Katie Reed was inspired to create a digital fitness platform while living with her grandma during the pandemic.

“It was serendipitous. I grew up in Palm Springs with my grandparents and when the pandemic hit, I moved in with my grandmother. We could read the same books, cook together but when it came to exercise, I’d hop on a Peloton class, Nike app, so many different options but nothing of that caliber existed for her. And she needed it more than I did,” said Reed, Co-founder & CEO of Balanced.

Reed Co-founded Balanced, designed for body fitness and function for healthy aging.

“Group fitness classes like Planet Fitness or 24 Hour Fitness, none of them are programming with seniors in mind, so we’re bridging that gap,” said Reed.

“We program all of our classes understanding that 80 percent of seniors have joint pain in one area, whether that’s knee, back, or shoulders. We offer modifications in those classes to be able to help make the class more accessible and effective for everyone in the room,” said Reed.

Local trainer Bill Maeda, owner of FitPro Hawaii, joined in on the action teaching 16 classes.

“We talk a lot about feet and ankles. There’s a lot of fall prevention, slipping, tripping and various scenarios training. They even go over boxing and the speed of the movement and the rotations. It’s a very diverse menu that they have,” said Maeda.

Maeda knows what it’s like to live an active lifestyle, especially after his father was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

“We’re going to try and overwrite the disease through movement patterns, specific exercises that will hopefully delay the onset of the symptoms,” said Maeda.

The local trainer hopes to inspire people regardless of age to start working out.

“This is all 55 years and older, and people younger can still get some great concepts from these workouts,” said Maeda.

“If it’s not fun, we’re not going to do it. It also has to be effective going back to why our content is designed by physical therapist,” said Reed.

“I’m very low tech, dinosaur kind of guy when it comes to technology, but I can use the site easily,” laughs Maeda. For more information about Balanced and the classes being offered, view their website.