Our philosophy is based on the concept of self-reliance through body consciousness, mental discipline, and physical fitness. Our unique set of fitness offerings embody this philosophy, grown out of a martial artist's journey. The philosophy of KES Fitness was born from my experience as a youth training in martial arts in the Santa Cruz mountains, hiking, climbing, jumping off rocks, and swimming in the ocean.
Later as a trainer, I embraced martial arts as a spiritual discipline that helps strengthen the will, cultivate courage, and master the emotions. The evolution of KES Fitness is a natural progression from martial arts to personal training to Traditional Chinese Tui Na massage therapy. Our focus is on helping clients achieve resilience in the face of danger, normal life events, and injury so they can experience the joy of a life full of vitality.
Later as a trainer, I embraced martial arts as a spiritual discipline that helps strengthen the will, cultivate courage, and master the emotions. The evolution of KES Fitness is a natural progression from martial arts to personal training to Traditional Chinese Tui Na massage therapy. Our focus is on helping clients achieve resilience in the face of danger, normal life events, and injury so they can experience the joy of a life full of vitality.
Services
Begin with a free one-to-one fitness consultation and move on to a program that is custom designed to meet your health and wellness goals. Work out at home or while traveling, at your convenience. Our live streaming video mobility classes are designed to help you cultivate joint resiliency, expand your ranges of motion, improve body control, and increase the load-bearing capacity of your joints.
Our new custom online personal training system is here! My Take Control App enables me to provide online the same high quality personalized fitness programs I've been providing at my gym for many years. The system will allow people at any level of fitness to do productive workouts in the comfort of home, while traveling, or anywhere you find yourself.
KES Stretch online is a live streaming video mobility class designed to increase active usable ranges of motion. Though passive stretching is a component of KES Stretch, it is an active class that requires vigorous participation.
This class uses concepts like irradiation*, PAILS/RAILS** and maximum voluntary isometric contraction to re-pattern the nervous system, allowing the body to expand and control ranges of motion that have been previously lost.A muscle working hard recruits the neighboring muscles, and if they are already part of the action, it amplifies their strength.
This class uses concepts like irradiation*, PAILS/RAILS** and maximum voluntary isometric contraction to re-pattern the nervous system, allowing the body to expand and control ranges of motion that have been previously lost.A muscle working hard recruits the neighboring muscles, and if they are already part of the action, it amplifies their strength.
Begin with a free one-to-one consultation designed to assess your fitness level. With that information we can begin to guide you through a methodical fitness program to improve your health and avoid injury during your workouts. We are here to help you feel more comfortable in your body with personal training for health and vitality.
Our focus on lifting in Strength, Conditioning & Mobility classes is not on competition, but on giving you the skills and knowledge to lift safely and to understand your body so you can have a lifetime of activity with health and vitality. Our small group classes at the Oakland Brick House allow individuals to work out in an educated supportive environment.
Reviews (18)
Miles Johnson
Mar 23, 2021
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Gabriel Martinez
Aug 18, 2020
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Kewesi is a top level trainer. He is an excellent communicator and knows how to motivate you to strive towards (and beyond) your potential. He has developed a great dynamic among the regulars who train with him, and he also works extremely well one-on-one with clients. I appreciate his full, comprehensive knowledge of the human body and how to adjust training for injuries or other limitations. He is constantly broadening his already wide variety of skill sets which he employs in his classes and individual training. The gym has all the tools you need and is well maintained. I could not have asked
Shirley Shelangoski
Jul 30, 2020
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Kewesi is an awesome trainer! I started working out with him in April 2020 virtually in the pandemic. It has been a lifesaver! Kewesi is very professional and thorough in his instruction techniques. He is attentive to the abilities of his students and quickly corrects moves to maximize the impact of exercise. As a Senior, he put me at ease and ensured no injuries. I always feel energized after class and aches & pains are disappearing. Although he is strict and precise, class is fun with his compassionate & energetic personality. Class with Kewesi is a good investment in improved health.
Kim B.
Apr 03, 2020
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I've been working out with Kewesi at KES on and off for more than 10 years. The facilities are awesome and Kewesi is the BEST. He has customized workouts for me at various levels of being very fit and very "deconditioned" the word he used after I'd gained almost 100 lbs. He has been a complete support on my journey back to fitness, customizing workouts for a knee injury I have and very carefully taking the time to help get me back into shape without injuring me. It's a very holistic approach and his careful attention has been instrumental in me finding my way back to fitness
Mani W.
Jan 10, 2020
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Kewesi is the best trainer I've ever had the benefit to know! I've been working with him over the course of the last year and a half - both one on one as well as in his small group training classes. I've made steady improvements without injury, undone some prior ailments, too - all without any cycles of progress/regress shame. I've had a number of coaches over the years - both for team sports as well as one on one - and Kewesi is truly the best. He listens to you, he asks questions, and he pushes you, but only as far as what is be safe for your body on that particular day. He
Mickey Fitzpatrick
May 20, 2018
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Melissa C.
Oct 27, 2017
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Kewesi is an amazing personal trainer. He is a master in the world of working out so you don't have to be. You can relax and have fun and trust that you are getting a great workout that is safe for you body. He has all the regular gym equipment, weights and machines, but he also has a dojo where he mixes in elements of Muay Thai, knife fighting, self defense, and even slack lining if your lucky. He tailors workouts individually. He also helps you train your mind to be calm in the face of stress and fear, a skill that is priceless and a gift that keeps on giving in and out of the gym!
