#fitforlife: duet training at fitness on the run, part two
We asked both Angela from Bellacara and Alicia from The TulleBox to participate in and review a duet class at Fitness on the Run. This duet class is simply a personal training class shared by one other person, who also shares the cost. Today, Angela and Alicia’s reviews are posted separately. This is Alicia’s.
Most of my life I have been relatively the same size but have not always been at the same level of fitness. I have had very effective periods of fitness and found great results with circuit training, Pilates, and barre classes. Every few years, I will fall off the fitness regimen for any number of reasons. I don’t necessarily gain weight but I loose muscle mass and energy. I’ve hit one of those periods currently and it’s time to re-engage. I consider fitness a balance of healthy body and healthy mind. I believe that our true selves are what we reflect to others based on how we feel. It’s not the clothing, the shoes, or the bags we own, but our energy that makes us attractive to others and enjoyable to be around. Keeping our serotonin levels up is very important to a happy, healthy lifestyle.
Doing the duet part of our Fitness Blitz with Angela was like drawing the short straw among the StyleBook team. Angela’s birthday challenge is a post I’m sure many of you remember…she put it out there and followed through. Not only does she look great but you can sense a very positive feeling when you’re around her. When I arrived for our fitness duo session, Angela and Denise had already started so I took my cues from Denise and did some warmups. Denise and I had worked together about 4 years ago when I was a regular at bootcamp at FOR. After doing some squats, Denise instantly identified an area that needed improvement and described in detail what I needed to work on in order to get the most benefit out of the movement. This is what I love about the structure of a small class environment…you get the personal attention required to make the most of your time and effort.
Denise also had us do planks and again was quick to determine that we were not utilizing all of our muscle groups to our benefit. As it turns out, Angela and I have something in common…we don’t engage our glutes! This has been an area that I continue to work on. Now that it’s been officially exposed, you can bet your tush that I’m going to work hard at getting that area “engaged”. At my age, this is where everything can start sliding slowly and steadily into the land of the “flat behinds”…it’s the place where skinny gets pretty unflattering and I’m not inclined to wear full skirts and dresses to ‘hide the slide’.
Denise talked us through tightening every muscle that held that plank and explained that if we were not using our entire bodies, we weren’t pushing our resources hard enough – we needed to distribute the effort throughout the entire length of our bodies. Upon taking this further, she explained we will find untapped energy to build on. Denise may have been guiding us through holding the plank position but this offered me a much needed mental boost. When we dig the deepest and go through the most pain, we reap the largest rewards and find resources we didn’t even know existed.
Whether it’s body or mind, get in motion in the coming year and push outside your boundaries of comfort…you’ve only got everything to gain! Personally, I’m thinking 2015 could be a pretty painful and rewarding year for my glutes!
