By Sally Deering

 Photo by  Diana Zuluaga/@dmz75  

After blowing out her knee in freshman year of college, ballet dancer Melissa Morin-Stewart turned pirouettes into Pilates. Owner and founder of Clarity Fitness in Union City, Morin-Stewart offers her years of athletic prowess in ballet, her Bachelor of Science  and Masterâ€s degrees in fitness and nutrition; and her expertise designing fitness programs for corporate America, to her new role as owner of Clarity Fitness, Morin-Stewartâ€s new health & wellness studio in Union City.

Offering choices beyond the gym, and just a few blocks north of the Lincoln Tunnel, Morin-Stewartâ€s Clarity Fitness is a storefront studio on a somewhat gloomy strip of Park Avenue. But that shouldnâ€t deter visitors from venturing in to take a class. Once inside the open space, visitors will find refuge from the wear and tear of city life, a calm and Zen-like atmosphere to stretch, sweat and get in touch with your inner self and outer flab.

Morin-Stewart brings a trifecta of experience and knowhow to her studio and each of her classes – Fusion, Barre, HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and Zumba® offer a total body workout. And she knows her stuff. Morin-Stewart holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition from Rutgers University and a Masterâ€s in Exercise Physiology from the University of Rhode Island.  After 15 years managing and teaching fitness programs in New York City, Morin-Stewart decided to bring her  expertise  to Union City where she resides with her husband Teno Stewart who helps her run the studio.

Morin-Stewartâ€s Fusion class is the studioâ€s signature workout, a mix of yoga and Pilates with strength and flexibility movements.  Barre class incorporates core training with traditional Barre choreography to help people achieve a long, lean, sculpted look. HIIT uses “minimal equipment to maximize the use of body weight and functional movements,” and Zumba® blends exercise with dance. Morin-Stewart offers solo classes at $15 a pop; and for $99 a month, you go as often as you like.

On a recent Thursday morning, Morin-Stewart was preparing to teach Barre when she took a moment to share a little about her experiences transitioning from dancer to fitness instructor and opening her first studio in Union City.

RVO: Hot did you get into fitness and nutrition?

MMS: Iâ€m a classically-trained ballet dancer. That was my extra-curricular. I danced from 3 till I graduated from high school. When I went to Rutgers, I tried out for the dance team. During the audition I hurt my knee badly — I couldnâ€t walk and was on crutches. Once I recovered and was able to function, I realized dancing wasnâ€t going to be my career. For rehab, I had to go to the gym. I walked in and didnâ€t know what I was doing, but I kept going, I asked people at the gym what exercises I should do. It became a weekly routine. It was through that I started to feel better, keep off a little weight. Thatâ€s how I got into health and wellness and declared my major in nutrition.  

RVO: Why did you choose to teach this group of classes at Clarity?

MMS: I have been managing group exercise programs in Manhattan and as the years evolve new classes are introduced in the industry, People in New York City love Barre classes. Thereâ€s no question about it.  Strengthening, yoga, body training and Pilates are popular, too.  For the Fusion class, I wanted to fuse all that together, so that people sweat, get a bit of yoga, mind and body strengthening and have an experience.

RVO: In your opinion, why is it important to exercise?

MMS: The stronger you are the better you are protecting your organs, decreasing your risks for injury, and decreasing your stress. We live in the most stressful area in the world. Exercise does decrease stress and increase serotonin and make us happier. The more we can participate in activities like this, we‘re better setting ourselves up for the future.

RVO: How do you choose your staff at your studio?

MMS: I teach most of the classes. The reason is Iâ€m a small business owner. I do have two Zumba instructors, and I let them take the wheel for Zumba.  I have another Barre instructor who lives in Hoboken. That was one of the things that was important to me, to use local instructors.

 RVO:  Why did you choose Union City and not some trendy town to open Clarity Fitness?

MMS:  I wanted to keep it local and get away from the drama from New York City fitness studios.  Itâ€s very competitive in New York, and it can be over-sexualized. In New York City itâ€s all about what you look like, how many clients you can draw. Thatâ€s what I love about this neighborhood and the space. Nobodyâ€s competing and everybody just wants to feel good and have fun. One of the things I wanted to create is not just, a place to work out, but a place to have an experience.

RVO: What is your fitness/health philosophy?

MMS: Itâ€s not all about how you look, itâ€s about how you feel. Thatâ€s the great thing about the studio. We attract a clientele who are trying something new. We have all shapes and sizes, male and female, and everybody starts at the same place and now theyâ€re getting more fit and feeling better about themselves.

