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Showing posts from 2010

When You Think You Know Someone. . .

WOW! So it happened again. Have you ever met a person who uses your personal experiences of being hurt or stabbed in the back to their advantage? Or, believed that person was genuinely honest to the point where you wanted to help him or her succeed, etc? From the beginning, I was leery about this woman. My intuition told me not to trust her. However, my twin-sister trusted her completely and somewhat convinced me that she was real. Always stick to your intuition - always. Debbie had plans for the person. She took this woman under her wings and cultivated her from knowing nothing to becoming a good instructor in over a year. Their friendship grew fast. Many of us warned my twin-sister, but she sincerely trusted her. Unfortunately, she used my twin-sister, our team, and everything we had to offer to her advantage. She played the poor me attitude and her strong religion ( as we thought ) to the hilt. She manipulated us all. She manipulated our clients. This person is a pro at getting thin

Live Life in the Moment . . Like Barley

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Our new ZEN program (formerly called Combo Flow Mat) is exactly what we need to help regroup ourselves in the busy lives we lead. We exercise for the body, but what about the mind? Now it is time to pay attention to your breath, the moment you are in, and to refuse bad energy/thoughts to enter your mind. A busy mind keeps the sounds of the birds, the beautiful fall colors, or the swaying of the sunflowers from our awareness. We get distracted and miss out on the moment that we will never have, ever again. In ZEN, we teach to Let Go, appreciate and love ourselves, and recognize the moment. We learn how to just be. I took another moment to reflect life through my dog’s eyes . . . When I walked my special dog Barley today, he was filled with curiosity and his tail never tired from wagging with being so happy on our three-mile adventure (u nfortunately, his bad leg cannot handle too much walking ). He enjoyed the beautiful day and had no care where the path led us, as long as he was with

Fitness Motivators - Another Year & Contest

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Next week, Fitness Motivators will start our 2010-2011 schedule. We are introducing new instructors, class types, and locations. For those who do not know, it is very hard finding potential instructors who will give a quality Fitness Motivators class. We put our instructors through intense training before they are allowed to teach a solo class. A few goes through the process and unfortunately, do not make it because our clients expect quality and quality classes begins with the instructor. We make certain our clients get the best possible workout when they enter our classes! It is very important that each instructor teach with the clients’ safety in mind and to offer a fun, non-intimidating environment. Without being so picky, Fitness Motivators would not have been a popular program since 1988! WOW! What a long time and worth every moment! I appreciate those clients who stuck with us all these years. We could not have done it without them! We look forward to building long lasting relat

Create Your Own Path

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I arrived at my work at 5:30 in the morning and packed the few things that I moved here from the Ann Arbor site. It is weird how I sensed from the beginning that being at the Chesterfield location would only be temporarily. This morning was my job loss notification meeting and instead of feeling sad, I felt as though my employer is giving me an opportunity to finally create my own path. Pfizer was extremely generous to me throughout the 11 years. Working in a big company, you either get lost or work hard to get noticed. I am lucky that hard work paid off. I traveled around the world, gained advanced skills and had many wonderful opportunities. A week ago I told my previous manager about my job status and he replied, “I am really sorry things didn't work out with Pfizer - they don't appreciate what they are losing. I am sure things will work out as cream always rises to the top.” How sweet! ( I never knew how much he appreciated me until his farewell speech. He was always so tou

Good Heath Begins in Your Mind

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Did you know? . . . A person has a better chance of maintaining a fitness routine if she or he not only address the physical aspects of being healthy, but also the mental and emotional aspects. Most of us go through life within our own little box. Unfortunately, there are days when the world of uncertainties enters, bad deeds of others are afflicted upon us, or that little voice inside of us starts talking trash. As a result, we fall into an unfortunate moment or negative thought and therefore, allow it, the situation or person to take control. What about comparing ourselves to others or wish we had something that someone else has. Overall, our self-esteem diminishes, we begin to have self-doubt and/or we give up on our goals. If you allow negative thoughts to consume you, you will believe it. If you believe it, you will become it. You must take ownership of your own actions and thoughts. You need to learn how to remain balanced during the ever-changing conditions around you. I remembe

Persevere. Be Patient. Win.

