Getting started with Arkansas Fitness & Athletics is easy. Schedule your FREE movement screen at your convenience so we can begin identifying your general mobility, stability, and strength qualities. In addition to the screen at your first visit, we will also walk you through what a workout looks like and begin to learn about your goals in life and/or sport.
Schedule Your Movement Screen
We use the patented Functional Movement Screen, developed by physical therapy professionals, to serve as a filter for dysfunctional movement, movement asymmetries, and potential for injury.
The full screening process is simple and only takes about 10 minutes. It entails seven fundamental movement patterns that paint a picture of how we move in general. With this process we are able to identify the movement patterns responsible for pain, dysfunction, or weakness and appropriately attack those characteristics.
This powerful, yet simple, screening processes is something we do with each and every client because our bodies are made of complex mechanisms and addressing one specific part of our body does not give us the full story behind dysfunction or weaknesses. Moreover, this process is critical for clients who may need medical supervision from an orthopedic doctor, physical therapist, or other qualified professional.
Set goals
An individual's athletic performance or wellness journey starts by identifying that individual's unique skillsets, passions, hobbies, and day-to-day activities that influence their daily lives. Improving performance ultimately boils down to developing habits. Where most training systems fall short is recognizing the role our environment and individual stories have on creating change. It's a tough process and can be overwhelming without the right strategy.
With our approach, we work with you to set goals that will have the highest chance of making a sustainable impact on your life. We consider things like mindset, how we fuel ourselves, what life experiences have influenced us, how do we manage stress, and what are we doing to rejuvenate on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis.
Test for benchmarks
Once we know what your goals are, we can select a few simple benchmarks that help us gain a starting baseline for your performance journey.
These might be physical characteristics like squat max, vertical jumping, 40 yard dash. Or, they might be habits like time spent developing mindfulness, eating habits, hours slept, or days present at the gym. Regardless of what your goals are, we believe that understanding where you are now is paramount for setting the right goals and developing a program that fits your individual needs.
Begin Journey
After your initial visit, we will work with you on developing a training schedule, determine specific workout programming, and picking a pricing package that works for you.
During the first week, every client goes through our 'AFA Foundations' course. This beginner workout is comprised of fundamental movements that you will see in every exercise we do in our workouts. This is important for a few reasons -
We teach you how to flow through our training system
We explain the 'why' behind each step of our training system
You learn our vocabulary for specific movement patterns
You learn within what scenarios our movement patterns are relevant in the gym and in life
We get to see your training capacity
We get to build a meaningful relationship with you!
By the end of your first week, we will have you on your way to mastering the fundamentals that we believe help us move better in life and in sport. After graduating from AFA Foundations, you will be fully prepared to take on regular AFA programing. As your reward, we will give you you an Arkansas Fitness & Athletics shirt of your choosing, for FREE!
Measure Results
Measuring our results is a vital part of your performance journey. Once we determine your goals, it's important to know if we are trending in the right direction. Research suggests that practicing mindfulness plays a powerful role in behavioral change and how we manage stress. Whether it's journaling, goal tracking, updating your numbers on our leaderboard or meditation, we know that taking time every day to recognize what we've done will not only help us stay on track but also help us celebrate the small victories that keep us steadily marching towards our goals.
Join the #AFAmily
Above all, what makes Arkansas Fitness & Athletics special is the positive environment we create. Upon visiting us you will quickly realize that everything we do is about the people in our community. Our members are the most important part of the AFA experience. We know that when people have a place they feel at home. With people that can encourage and hold them accountable, we've set the right tone for achieving great things.
We founded this gym out of passion for helping people live more fulfilling lives. If it weren't for the first dozen or so clients that trained with us in 2013, we wouldn't be in business today. Now we're growing to 150+ members and we want you to be our next! So, come and check out how we can help you on your journey to achieving your athletic performance and/or wellness goals.