New business downtown offers fitness classes
By Nikki Brahm
Dec. 17, 2019
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Owner of Bear It All Fitness Ashlee Rybak (left) jumping in the air with friends at her new studio located in downtown Mukwonago. |
MUKWONAGO — A new business opened in Mukwonago called “Bear It All Fitness,” which offers a community connection with a wine bar and a variety of classes such as barre classes — a hybrid workout class which combines elements of strength training, ballet, pilates, dance and yoga.
The business opened in downtown Mukwonago on Dec. 7 at 100 Main St., Suite 1. The business is owned by Ashlee Rybak and her husband John Rybak. Ashlee Rybak was inspired to open the business because of her love for fitness, which started to thrive in college. Following college, Rybak continued to work out in Oak Creek and in the Milwaukee area where she fell in love with barre-style fitness studios.
“I had tried out barre studios, yoga studios and they all had that really small community vibe — kind of what I think people are getting from crossfire gyms,” Rybak said. “Like you feel like you get to know people, you feel as if you get to be on the same team as them.”
Rybak said that when she moved to Mukwonago she couldn’t find anything within a 30-minute vicinity where there was a similar community connection. She was then inspired to open Bear It All Fitness and was specifically interested in barre classes.
“It’s very gentle so people in all different areas of their fitness journey could go and get what they’re looking for,” Rybak said. “That’s why barre really appeals to me.”
Rybak said for as long as she can remember, she would do workout videos on her 8-inch TV in her bedroom. In college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Rybak’s love for fitness started to thrive. She continued her education with a Masters Degree in education at Texas State University. Following graduation in 2010, Rybak started teaching, but stopped in 2016 to stay home with her kids, which is when she started to get into the small-group fitness scene.
Rybak said barre helped with her soreness in her knees and hips, especially after having three kids.
“It wasn’t until after having the three kids I really fell in love with the small studios because it gives you a home away from home,” Rybak said. The Rybaks signed their lease in Mukwonago sometime in the early fall, which is when they began to look into starting the business.
Rybak said the location’s bar is used as a wine bar to encourage people to come and have a cup of coffee after a workout and connect with each other.
“The name bear obviously is an actual bear and it’s a nod to Mukwonago, the place of the bear, but it means to support,” Rybak said. “So our biggest thing is — I think you’re going to get better results when you’re connecting and supporting each other than if you’re kind of just going into a gym, doing your thing and leaving. So we encourage people to hang out in our lounge area and get to know each other.”
Bear It All Fitness offers small group fitness classes including barre, Pilates, HIIT, Circuit Training, Zumba and Yoga. Werq — hip-hop dancing, and Triple Threat — strength training, cardio and core, will be offered in January. A yoga teacher will offer four or five straight days of yoga in late December to introduce the class.
Monthly charges or workout packages are available. Certain promotions for classes end on Jan 7. Those interested in checking class schedules or in signing up should go to bearitallfitness.com.