Terra Khemiri
Aug 13, 2017
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Wendi J.
Apr 01, 2017
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If I could give KES Fitness 6 stars, I would. I began seeing Kewesi after an injury prevented me from running. My intention was to see him to stay in shape until I could hit the trails again. Now it's been over two years and I still really look forward to each and every class.
At first, I was just working on conditioning my body. Within a few weeks, I began taking Muay Thai and self-defense. So now, not only do feel better and look better, but I also have more confidence in the power of my own body. KES Fitness is amazing!
At first, I was just working on conditioning my body. Within a few weeks, I began taking Muay Thai and self-defense. So now, not only do feel better and look better, but I also have more confidence in the power of my own body. KES Fitness is amazing!
Camille S.
Nov 21, 2016
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Xavier Lee
Jun 07, 2016
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James L.
Feb 06, 2016
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Jessica C.
Jun 06, 2014
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Sooo so grateful to have found Kewesi and this great gym.
I came to KES in need of healthy outlets for anger and frustration, and also hoping to refocus on taking care of my body so that I could feel healthy and fit again (I work in the food industry... its pretty easy to forget eating carb-cenrtic meals three times a day is not so good!)
The results were almost immediate- after my first session I was buzzing with energy and could practically hear the serotonin rushing around my brain. In weeks I remember being surprised when I spotted the shadow of a newly-toned muscle under my arm! I just
I came to KES in need of healthy outlets for anger and frustration, and also hoping to refocus on taking care of my body so that I could feel healthy and fit again (I work in the food industry... its pretty easy to forget eating carb-cenrtic meals three times a day is not so good!)
The results were almost immediate- after my first session I was buzzing with energy and could practically hear the serotonin rushing around my brain. In weeks I remember being surprised when I spotted the shadow of a newly-toned muscle under my arm! I just
Lailani P.
Jan 29, 2014
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I don't understand people who say they love to work out. It's time-consuming, it's sweaty and it's painful. I'd honestly rather lay on the couch and catch up on Glee than do push-ups any day.
Kewesi gets this and makes me laugh while jumping rope. Somehow, my resistance to doing anything that is going to make me sweat is wiped away. Temporarily, of course.
I just started back with personal training after 6 weeks off and Kewesi guided the workout so that I was challenged, but not to the point of wanting to give up. I've certainly been pushed NEARLY to my breaking point
Kewesi gets this and makes me laugh while jumping rope. Somehow, my resistance to doing anything that is going to make me sweat is wiped away. Temporarily, of course.
I just started back with personal training after 6 weeks off and Kewesi guided the workout so that I was challenged, but not to the point of wanting to give up. I've certainly been pushed NEARLY to my breaking point
E. B.
Dec 11, 2013
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I can't say enough good things about training at KES.
As a former pro-level athlete (yes, I know how obnoxious that sounds, but it's true), I have had a lot of experience with trainers, coaches, and training plans. My time at KES has been among my best experiences. Kewesi is a fantastic teacher who gets to know to his students/clients. If you try to pretend that you're feeling some way that you're not, he'll see right through you and will modify your training accordingly so that you don't hurt yourself by being an idiot with a chip on your shoulder (cough). He won
As a former pro-level athlete (yes, I know how obnoxious that sounds, but it's true), I have had a lot of experience with trainers, coaches, and training plans. My time at KES has been among my best experiences. Kewesi is a fantastic teacher who gets to know to his students/clients. If you try to pretend that you're feeling some way that you're not, he'll see right through you and will modify your training accordingly so that you don't hurt yourself by being an idiot with a chip on your shoulder (cough). He won
K. Z.
Jan 22, 2013
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Staying motivated to work out is my biggest challenge. It's easy to fall in the same routine. However, since joining Kewesi's bootcamp classes I have never been more motivated to push myself beyond what I thought was my limit, to get stronger and to do all the hard work that I usually avoid when by myself in the gym. When I first started I want to quit, wanted to leave the jumprope on the ground, but Kewesi allowed me to just get all the frustrations out so the work could begin. Now, I feel guilty if I don't make it 3 or 4 times a week. Through his classes and his individualized
Chris H.
Dec 10, 2012
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Since I have been going to classes at K.E.S, my girlfriend has been a little bummed. She prefers that I stay a little chubby and that is not happening with the work out that is bestowed upon any person who trains with Kewesi.
For the past couple of months I have attended about 3-4 classes weekly and grateful that I have. The work outs vary from focusing on the core to strength endurance and everything in between, oh and there is a ton of jump rope. I have been pushed harder than I ever thought I could physically be pushed. I have been more sore than I can remember. However, I haven't felt
For the past couple of months I have attended about 3-4 classes weekly and grateful that I have. The work outs vary from focusing on the core to strength endurance and everything in between, oh and there is a ton of jump rope. I have been pushed harder than I ever thought I could physically be pushed. I have been more sore than I can remember. However, I haven't felt
Tim F.
Nov 03, 2010
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My experience searching for gym's and working with personal trainers has been quite a mixed bag. My search has turned out many disappointments. Trainers are either high priced, and used to working out with people that are completely unmotivated; trainers who apply the same workout to all their clients. After working out with Kewesi and KES Fitness, it becomes apparent that he gets to know each of his clients, and many times, understands their limitations better than they do. Even when working out in groups, he seems to know where you are in your physical and mental energy level and always