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Regardless of the uncertainties in my life, I do my best to keep faith and trust that everything will turn out good at the end. It just has to, especially if you live your life being honest, good to others, kind, etc. Fitness Motivators Wins! To my surprise, a person decided to Trademark my company Fitness Motivators name and since July 2009, he finally convinced Go Daddy to take my website offline last February. I still remember the day when Go Daddy emailed me the notice and they even charged ME a fee for shutting down my website! It took ten days to try to resolve this with Go Daddy and the person without any luck. I had no choice but to transfer my website to another server and apply for a Petition to Cancel the Trademark. I also hired an Attorney to help counsel me as needed. After years of hard work, he actually thought he was going to take away what me and my team worked for and I was not going to allow that to happen. I created the Fitness Motivators name in 1988 ( I still rem

The Last Few Weeks

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This was my forth week of Pilates and it is getting better. I still have to do a workout on Pilates day because it is more like a stretch workout, but overall it is still nice. I feel as though I am gaining my flexibility back due to my long-term muscle injury and that is a great thing! In addition, this week I taught a Step class. It has been years teaching Step, so I mixed it up with plyometrics, aerobics and weights. The members were sweating horribly and I have to say, class was really intense! Yea!! Zumba and my z-box classes were awesome, too. Although, I did completely forgot an entire routine in Zumba! The class laughed and we moved on to the next song. It is nice teaching after all these years! It has been two weeks since I was told that my job was being eliminated, again. I expected it, but the reality sure does stink! At least I know it is not because of my performance (I was rated one of the highest in my group), but because of my duties. I hope that I will be able to ge

Pilates - My Ten Week Test

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Throughout the next several months, I will try other fitness class formats. I hope that I will be excited about one so we can add it to our Fitness Motivators class roster! Although we have xGravity a specialty, original class that the majority of our clients love, I decided that my first class would be Pilates (a small studio who teaches the authentic method of Pilates). I attended a Pilates introductory class a few weeks ago and today was my first official mat class of 10. The instructor/owner is extremely knowledgeable about Pilates, is why I chose her class. I hope she will be able to challenge me these next several weeks and we do more exercises in the class, with less talk. I notice that the majority of the women are much order than me and of average fitness level. I wonder if this is common in a Pilates class? Nevertheless, after my first class, I felt slightly elongated and relaxed with the few stretches that we did, but not as though I met my workout quota for the day. I

Live Like A Dog

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My twin-sister recently lost her little dog Jasmine (on right) of 14 years. A client of hers emailed a story called A Dog's Purpose . Below are excerpts from it. It really makes you think and realize that life is too short to not enjoy life and not love the people in your lives as you should. People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life—like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?. . . Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as long. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Remember, if a dog was the teacher you would learn things like: When loved ones come home, always run to greet them. Never pass up the opportunity to go for a joyride. Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure Ecstasy. Take naps. Stretch before rising. Run, romp and play daily. Thrive on attention and let people touch you. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. On warm days, stop to lie on your back o

Exercising Too Hard? Find a Quality Group Exercise Class

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From my experience (and I am sure of many others) in the 1980s and early 90s, most aerobics classes were taught at such high impact during the duration of class the participants would leave with headaches, getting sick, or at the urge of getting sick. Little did these participants know their bodies were training at an anaerobic state which means the presence without oxygen when exercise intensity can no longer meet the metabolic demands of the muscles aerobically. Aerobic fitness on the other hand is where large muscle movement performed over a sustained period. The purpose of exercise is to help people become healthier and in return, live happier lives. Unfortunately, today there are still group exercise participants that believe the harder you exercise the better. They are under the impression that their bodies will not achieve results unless they endure pain or exercise to the point of fatigue. Let me be the first to tell you that you do not need to exercise at a high, continuous le

Persevere – Good vs. Evil

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It seems that all of my life I had so many obstacles that tried to knock me down. From being separated from my twin-sister when we were put into our first children home, having my best friend of 14 years attempt to steal a job moments after my interview ( I got the job-goodness eventually wins!), living on the streets, to now having a guy steal my company name that I owned for over 21 years. Sometimes we wonder why we have to deal with so much turmoil in our lives. After all, we are told that God gives us as much as we can handle. If it was not for my tough upbringing, I wonder if I would have the same perseverance as I do now. I wonder if my siblings would, too. We lived in filth, abuse and poverty. Unlike most others we know, we know what it feels like to have absolutely nothing and we never want to return to nothing. There is so much that we each want to accomplish; we came a long ways from Brightmoor, a poor community in Detroit. I remember the drugs, violence, gangs, etc. that we

Zumba Class. . . Fitness Club Identified!

