Working out and getting stronger should and can be accessible to everybody.
Mujib Khaliq, NCK Personal Training
Can you imagine feeling twice as strong as you do right now? At NCK Personal Training, formerly North Country Kettlebells, certified trainer Mujib Khaliq aims to help people do just that. At NCK, Khaliq delivers a very traditional strength training program using a few seemingly non-traditional methods.
“I love using Kettlebells for my own fitness and I love teaching my clients how to use them properly and how to integrate them into their own lifestyles,” Khaliq said. “‘Bells are just so accessible.”
If you’ve ever looked into kettlebells in Vermont, then you have likely come across NCK and Khaliq.
At the NCK Personal Training Studio, located at 30 Main Street, Suite 140, in downtown Burlington (on the corner of Main and Battery streets), Khaliq has been feeling so inspired by the physical and emotional progress he is seeing from his clients. He’s thrilled to see how that success is feeding into them enjoying strength in their lives and wants to share these same benefits with as many people as possible.
“It’s really amazing for me to have this control group of people to work with,” says Khaliq “These folks who have only been with me since opening on Main Street last year. It’s great to see the program work so profoundly on total beginners and to know that my instruction is landing with a whole new population.”
It certainly has been a long road to salvation for Khaliq to get to this point.
Mujib Khaliq (previously Abdul Mujib) started training clients with kettlebells on the Statehouse lawn in Montpelier back in 2008, even once drawing the attention of Anne Galloway, who wrote an article about kettlebells and the NCK program. In 2012 Khaliq linked up with Green Mountain Community Fitness and established the first North Country Kettlebells studio, as a cornerstone at 654 Granger Rd in Berlin.
After establishing himself as “the kettlebell guy” in Washington County, personally training athletes, non-athletes, coaches, politicians, nurses, educators, restaurant workers, State workers, grandparents, parents, children, and even a Grammy Award-winning musician, Khaliq decided that it was time to spread the impact of NCK and the NCK training philosophy.
In 2016, Khaliq began the transition to bring NCK from central Vermont to Burlington, taking NCK personal training clients on the gym floors at Synergy Fitness in Williston and Perk Fitness in South Burlington. A year later Khaliq started leading NCK workshops at the North End studios in the Old North End in Burlington.
In 2018, Khaliq established the first NCK Burlington studio, at 696 Pine Street as a sublease from Fortify Fitness , at the old Surf Set studio. Soon after that Khaliq joined the team at REV Indoor Cycling and began to deliver a REV X Kettlebell group exercise class, also taking owner Sarah DeGray of Align Cycling on as a personal training client.
“My goal has always been to make the information that I have to share as accessible as I can to everyone who would benefit from it,” Khaliq said.
This proved true during the months of the Covid-19 shut down, when Khaliq began producing and publishing hundreds of pieces of content from NCK. This came in the form of instructional videos, informative social media posts, vlogs, blogs, and a podcast, Let’s Get To It, which he co-hosts with Sarah DeGray of Align Cycling (formerly REV Indoor). All of this content is available through NCK Social media.
At NCK Personal Training on Main Street, Khaliq takes on new clients and continuously loves the progression of everyone he’s working with. The enjoyment that Khaliq gets from watching the continued success of his longterm client base, and what that success does for them, is palpable. Matthew Peterson, of May Day says, “I’ve been a long time runner but was always intimidated by weight lifting and strength building. Mujib’s warmth and teaching made it feel extremely approachable… I feel myself getting stronger.”
At his core, Khaliq really just enjoys watching people benefit from the same practices that benefited him as a beginner/intermediate on his own strength training journey.
As a result, NCK creates individualized strength and conditioning programs for a diverse and wide ranging client base — continuing to work with athletes, non-athletes, coaches, politicians, nurses, educators, restaurant workers, restaurant owners, State workers, grandparents, parents, children and award winning musicians.
You can find Khaliq at NCK on Monday through Wednesday and Friday from about 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Thursdays, weekends and evenings in general you may see Frank Baptiste, of Frankly Fitness working with clients and groups. Khaliq has collaborated with Baptiste as a way of continuing to make it possible and available for people to receive amazing instruction at NCK on Main throughout the week.
“I love what Frank has to offer,” Khaliq said, “and I take it as an honor that he wants to collaborate.”
What’s next for Khaliq and NCK Khaliq had this to say: “Right now, I’m working to build a healthy personal training client base and operate. Soon, I’ll begin to offer and host progressive fitness workshops and group intensives. My goal is to see the ripple effect of a community getting stronger and stretch across Burlington and beyond.”
Learn more about NCK Personal Training and the training philosophies of Khaliq at www.NCKFit.com or at www.NorthCountryKettlebells.com