Latino Heritage Month: Get your body and mind moving at the new Movement Athletics in Pasco | news

PASCO, WA – Saturday September 18, Movement Athletics and Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce celebrated the grand opening of the Pasco Athletics Hall.

“We’ve been in business for 9 years but this is the grand opening of the finished gym with all it has to offer,” said Pedro Torres, founder and owner of Movement Athletics.

The gym was supposed to be officially opened last year, but then came the pandemic.

“But now I feel like it should be because it’s during Hispanic Heritage Month.” said Torres, “This is the community gym.”

From childhood, Torres loved movement.

“My family were farm workers, so exercise and activity was always something we did,” said Torres, “but I loved to dance,” said Torres.

After moving to WSU in Pullman, Torres devoted his life to fitness coaching and training.

“I even have my own family members who say ‘what’s the big deal with exercise’ who like to exercise now,” said Torres.

Torres has a passion for all types of people who move.

“Here you learn Spanish by default because a lot of us are Latinos and train to Spanish music, but what I love about our community is not just Mexicans, but Central Americans, South Americans, Africans, Asians, Caucasians,” said Torres.

Its main goal was to create a community.

“A community where our main goal was to get well.”

And that includes both mental and physical health.

“A lot of people come up to me and say ‘I want to get fit’ or ‘I want to lose weight, but then I realize that it’s also about what’s going on up here,” said Pedro, pointing to his head.

In addition to fitness training, strength training, self-defense courses, karate and ninja camp for children, Movement Athletics also offers mindfulness courses such as yoga, massages and aromatherapy.

“Mind, body and spirit are connected. So we know how to rehabilitate the body by also working on mental health because everything is connected,” said Torres.

His co-worker Samadhi does massages and at the same time heals the body by releasing energy.

“I can feel people’s energies in their bodies and I can even tell when they get pictures in their head and I help them to relieve their fears and depression,” said Samadhi.

They also run courses for seniors that include Torres’ grandmother.

“My grandma has dementia and is now exercising. At 93, she actually gets some of her memory back,” said Torres.

“All I want is for people to be healthy. Whether here or in another gym, getting well makes you overall better and then you’re helping make this world a better place, ”said Torres.

The Movement Athletics gym also offers diet coaching. Other programs such as an art show performance, dance and athletic training for competitive athletes will also follow in the future.

For more information, see Movement Athletics Facebook Page or call (509) 592-7107.