Got to get up to sit down

Leanne Disanto wants you to think about your weekly exercise routine for a second. There’s the bench press, the bicep curls, even the occasional pants-splitting squat.

Sure, those exercises may help develop isolated portions of your muscles, but what do they have to do with your daily activities? Do you ever actually stand still for extended periods and repeatedly lift a heavy object up and down?

Disanto is trying to change the way we look at exercise with her Corona Del Mar studio, called Fitness Patrol. It’s a personalized workout center geared toward moving the body in the same way we move every day.

“We try to train people like athletes and keep them moving,” Disanto said.

That could mean incorporating several circuit-training stations into one exercise: a set of side-thrusts that work the hips, abdomen, upper arms and shoulders, or a lateral pull-down in a crouched position to work the upper and lower back, thigh and calf muscles.

“We try to train people in several planes of motion,” she said. “The idea is to work the entire body. The muscles that don’t get training are usually the ones that get hurt.”

Disanto’s small studio is used by seven personal trainers who work with individual clients and small groups on separate fitness programs. Disanto doesn’t sell a membership to her facility, but books training services for between $68 and $78 per hour, depending on frequency. Clients are welcome to use the cardio equipment, although most of the workouts are reserved for her high-impact training sessions.

“I really believe in educating my clients to give them as much information as possible,” she said.

The native of Massachusetts, who has lived in Orange County since 1998, started Fitness Patrol in 2001. She said her business has excelled because she tries to adapt to the individual needs and demands of her clients.

“Sometimes you’re more of a shrink than a trainer,” said Disanto, who knows the demands of family all too well as the mother of 2-year-old daughter Francesca.

Recently, Fitness Patrol launched its Lunch Time Patrol workout service, which includes a high-intensity noon-time workout and packaged lunch to take back on the road, priced at about $20 per session. She also runs a regular beach boot camp and likes to take clients for runs along the ocean if the weather’s nice ? anything just to get people up and moving, she says.

“Most people sit too much,” she said. “You sit to work, sit to learn, sit to eat. We don’t want them sitting at the gym too.”dpt-bizspot06.TXTText581OL30TGot to get up to sit down BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT Fitness Patrol aims to get you off your duff and into shape at Leanne Disanto’s Corona Del Mar studio.dpt.06-bizspot-C.1PhotoInfoL81OL3GR20060306ivoicwknMARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Leanne Disanto is the owner of Fitness Patrol, a high-end personal trainer business in Corona del Mar.