, 2010, Kinetics, a personal and group fitness-training center at 409 Raritan Avenue in Highland Park, has served as a source of inspiration for those in the community to become health-orientated. Founded and owned by Metra Lundy, Kinetics is driven by Ms. Lundy’s passion to be transformative.
“We want to help transform the lives of 8,000 people by 2021,” she said. “We’re at 2,567 or something like that, so we’ve got plenty of time but a good way to go.”
Kinetics’ numbers are evidence that residents of Highland Park have flocked to the facilities. That coincides with Highland Park’s physically active culture, whether that relates to joggers or late-night Zumba classes. Ms. Lundy has witnessed a bump in fitness interest ever since she started Kinetics.
“I definitely think there’s been a shift happening over the last five years in our society that encourages more fitness and better health,” she said.
Ms. Lundy has been involved in healthy living for far more than five years. She has a background in traditional West African dance, which she has been doing since her days in college at Rutgers. Ms. Lundy has a degree in accounting and was pursuing an additional degree in biology, when she was presented with an alternative option for her life. Instead of being a doctor who diagnosed illnesses, Ms. Lundy wanted to work on preventing illnesses.
“I talked with one of my professors about patient care and what it meant to be a physician,” she said, “and I wanted to be on the preventative end of things.”
From that decision, Ms. Lundy started teaching dance and saw 50 people sign up for her first class. That then grew into teaching full time in a shared studio space above White Lotus Home, a job that was in addition to her full-time accounting job at Rutgers.
“I did that (worked two jobs) for one year,” Ms. Lundy said. “The classes were growing, people were showing up, and I was working from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m., or something ridiculous like that. I realized I couldn’t work two full time jobs forever.”
She decided to stick with fitness. Her husband, who worked in commercial real estate, found available space at 409 Raritan Avenue and Ms. Lundy started Kinetics in that location. That move was just over six years ago, and today Highland Park feels the benefits of Kinetics’ permanent presence in the community.
Kinetics’ programming suits a wide variety of fitness needs — residents can learn aerial yoga, kickboxing, or work with a personal trainer. Those opportunities underscore the idea that there are many ways for people to improve their life by becoming more active. Even though she is not a Highland Park resident, Ms. Lundy acknowledged that the town’s avid engagement level made her daily role at Kinetics’ simpler.
“Being in Highland Park is really easy because there is a desire for [fitness],” she said. “There’s also an energy of like mindedness in this town. People care about health and fitness.”
The relationship between business and resident flourishes because Kinetics leads people towards prioritizing health and fitness. It’s a gratifying and rewarding mission, especially when the results indicate success, she said.
“We’re a transformative studio, so my objective is to take you from point A to point B. That happens in a lot of ways — not just physical,” Ms. Lundy said. “It starts physical: getting biceps, being able to squat. But then you start to change and believe you can do things you never thought possible.”
“People like authenticity,” she said. “And when people interact with Kinetics, they feel genuine about changing their lives.”
Kinetics’ ongoing outreach efforts will be on display from September 25 to 30, when the studio hosts a five-day celebration of their Re-Grand Opening at its location on Raritan Avenue.
www.kineticsnj.com/