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I just taught a Zumba class and it felt great that the students was inquiring where else I teach, how they thought the class was the best they had, etc. One beautiful woman even commented that she had five instructors since my class (being her first Zumba class a few weeks ago) and no one taught like me, etc.! I am so happy to have touched so many in an exercise class. It is a nice feeling! I have worked very hard on my teaching skills throughout the last 30 years and proud of whom I am today. Sometimes I can get off track when select people do not show me respect - which does not happen often in the fitness industry, but here in MO it questionably does. However, I guess that goes with anything you do – there are haters and not everyone will like us. My former boss once said that I could be intimidating and have a strong presence when I walk into a room. So I do try to tame myself, but that does not always work and in return, some of the women I met are not very nice to me (I think the

Ending a Fitness Club Relationship

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A few days has past since I wrote about my experience at a local fitness club. To no surprise, I am no longing subbing at this club and happy about that decision. I feel sorry for their members though. Maybe that is why this club has such a poor reputation with their group exercise program. I was told when I moved here that all of their quality, experienced instructors left when another club opened nearby a few years ago. I have to say, those instructors that left to teach at the new club are pros and I was impressed. They teach the proper, safe way and look the part! Originally, I agreed to sub at the local club to help them with their new instructors, plan special events for their members, etc. I guess they did not appreciate my extensive background and what I had to offer. ACE, p217 – “When leading group exercise, face the class as often as possible, using mirroring techniques, such as moving to the participants’ left when directing them to the right. An instructor can only monitor

Z-Box Workshop & Detroit Pistons Performance

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What a great weekend I had in Michigan! It was awesome seeing my family and friends! We did a pre-game performance at the Detroit Pistons game and it was a hit! They asked us to come back next season for a half-time performance! My twin sister and daughter created the fun routine that we performed. Here is a link to the performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdcmdTv55Uc We also held a http://www.z-boxfitness.com/ workshop at World Gym in Shelby Township. What a fun group of instructors! I feel confident that they will be wonderful at teaching Z-Box!

"Another State" Fitness Clubs

It is a shame that teaching the way a Zumba class (or any other fitness class) should be taught is not appropriate for "Another State" fitness club members or club. A coordinator of a club called me (where I sub) because a few members complained that they had to "mirror" me and my class was too intense since I did not pause to change my music!!!! (I honestly think only one person called, but she had to make it sound like a few!! LOL) It made me laugh because I teach the way instructors should be teaching! I refuse to keep my back to my students! How else will I monitor their faces, etc!?!? Okay, so instructors will argue with me and say they DO watch their students while facing the mirror. COME ON! I don't care who it is, when anyone is facing a mirror you look at yourself the majority of the time!!! It is unfortunate those members actually think that is the way instructors should teach their classes. Maybe this is a good time for the coordinators to evaluate th

My Best Friend

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Barley came into my life last April. He is from a shelter and was six months at the time. I absolutely did not want him, but gave him a try as long as I knew I could give him back. Barley has been one of the best decisions of my lifetime! I never experienced the love I have for Barley. He is the absolute best! Every time I think of him I have to smile. So this is what love really feels like!?!? He has the greatest personality and is a perfect little doggie. Since I moved, I have been extremely lonely. Well, Barley filled that emptiness quickly!

Welcome to my blog!

This is my first blog and journal! So I hope you enjoy reading my posts. If you have any questions or comments, let me know. Here is a link to a video that Debbie, Christina and I made for the Ultimate Zumba Video Commercial Contest. We ended up not winning. So we changed the video to be used as a fun promo for Fitness Motivators. It was fun taping it! I could hardly walk in Chrissy's shoes. They kept coming off and they were too high!