If you go:

Clarity Fitness Studio

3515 Park Ave

Union City

(201) 293-2786

www.clarityfitnessnj.com

ClarityFitness@gmail.com

The post Fitness Specialist & Nutritionist Melissa Morin-Stewart Raises the Barre first appeared on River View Observer.

The blender whirls full blast as Sheldon Hall, owner of Fruteria Juice Bar pops mango, pineapple and papaya chunks into a plastic pitcher for one of his signature smoothies, the Caribbean Queen. Throughout the day, customers stop by the tiny juice bar on Park Avenue in Union City with its green and yellow walls adorned with mermaids juggling fruit, and other eclectic artworks, for one of Hallâ€s delicious – and healthy – smoothies, veggie and specialty drinks.

Hall, 38, opened Fruteria Juice Bar last December and since then, the entrepreneur has been building a close relationship with the local community and a growing fan base, one smoothie at a time.

” Providing people an alterna”tive to whatâ€s out there is rewarding,” Hall says while on a short break from an endless stream of customers. “A lot of people have curiosities about juicing.           I make it accessible.”

Watching Hall create his smoothies is like watching a master mixologist. Fresh fruits and vegetables are tossed into juicers and blenders with options like almond juice, apple juice, passion fruit, pineapple juice and yogurt. Then Hall adds ingredients like fresh veggies, fruits and nuts, and proteins like Irish moss. He pours the concoctions right up to the brim of the 16-ounce cups he serves them in without spilling a drop.

“He knows what heâ€s doing,” Juan Pablo Aguirre, a first-time customer says, after a sip of Hallâ€s Caribbean Queen smoothie with a dash of spinach. “Iâ€ll be back for sure.”

No drink is too complicated for Hall who cultivated a taste for smoothies growing up in The Bronx and drinking them with his dad at the Green Garden health food store. His family is originally from Trinidad and settled in The Bronx before Hall was born.

“I would always go back to the Green Garden,” Hall says. “I would bring high school friends, college friends. If I saw a juice bar, no matter where I was, Iâ€d check it out.”

Hall holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Norfolk State University in Virginia; and a Masterâ€s degree in Graphic Communication Management and Technology from NYU, where he also taught communications. He taught business at Duchess Community College in Poughkeepsie.

Hall worked several years in advertising, including a stint at Time, Inc., but felt a strong desire to open his own business. Changing from a lifestyle of fast-food to healthy eating, Hall thought about having his own juice bar. When he moved to Weehawken a few years ago, Hall reached out to his friend Dawitt from Jahlookova juice bar in New York who taught Hall smoothie mixology and helped him design his menu.  When the storefront was available on Park and 42^nd St, Hall made the entrepreneurial leap from juice bar consumer to owner.

Fruteria Juice Bar offers Smoothies ($4.50), Veggie Juices ($5.50) and Specialty Drinks ($7). Smoothies feature the B Berry with strawberries and bananas; Caribbean Queen with mango, pineapple and papaya; Berry Blast with blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, Mango Tango with strawberries, bananas and mango; and Mellow Yellow, bananas, pineapples and mango.

Veggie drinks are the Hulk Smash with kale or spinach, cucumber, parsley, celery, pineapple and spearmint; the Energizer Bunny with carrots, apples, beets and ginger; the Park Avenue with apples, lemon, parsley and cucumber; and Beet Street, with beets, pineapple, celery and apple.

Specialty drinks feature the Weehawken Warrior: cashews, almonds, pumpkin seeds, ginseng, protein, maca, Irish moss and carrot juice; Mr. Planters: peanut butter, peanuts, banana, vanilla extract and almond milk; Union City Eagle: pumpkin seeds, granola, ginseng, spirulina, maca, Irish moss and carrot juice: the Veggie Berry Blast with spinach or kale, strawberries, banana, blueberries, almonds and chia seeds; and, the Fountain of Youth: spinach or kale, red grapes, banana, strawberries, almonds and maca. You can also purchase plain juice – carrot, apple, beet and orange – for $4.50, or create your own drink from a choice of ingredients on the menu.

Rebecca Toledo, a local resident, stopped in for an “Energizer Bunny” veggie drink and a shot of Wheatgrass. She called ahead and Hall had the drink and shot waiting for her. Toledo describes herself as a juice fan.

“I like the taste and Iâ€m into health,” Toledo says.

