Experiment with your fitness routine

Yes. I was that girl. An avid and obsessed runner! What happened? After giving birth to my second child, I gave it all up for an experiment. What would it feel like to lose part of my identity and how would my body react?

At first I felt certain the weight would come pouring on. I had endless questions from friends and clients – “why aren’t you running anymore”? After all, it was part of who I was to them – competing and winning local races for over a decade had been my passion. It seemed to confuse them – why would I give all of that up?

I needed a change, my mind knew it and my body knew it. I wanted to see what it felt like to live without running in my life – could I feel just as fit? Could I see different results? Running just wasn’t jiving with my body anymore and I was going to listen. I was taxing the same muscles over and over again and developing tight hip-flexors and bulky thighs.

I embarked on my experiment and devoted myself to a new method of training. I like to call it Sculpt Dancing – a program I designed around angles and movements that work the body through high intensity dance. I was truly not convinced it would work nearly as good as running in terms of calorie burn or energy high.

However, something dramatic happened. I actually lost weight with less cardio time. I also worked muscles that had been neglected during cardio for years due to the repetitive movements of running. I felt more balanced, aesthetically my thighs slimmed down and my chronic tight hip-flexors began to loosen.

My mind body connection intensified even more as I taught myself more and more complex movements. I focused on moving the muscles in all sorts of directions through dance. The same angles I focus on with our well known fitness training workouts. It was like strength training and cardio all in one and my waistline continued to widdle down. As clients noticed the changes I began adding bits and pieces of my personal experiment into their program and their bodies transformed even further.

It’s really not rocket science – you have to find what you love – but honestly who would not like turning on some music and dancing their heart out through some fun moves? With a little instruction on the types of angles to weave into your program, you too can get started and on your way to lost inches, balanced muscles and a strong mind.

It works for a many reasons – one of which is that you are changing the angles and directions, which sculpts a dream body while keeping your heart conditioned and muscles toned. Another is that the intensity varies with peaks and valleys, which keeps your body guessing and burning calories in different zones. I was actually burning more fat through dance and was less hungry after exercising – Bonus!

After specializing in nutrition and fitness for over 15 years there are so many things I have happened upon that science experiments have not even begun to touch on yet. Don’t be afraid to turn yourself into the experiment – you never know what you will find out about yourself and your body. Live life boldly and fearlessly and you will discover hidden gems.