Les Mills Lonestar Event

This is BodyPump!

This weekend, Kel and I attended the Les Mills Lonestar Quarterly in Arlington, TX. It happens a few times a year in different parts of the country, but I have a feeling everything is BIGGER in Texas! The event was a great opportunity for Les Mills instructors, such as Kel and myself, to experience Master Classes in all of the Les Mills formats. If you are unfamiliar with Les Mills, they are the parent company for various amazing group fitness classes, such as BodyAttack and BodyPump, that Kel and I teach. Four times a year they provide us with incredible new choreography and music for our classes! This conference offered us a chance to experience the new choreography live and in the midst of hundreds of others of instructors; it was incredible!

Can you imagine yourself in a room with a few hundred people doing squats at the same time, all to the same beat? It was intense and so very motivating. Almost motivating enough to make me forget how sore my muscles are and that my skin is slightly sore to the touch after two straight days of exercise! haha!

Ready for Pump

Not only am I excited to get started in learning the new BodyPump choreography, but I cannot stop talking about one of the newest Les Mills formats: Sh’Bam! It is a cardio dance class for EVERYONE! Trust me. If I can do it...so can you! Sh’Bam is 45 minutes of a wide mix of dance to both current and old school music favorites. I wish I had video of my leaps because I’m still dreaming about how ‘freeing’ they were. It’s hard to explain, but I walked away from that full of happiness AND knowing that I burned a ton of calories!

After our great intro the Sh’Bam, Kel and I are hoping to learn a lot more about it in the near future! We’ll keep you posted.

Have you been re-energized by something new at the gym? Or anywhere else for that matter? 

~ Samara

The Workout High

As Kelly mentioned yesterday, it’s been a long two weeks for ME and I. We packed up all last week and trekked across half the country to come back to Texas for the next few years! Yay! We are so excited to return to Texas, however, what a stressful and tiring two weeks we’ve had...and we still have! We’re still unpacking and getting settled and reorganized. I also started back up with working part time as well as starting BodyPump classes at a new gym last night. Whew! Needless to say, ME and I have been getting increasingly stressed, especially trying to keep track of the millions of keys we have, losing track of things as we’re moving things to and fro through the condo and cars and storage unit. We’ve been so exhausted from all of the moving (heavy lifting!!!) and boat cleaning (sore shoulders from scrubbing) that our daily workouts have fallen by the wayside. We thought, “No need to workout, we’re getting our workouts from all of this non-stop activity.”

 Last night, I finally returned to the gym to team teach BodyPump with my boss, at my new gym, Quality Life Fitness. I was exhausted before even arriving at the gym and was  concerned that I’d be too tired to give my all as an instructor. But, once the music started, I got Pumped up (pun intended) and even lifted heavier weights than planned (even though my legs were already sore from that heavy lifting I mentioned earlier!)

When I left the gym, I felt awesome...my mind was clear, I felt energized and relaxed, and relaxed and happy! I got home to find ME had just returned from the gym as well. I told him that Pump was just what I needed to relieve some stress and he quickly agreed! So, why is this?

...Endorphins! We finally got those hormones streaming through our body to give us the little pick-me-up that we’d been missing over the last weeks! Awesome! We’re pretty happy people in general, but even happy people can get down in the dumps when you’re continually tired and stressed! That’s when it’s even more important to get out and exercise to kick start those endorphins and get us back on track!

How do you combat stress? What is your go-to workout to get your endorphins fired up to get your mind and energy back to a healthy place?

~Samara

Things I’m thankful for:

~A BFF who shares her home with us

~Rain

~Team Teaching

~Motivated class full of BodyPumpers

Who We Strive to Be

Who do you strive to be when you grow older? A few weeks ago, Kelly and I took a weekend trip to visit her aunt and uncle. They have always been so generous to us and took us under their wings in our lowest of times. Yet again, they shared their generosity by taking us out for a birthday celebration weekend on their new yacht…yes, you heard me correctly, yacht. We docked the boat at a beautiful resort on the Rappahannock River, called The Tides Inn. (If you ever find yourself in the area, plan a night there to pamper yourself…perhaps we’ll review the property and amenities later…) We woke up early the morning we stayed there to workout. We found our way to the fitness center, a small house overlooking an inlet. It had a decent line-up of equipment; enough to tide you over on a short weekend.

But we weren’t there to use the equipment; Kelly was finally going to give me a BodyAttack class. So, we moved aside some equipment and made some room for some serious business! We cranked up the music and proceeded to Attack over the next 45 minutes. It was an awesome, butt-kicking workout, but the best part was that mid-way through the first track, an older woman came into the gym. We think she was about 85 or so, and as soon as she saw what we were doing, she came over and jumped right in. And I mean JUMP! She did so great. She was jumping, stepping, kicking and knocking out push ups…actually better than I was! We were genuinely impressed with our new friend! When we finished, we briefly chatted with her and then she proceeded to take her printed workout over to the gym equipment and do the daily workout that she’d planned to do when she came in. Impressive! She looked great. Her physical ability was spectacular and she was full of energy!

Who will you be when you’re 85! I hope we are just like her! Living and Loving Life and Remaining Healthy and Fit!  

Do you have any role models who you use as motivation for your life?

Group Exercise Classes - Why they are great!

So, being a personal trainer who is often focused on individual clients, you'd think I'd have some issues with group exercise classes.  Some trainers feel that the lack of individual attention will lead to participants using bad form, not giving 100% or just not being pushed to their level of fitness.  While there is some validity to these points, I think the benefits outweight the possible negatives.  I am a big believer in ultimate cross training, I think a little bit of everything is good for everyone!   I don't believe that you can get by with only group classes, I think there is a place for them in your fitness routine. I teach Les Mills Body Attack, it's a sports oriented high energy class.  We launched brand new choreography this weekend and it was a great class that left me with an exercise high!   Group classes afford people the chance to jump in and try things they normally wouldn't do, take the exercises at their own level and feed off of the other participants energy.  My class this Saturday had great energy and it took us all to a higher level, the lunges were deeper, folks pushed out a few more push ups then they previously thought they could and the high knee runs were higher!  Some other reasons to include group exercise classes into your routine:
1. you can try something new
2. you don't have to think of a workout, the instructor has done all planning
3. you can meet new people
4. being around people will push you harder
5. you, along with the rest of the class really feel like you've accomplished something once that hour is finished (and you have!!)
So, I'd like to encourage all of you to add a class or two to your routine, they're fun!  Don't worry if you don't know the moves or you've never done it before, remember, everyone was new at one point!  What are your thoughts on group exercise?  What keeps you from joining a class?  I'd love to hear some comments!!