Hi-Line Living: Oula

Kelly Cunningham hasn't been in business with AMP'D Fitness for a year yet but has seen some very quick success.

AMP'D offers Oula, Oula Power, Junior Oula, belly dancing, pilates and piyo classes.

"Oula is a high-energy, high-octane group fitness dance class," Cunningham said.

Oula takes its name from Missoula, where it was created.

"We get loud, we get crazy, we get big and wild - we're all sweating for one whole hour," she said, laughing.

Oula Power is 45-minutes long and it's more of a conditioning class rather than Oula's cardio-based work. In Oula Power, one can expect to go through more workouts that strengthen the muscles, like squats, crunches and the like.

Each are centered around dance and constant movement and the point of all the classes is being healthy and staying active.

The piyo class is a mixture of pilates and yoga and is a low-impact class, but maintains the high intensity. It's good for people who don't want to jump around a lot and is one of the classes that sees the fastest results, Cunningham said.

There are numerous instructors at the studio. Kristi Burr is the certified piyo strength instructor. Hillery Ballard teaches belly dancing. Ryann McLain teaches Oula and Cunningham heads Oula, Oula Power, junior Oula and pilates.

Together, they offer to Havre a different fitness experience than the gyms offer.

"We offer something completely different," Cunningham said. "Both of the gyms are great establishments; they just didn't have anything for group fitness."

They are teaching more than 90 classes a month. Cunningham said she believes that they have been pretty successful so far.

"We keep growing and growing," she said, adding that around 83 people have signed up for classes with her studio and most of them have come back for multiple classes.

Cunningham said everyone is welcome to the classes - both men and women - but for now, it's all women.

"We don't have a lot of guys coming to us," Cunningham said. " ... I don't know if they think it's for women only."

She put an emphasis on acceptance in the studio.

"It's a nonjudgemental place," she said. "No matter what age, shape, size you are; it's for everybody."

She said that people who go to the classes get pretty much a personal trainer for their time. If someone can't do one of the exercises, the instructors will modify them to help them out.

"You're never going to be left on your own," she said. "You're never going to feel on your own."

She said many people are excited to go to their classes at AMP'D because of the camaraderie of the studio.

"We're all cheering each other on; all motivating each other," she said. "It seems a little more different vibe than going to the gym and working out on your own. It's like having accountability, when you're having a group fitness class."

Cunningham said that she has always been into fitness, but her passion for taking and giving group classes happened after she had her child. Before, she was very active into fitness and sports and maintained a pretty healthy lifestyle.

"When I had my first child, I gained an excessive amount of weight," she said. "It was really important for me to get back into fitness."

Her previous routine, however, was not cutting it. She felt unmotivated and it wasn't the same to go out running by herself anymore. She decided to take an aerobics class and fell in love with the people there.

"There was something about those women," she said.

They worked together and were a group among themselves. They were friends, and soon after Cunningham started meeting new people and making new friends in the classes.

McLain and Cunningham's sister began learning Oula and she saw the dynamic was incredible.

"Havre really needed something like this," Cunningham said. "Something we could do that's a little bit different than just going to the gym and working with a machine - something to add to those people's programs who do lift weights or to help people learn to be healthy and have that little bit of extra energy in your body."

She said that Oula and staying active helps with many aspects in life. It helps people be able to play with their kids in the park, helps people eat healthier, helps improve sex lives and much more.

"Everything that we do to improve our health is going to improve our life outside," Cunningham said.

For daily updates on classes and changes in scheduling, visit their Facebook page by searching for AMP'D Fitness LLC.