Ugi Fit is a 30-minute whole-body exercise routine

Juggling family engagements, job deadlines and personal sanity on a day-to-day basis can be a workout in itself, but thanks to a group of Vancouver women, there’s a new way to get -or stay -in shape even when your schedule is conspiring against you.

Ugi founders (from left) Melanie Finkleman, Debra Karby and Sara Shears

Local entrepreneurs Sara Shears, Debra Karby and Melanie Finkleman have developed a 30-minute workout called Ugi, which uses a single piece of equipment-their Ugi ball-and combines strength, core, stability and cardio training in an intense routine that can fit into anyone’s haphazard lifestyle.

What first began as an idea over a cup of coffee two years ago has now evolved into a growing business. The Ugi workout can be found at gyms in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Seattle, Chicago and St. Louis. In addition, the women are on the eve of presenting their idea to the famed investors on CBC’s Dragon’s Den.

“I felt like there was a real lack of exercise going on outside of the gym and outside of working with the trainers,” says Shears, who has been a personal trainer for 15 years. “I wanted to create a workout that would be comparable to a workout you would get in the gym with a trainer or with a group class, but be portable and realistic in its time frame and sustainable for people to do outside of the gym.”

Shortens exercise time

The idea behind Ugi first emerged when Finkleman, an interior designer and mother of two (soon to be three), struggled to keep up with one-hour workouts and the travel time. She started discussing a solution with her trainer, Shears, who shortened and intensified Finkleman’s routine.

Finkleman began using a medicine ball, which had split at the seams, as her main piece of equipment. The worn-out ball was squishy and allowed her to perform stability exercises. It became an immediate inspiration. Finkleman got her longtime friend Karby, a marketing professional, on board with the business, and thus the squishy, weighted Ugi ball was born.

“A lot of the DVD programs out there don’t have a piece of equipment, or they expect you to have bands and dumbbells and bosu and all sorts of pieces,” Finkleman says, noting that the single ball relieves her of the home-workout clutter that can gather in the corners. “You have to fill up your home gym, where as this is all in one.”

“And an old school medicine ball is ugly and somewhat intimidating,” Karby continues, contrasting them with the brightly coloured six-, eight-, 10-and 12-pound Ugi balls the women are selling. “[Medicine balls] are black and grey. Most people wouldn’t necessarily pick one up. But because we wanted it to be something that was fun and engaging and accessible and a bit of a lifestyle piece, it needed to be something that was playful and stylish.”

You can ‘Ugi’ outdoors

The Ugi kit, which is available to purchase on their website and from Fitness Town, comes with a DVD, a food guide and a portable flip guide, which features five 30-minute workouts you can pack outdoors to the park or the beach. Shears says the idea behind the guide is to peel users away from the TV, where most home workouts take place.

Users can also download the Ugi app for the iPhone, which will time each exercise. Having to do 30 exercises in 30 minutes means you’re pushing hard for the entire workout with no breaks, and the app ensures no time is wasted.

For users who are really pressed for time, they can further modify the workout to fit their schedules. The intervals can be scaled down to 30 seconds, creating a 15-minute workout. Alternately, if you’ve miraculously found an hour to get sweaty, you can put two workouts together.

The Dragon’s Den pitch

With Ugi, the founders say there should be no reason to cancel any appointments with your runners and yoga pants.

“The way [Shears] thinks of exercise is the way she thinks of brushing your teeth,” Karby says. “You just wouldn’t go through your day without doing it. We’ve gotten to that point in our lives where we’re so busy, we’re running around all the time, working a ton but we still want the results and want to feel good.”

“People have unrealistic ideas about what it takes to get the goals they’re trying to reach,” Shears adds. “Ugi is short for ‘You got it.’ You’ve got your ball, your workout, and your food guide. The idea is to find something that is sustainable for you over your lifetime, that is going to give you enough variety to make choices on what you want to do each day for a work out. But the most important thing is you’re doing something.”

As for their upcoming appearance on Dragon’s Den (they film May 14, and the episode is slotted to air sometime in the fall), the women are both “excited and nervous.” They plan to bring the hard-to-impress Dragon Kevin O’Leary one of their promotional T-shirts that say, “Ask me about my balls.”

And if the T-shirts don’t soften him up, they plan on making all the Dragons perform a few moves, which are likely to get their muscles all warm and tingly.

“Whether it’s the money or just the exposure, we’ve seen businesses [that have been on Dragon's Den] flourish,” Karby says. “I love that the whole country watches. I think it’s going to be a pretty amazing opportunity for us.

“We just hope we don’t get squashed in the first five minutes,” Shears laughs.