The new workout studio Movement Warehouse in Pacific Beach is on the cutting edge of fitness, having created a new hybrid niche in the industry.
“I feel like everyone is an athlete,” said owner Michael Hamanaka, of his business philosophy. “You use the same basic movements, whether or not you’re an athlete at a high level. Athletes do them. Moms do them.”
Hamanaka said his innovative workout modality is not to be confused with CrossFit, a branded fitness regimen combining physical exercise with competitive sports workouts incorporating high-intensity weightlifting, workouts and gymnastics.
“I don’t care about your doing as many reps as you can, as fast as you can,” said the gym owner. “I want you to do things with quality.”
The Movement Warehouse employs some novel tools, Olympic-style hammers, truck tires, “battle ropes.” The indoor-outdoor workout studio offers a variety of programs, each focusing on a different facet of training, whether it be to shed fat, increase strength or become faster.
Hamanaka works with a broad range of people, everyone from high school athletes and moms to business executives and people just wanting to get or stay in better shape.
“The motto of the gym is strength is meaningless without mobility, because the most mobile people are going to be the strongest,” said Hamanaka, who employs lots of free weights and elements like climbing ladders in with his workouts.
Oddly enough, the fitness trainer graduated from UC San Diego with a degree not in anything workout-related, but rather in communications.
“My passion was in helping people,” said Hamanaka, who had wanted to be a pediatrician to help kids. After discovering fitness however, the trainer realized his aspiration to “help” was transferable to working out. “I help people in a different way,” he noted.
Of his gym, Hamanaka said, “I want to change the way people look at fitness.” Hence the artificial turf inside and out imparting the sense of naturalness to physical activity.
Hamanaka trains people in small groups or individually. At any given time, he might have some members in a small group working out with free weights, while others are running or utilizing other modalities.
“What keeps it exciting for people is that there are literally hundreds of exercises that you can do with good form, and I can work all of those into any workout,” the trainer said.
Hamanaka claims his innovative workout regimen builds camaraderie amongst his clients.
The story behind why he chose Movement Warehouse for his business name was easy. Hamanaka said it incorporates movement, “what we’re here for,” as well as his open, warehouse-like, indoor-outdoor workout studio space. Movement Warehouse Where:1425 Garnet Ave. Contact: 858-216-6087 
www.mvmtwarehouse.com