AUGUST 2025
This month’s member spotlight is on the one and only Michelle Bellino!
This gymnastics ninja, mom and professor got her start at Fit2Live in June of 2021.
She was looking to add more strength and stability to her yoga and rock climbing routine, especially in the shoulders.
4 years later and Michelle has certainly added more strength in her shoulders and more functional movement into her life.
Michelle always has a cheerful and positive attitude with her when she is in class and she is not afraid of getting upside down to refine her gymnastics prowess from her youth.
She has competed in our Fall Brawl competition (dressed as a storm trooper) and is fast approaching our 500 class club ;).
She works hard, doesn’t complain, and has plenty of fitness to show for it.
For these reasons and many more Michelle has been chosen as our member of the month for August!
Read all about Michelle’s amazing Fit2Live journey below!
Tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do outside of Fit2Live, family, hobbies, etc.
I’m from New York. I have lived in/on Long Island, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Buffalo, and Ithaca- so I claim the whole state! I moved to MI eleven years ago to work my dream job as a professor at U-M. My partner Nate and I have one dog (a very food-driven beagle named Basil, who some of you are well acquainted with because he steals your food every time you’re in my yard), two cats (Daisy and Henry Raincoats) and one son (Reed, usually glued to the ipad when accompanying me at the gym).
When and why did you get started at Fit2Live?
My friend (and yours!) Kira—who I barely knew at the time—invited me to join her at the gym. It was COVID days, and I wasn’t sure at the time if I was a social exerciser. Turns out, I like having a coach—I need someone telling me what to do, and I need other people’s energy to move me along. I remember standing outside with Kira after my first class, turning to her, and saying, “This is the first thing I have done for myself since my child was born.” And until I said it, I didn’t really know it was true. Becoming a parent was such a big change in my life, and between that transition and the pandemic, I wasn’t making any time for myself. Despite lingering fears of barbells, I joined. Sharon’s gymnastics class was a big draw for me, knowing how much enjoyment I had as a young person doing gymnastics. I’m so happy to have found a place where I can play, feel strong, and be in good company with other F2L folks.
What is your fondest memory at Fit2Live so far?
I love this question, though it’s hard to pick just one! Here are a few of my favorite moments:
Ricky watching me eat it on a too-tall for me box jump.
Mike making Sharon a lemon tart for her birthday, and slicing it up after gymnastics. (It was that good!).
Brandon distracting me while trying to win a grip contest on the bar, comparing ways our young kiddos were challenging us. (Thanks Brandon, I did win—though not sure I’ll ever hold on that long again!)
My outright glee at getting my first kipping pullup, and making Sharon come to the bar to watch.
Community breakfast after a buddy workout, getting to show off my gym world for my family, and my family to my gym world.
Partnering with Greg in my first Fall Brawl as the Garbage Pail Kids.
Alan cheering me on while slogging my way through the last rows of my first murph.
So many little conversations we have fit in between working hard!
What do you like most about Fit2Live, what keeps you coming back?
I mainly come back to maintain my daily intake of peanut butter, which is above average. Heh, heh. If you’re still reading this, it’s because of YOU that I sit in 94 traffic to get across town to this place. There is such a strong community here, and I love the ways our everyday selves creep into the intense work we’re doing in that room. I really do feel like I share the best hour of my day with you all.
What does your perfect day look like?
It starts with my dog and kiddo not waking me up. When I come into the kitchen… coffee is already made for me, alongside my favorite breakfast burrito (Juicy Kitchen). Later in the day, I have a challenging and fun workout, followed by a great nap, and then an adventure outside with my family. It ends with chocolate chip cookies and a soak in a hot tub under the stars (with no interruptions because our kiddo is already sleeping soundly!).
If you could travel to any place in the world tomorrow, where would you go?
I travel for work, so I’ve been to a lot of places. But I’ve never been to Italy, and it’s where both of my grandparents are from (Sicily and the north). Plus White Lotus got me pretty excited about Sicily, and the idea of finding unknown family members in between swimming on beautiful beaches. (I’ll skip the bad stuff that happens in that show…)
What is an unknown (or less known) fact and talent that you have?
Anywhere outside the gym, I would talk about handstand pirouettes, but most folks here already know I love walking on my hands. So maybe it’s that when I disappear from the gym for a month or so—which I recently did—I’m usually immersed in fieldwork for my research on education and young people growing up in contexts affected by conflict, migration, and displacement. That work keeps me grounded and reminds me to always think beyond my immediate social world to the people I’m connected to, whose lives my decisions impact, and whose lives impact my own.
If you could make the workout “Michelle”, what would it look like (movements, repetitions, etc)?
It would be very gymnasticsy, including the movements and transitions. After a solid shoulder warmup, we would handstand walk to the wall, do 5 handstand pushups, a burpee jump up to the bar, 1 skin the cat, choose your own 5 pull-ups, burpee jumps back to your box, 5 deadlifts, 10 deck squats, 15 V-ups, (repeat, if I could make that sequence happen more than once!), then a lot of stretching and smashing with the bar.
Favorites
Movie: Brain Candy (deep cut, but it’s core to my sense of humor) … Recently, I rewatched The Great Mupper Caper and this one is definitely up there.
TV Show: Slow Horses (most recent fave)
Song: “This is the last time” by The National – though that’s not at all a workout song. For the gym, I think I’d like some Toots and the Maytals or T.Rex.
Book: This boy’s life, by Tobias Wolff
Quote: Brandon recently said something like, “Live life one wall ball at a time,” and I thought to myself, those are some words to live by. But also this: “We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” ― D.H. Lawrence
What daily habit has changed your life for the better?
Is this a trick question? Other than flossing, joining this gym!
What future fitness goal are you currently working towards?
I would love to get better at stringing together kipping and butterfly pull-ups and—one day—maybe possibly, work up to a bar muscle-up!
Why do you always sign in twice?
Well, this is a long and not-so-interesting story. Ryan and I have tried to fix this, but for now, the best solution is for me to sign into both of my accounts so that my attendance is registered. To be clear, I do not get double credit.
If you could change anything at the gym, what would it be?
I’m glad you asked! I wonder if we could make a bar area that accommodates folks who are on the smaller size (ahem, me). A lower bar area would help with gymnastics movements like pull-ups and—for me—my goal of one day doing a muscle up. F2L is a wonderful and inclusive space, and that would only make it more so!
THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME MICHELLE! KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK AT FIT2LIVE!
NEXT UP: JOSH GEARY MEMBER OF THE MONTH JULY 2025
