HG Members are the best

I initially joined Heather’s Gym because it was one of the few gyms around that consistently offered 5:15 AM classes and this was the only time I could really squeeze in a workout. I knew nothing else about HG other than that her crazy ads kept popping up on my Facebook newsfeed. I thought I’d try it for a while and see if I liked it. The longer I stayed, the more classes I tried. I even started taking yoga, which by the way I NEVER pictured myself doing. As it turns out, I actually really love it. The variety of classes, coupled with the passion that the instructors have for my well-being is why I keep crawling out of bed every day at 4:45 AM.

I really love a class with a great soundtrack – when I find my beat in a song, I feel invincible. Lindsey’s Monday Power Ride, and Heather’s Kettlebell classes are some of my personal favs, but also, I’m no stranger to yoga and bootcamp. In all honesty, I select classes that fit into my schedule rather than by personal preference. Plus, I know that taking a variety of classes keeps my body guessing and getting stronger.

None of us ever pictured that we’d be living in the times of a global pandemic. But I do try to see the bright side of all situations. What this pandemic has given me is the gift of time, at a time when my kids actually still like me! And since they are home with me more, I can use that time to teach them life skills and model healthy behaviors. They know that every day I leave before dawn to exercise, and when I come home, I make them a healthy breakfast or start prepping veggies for dinner before starting work. If life was as normally scheduled, they’d be grabbing a toaster waffle and running off to school. While some days are a big struggle, I do try to show them that we can make lemonade with those lemons we were given.

It all comes down to mindset. Finding your goal, your passion, or even just setting a boundary for yourself on how you live your life. For me, exercise always brought me emotional stability. Ask any member of my family about my mood when I SKIP my workout for a day… before I settled into a daily workout routine, I didn’t like how I felt or how hard it was for me to keep my emotions in check. Once I recognized the immense benefit that exercise added to my life, I made it a non-negotiable element to my self-care. 

I am a huge advocate for the importance of diet to our health and happiness. At home, my family follows a whole food plant-based diet and I love how freaking amazing I feel when I eat right. But during the pandemic I gave myself a little too much grace and I fell deep into a tumultuous love affair with the jar of peanut butter. Or rather, many, many jars…. Once summer hit, I didn’t feel so great about how my clothes were fitting, so when the Clean Cut challenge was offered and my fav workout partner asked me to buddy-up, I jumped at the opportunity.  I geek out over studying nutrition in my free time (yeah, really) so I know what to eat, my problem was self-accountability in times of stress. The program helped me find my RESET button and I’m already feeling back on the right path.