"Burn It!!!"

This weekend I finished up a 6 week program that I'd been doing at my gym called "Burn It".  Run by one of our amazing Zumba instructors, Angie, and her personal trainer husband, Keith..."Burn It" promised to kick my butt hardcore. And it did.  I'd seen the fliers a few months before when they did a fall season, but it was around the time I was heading to the Biggest Loser resort in Chicago, so I sat it out.  When I saw the fliers go up again in January, I wasn't going to miss out.

They had a free session one Saturday morning so that we could all come get a preview of what we were in store for and I knew within the first 10 minutes, this was going to be a hard 6 weeks.  I also knew it would change my life.  I signed up and paid then and there (with my awesome new friend Kate, who pushed me for 6 weeks!!) and we committed to 6 weeks of the most fun kind of torture.

Burn it is essentially this...

High intensity training that gets your heart rate up quickly and burns calories just as fast.  A 10 minute workout with Angie and Keith had us swimming in pools of sweat.  But it proved to me and I'm sure to everyone else that you don't have to spend hours and hours at the gym (though you all know I do haha) in order to get in a good, hard workout.

Every week was different.  The workouts ranged from fun Olympic style circuit training workouts to Tabata training to working with a partner.  We'd spend 10-12 minutes doing an AMRAP (As many reps as possible) that had weights and squats and pushups and burpees...and feel like we'd been working out for hours.  And then with only a few minutes to catch our breath, we'd launch into a fun group workout where we'd do relays in teams!

I learned and got to try out all sorts of new exercises as well as some old not-so-favorites.  I learned I cannot hold a plank for 2 minutes straight, but I CAN do spiderman burpees without dying!  I can't run or sprint nearly as fast as 99% of those in the class, but I was able to do box jumps on the bleachers and do squats while holding Kate's legs as she does a plank on the ground in front of me!  I am stronger than I ever knew and it just keeps getting better.

Angie and Keith are amazing.  I already knew Angie was great.  She used to teach my girls' dance class when they were little and her Zumba workouts are just plain FUN.  Pairing her up with her hubby made for some really fun and inspiring workouts.  On top of our weekly sessions, they put together videos and daily ab challenges for us to do at home during the week.  I had a hard time remembering to do those every day on top of my usual workouts, but when I did do them...I felt them for days!  I really can't thank them enough for their motivating personalities and their willingness to push us through things we never thought we could do.

Here is a picture of our amazing group of people.  Taken POST workout so you can see our sweaty and red (in my case) faces!!

But the best part was seeing the results.  They used a body composition scale to see the changes in our bodies over the 6 week period.  In 6 weeks I:
-Lost 8lbs
-Lost 1 point in my BMI
-Lost 2.2% of my body fat
-Gained 1% of skeletal muscle!!!

In 6 weeks!!!  (And I was only eating cleanly for about 4 of those weeks or I could have seen even better #'s I'm sure)  The results speak for themselves and I will most definitely be doing this class again when they start up at the end of March.  This class is what helped me to FINALLY break through a stubborn plateau and push me closer to that milestone of breaking 200lbs that seems to be just out of reach!

To all my friends in the area, I HIGHLY recommend you do it with me!!!  I know I sound like a commercial, but I wouldn't write it if I didn't mean it.  This class will change your life.  I can't wait to Burn It again!