After a sip of Energizer Bunny, a blend of carrots, apples, beets and ginger, Toledo says:  “I get one of these in the City, but yours is better.”

To go with the smoothies and health drinks, Hall offers sweets like chocolate chip cookies and cakes created by Weehawken resident Carrie Spindler, owner of the Goodie Box Bake Shop in Cliffside Park.

Right now Hall works seven days a week to make his business a success and heâ€ll be adding more staff for the busy summer months ahead. Fruteria has Wi-Fi and several stools for those who wish to sit, sip and surf the Internet.

A welcome addition to the neighborhood, Fruteria Juice Bar seems to be part of a growing trend of boutique businesses sprouting up on Park Avenue that offer local residents boutique services and products. Ispresso coffee shop a few blocks north on Park Ave serves artisanal coffees in a cool space; and Clarity Fitness a few blocks south offers Pilates, yoga and other fitness classes. These small businesses are specifically designed to give consumers a hip, pleasing and healthy-lifestyle experience that you would find in Manhattan, only right here in Hudson.

“I want people to come in, sit down, have conversations and share thought- provoking ideas about art, design, culture, politics, and music,” Hall says. “Itâ€s not just about the juices; itâ€s about the lifestyle.”

IF YOU GO

Fruteria Juice Bar

4115 Park Ave

Union City

(201) 866-2200

www.fruiteriajuicebar.com

Hours:  Mon-Sat, 10-8

Sun, 11-6

The post Fruteria Juice Bar blends Healthy Drinks with Good Vibes first appeared on River View Observer.

By Sally Deering 

Photos by Sally Deering and Joe Botti

“They used Golden Gloves as a jumpstart to professional careers,” Botti says.

Herkin DeLaRosa, 20, of Union City, has 26 fights under his belt and sees a Golden Gloves title as his opportunity to go pro.

“Everybody wants to be a Golden Gloves champion,” DeLaRosa says. “It means a lot of hard work. Itâ€s like a goal to me. I get to compete in the Nationals.”

DeLaRosa is one of ten boxers at the Union City Gym who will be competing in the 2012 New Jersey Golden Gloves amateur boxing championshipâ€s preliminaries for a shot at the nationals.

The team also includes Felix Tejada, Jose Aviles and Johnny Hernandez of Union City; William Arevalo, Anthony Valentini, Jarrett Blair and Gino Montero of Jersey City; Carlos Lopez of North Bergen; and Hector Melendez of Hoboken.

Melendez, 17, has won 20 fights and two Diamond Glove championships. He also takes AP classes at Hoboken High School and plans to major in economics in college.

“I want 70 amateur fights before I go pro,” Melendez says. “I want to travel, spar in different places. Iâ€m trying to get experience. I only lost one fight. I think boxing will open doors for me.”

Melendez also has high praises for his trainer.

“Joe Botti, heâ€s great,” Melendez says. “Itâ€s not about money; he does this for free. He cares about his fighters. He does a lot for us and we do for him. I fight hard in the ring. Itâ€s my way of paying him back. Itâ€s not always about boxing. Itâ€s about family. Heâ€s like a dad.”

Going for the Gold

New Jersey Golden Gloves is a non-profit organization that promotes amateur boxing, runs local tournaments and sends a team of the stateâ€s best boxers to the Golden Gloves of Americaâ€s national tournament each year. This year, more than 200 young boxers are competing in the New Jersey Golden Gloves which features nine preliminary bouts throughout the Garden State including the bout on Sat, Mar. 24 at the Washington School in Union City. Members of the Union City Boxing Clubâ€s team will be competing along with young boxers from other local gyms including the Bayonne PAL and the Ringside Boxing Club of Jersey City.  Preliminary winners will advance to the state finals held at the Prudential Center in Newark on April 7th.

Boxing Coach and head trainer of the Middletown PAL Dan Doyle of Long Branch is President of the New Jersey Golden Gloves. When he took on the state leadership in June, Doyle recruited a new board of directors which initiated a scholarship program for the stateâ€s most promising athletes.

“We are so excited to be holding our 2012 Tournament of Champions in the Prudential Center, giving our amateur boxers a chance to box in a large arena much like the pros,” Doyle says.  “We hope the public will come out and support these athletes. They have dedicated at least the better part of a year to training for this prestigious tournament.”

Many of the competing boxers are young people from areas around the state that have been hardest hit by cuts to community programs, Doyle says. Boxing clubs like the Bayonne PAL, Ringside Boxing Club of Jersey City and the Union City Boxing Club all provide a training program that keeps young men and women, boys and girls focused on a positive goal while offering a safe environment.

Jose Aviles, 22, is a 2010 Golden Gloves winner in the Novice Division and he will again be competing in the 2012 Golden Gloves preliminaries. In training, he runs 10 laps around the park – any park – and goes to the gym every day from 5 p.m.-to-8:30 p.m. where he shadow boxes, jumps rope, spars in the ring, does three rounds with the heavy bag and three rounds with the speed bag He does sit ups, push-ups and even yoga for stretching.  Winning the Golden Gloves in 2010 was a big surprise. He says: “I never won anything in my life. I got a trophy, a Golden Gloves chain and the option of being a boxer. Iâ€m ready now to go pro.”

And taking some punches is all part of the sport, Aviles says.
“You donâ€t mind taking a punch,” Aviles says. “You gotta take one, to give one. That is the love of the sport.”

The Union City Boxing Club is all volunteer-run; Botti volunteers his time and so do the other trainers. Mayor Brian Stack of Union City donates the space and Union City and the Union City Boxing Club are co-sponsoring the Golden Gloves preliminary event on Mar. 24th at the Washington School and footing the bill for the boxers†uniforms, equipment, and other bout expenses.

The Hudson and Bergen County Electricianâ€s Union, Local 154 will be sponsoring the March 30^th Golden Gloves preliminary bout in Paramus. Proceeds from the ticket sales will go to breast cancer research says Paul Dunleavy of Jersey City, a former boxer who has volunteered his time raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation and is now lending a hand to bring awareness to the breast cancer.

“I fought in the Golden Gloves three times in New Jersey,” Dunleavy says. “I canâ€t fight any more so I help out. This year, Iâ€m singing the National Anthem. ”

Hudson Boxers, Hope and Pride

The Union City Boxing Club is filled to capacity now, young boxers sparring in the ring, hitting heavy bags and speed bags, jumping rope, doing sit ups. Botti says that in the summer, 40-60 boxers-in-training come each day. And there is no age limit; theyâ€re as old as 42 and as young as 8.

At 11, Deandre “Dynamite D” Guzman is a four-time New Jersey State Champion and veteran of 36 fights. Deandre has traveled to Las Vegas, Ohio and Upstate New York to compete and the sixth grader says he likes being in the ring.

“I want to be an Olympian,” Deandre says.

Botti was about Deandreâ€s age when he first discovered a passion for boxing. Growing up in Union City, he founded a boxing group when he was young and, he says, it helped him get through tough times. And now, heâ€s paying it forward.

“It keeps the kids off the streets,” Botti says. “A lot of the kids who trained here are now teachers, police officers, firefighters. A lot of kids turned their lives around. They say boxing is one of the best deterrents to gang activity. These kids fight so hard for these trophies. Theyâ€re fighting for pride and the Golden Gloves title. That will be with them the rest of their lives.”

New Jersey Golden Gloves Tournament Schedule

(General admission tickets: $15 to $35)

Fri, Mar. 16, 7 pm

Luis Munos Marin Middle School, 663 Broad St, Newark

Tickets: Aspira Boxing Club, the event host, at 973-484-7554 or Jose Rosario at 201-679-0485

Sat, Mar. 24, 7 p.m.

Washington School, 3901 New York Ave., Union City

Tickets at the door

Fri, Mar. 30, 7 p.m.

IBEW Local 164, 65 W. Century Road, Paramus

Contact: Cassie Wordelman at 201-265-7273, ext. 213, or Theresa Rolaf at 201-265-1700, ext. 4246 or visit www.ibew164.org for more information.

Fri, April 6, 7 p.m.

ICAT Academy of Boxing, Fitness & Martial Arts, 1304 Brielle Ave., Ocean Township.

Call 732-531-1422 for more info

Sat, April 7, 7 p.m.

Prudential Centerâ€s AmeriHealth Pavilion, 165 Mulberry St., Newark

Ticket info: www.njgoldengloves.com or www.prucenter.com, or call Jose Rosario of the Aspira Boxing Club at 973-484-7554, Dan Doyle of the Middletown PAL at 732-957-9494, Stephanie Lashley of ICAT Boxing at 732-531-1422; or New Jersey Golden Gloves at 732-318-7131

The post Golden Gloves on the Jersey Waterfront Local Boxers Train Hard to be Contenders first appeared on River View Observer.