GRIT By Brit – Page 11 – A blog by Brit Rettig Wold, CEO of GRIT Fitness

February Fitness Favorites

February 6, 2015 No Comments

Hello Friends! Happy Friday! This is a been a WONDERFUL week for me – I couldn’t have started the month on February on a happier note. That said, I want to share a few highlights that have kept me smiling and that I hope make you smile too 🙂

I started the week by enjoying a yummy Sunday brunch with my girlfriends. Not only are each of these ladies super smart and fun, but they’ve each supported my new business tremendously by taking classes or teaching classes at GRIT Fitness. Having supportive (and fun) friends is such a blessing.

This week I did a better job of staying true to my “No work on Sundays” rule, which means I could enjoy and extra glass (or 2) of champagne at brunch. Later that day I got great news that my long-time client and friend, Nena, won our “Commit to 30” challenge at BEYOND Pedaling, the cycling studio I teach at. Nena completed 33 cycling classes in 31 days and celebrated her 31st birthday last Sunday. How cool is that?! I always love to see my clients set a goal and crush it! Nena showed some serious GRIT so her commitment was rewarded with a free year of spin classes at BEYOND – yay!

Me and Nena smiling for the camera after she completed my 8am class last Saturday – her 31st ride!

On Monday it was time to RISE and GRIND! For me this means getting to the studio at 5am to dust mop the floors and get ready for our 6am classes. Honestly, nobody tells you about the “real work” of owning your own business. Let’s just say my cleaning and building maintenance skills have increased substantially. I have never worked so hard in my entire life, but the cool thing is is that I LOVE going work every day. I’ve also never been happier in my entire life, so the trade off is worth it.

This week 14 new members joined our studio – yay! I wanna give a special shout out to the these 3 girl BO$$’s from Baylor hospital (across the street) who are the newest members of our fit family. They WERK IT OUT in our hip hop class after working long days as nurses and OBGYN physicians. Smart, fit and fabulous – what more can we ask for? We also discovered that we’re all members of the Junior League of Dallas, so we are planning some “no shower happy hours” to mix and mingle after our workouts. I love creating a strong fitness community, it makes working out so fun…like “adult recess”

Latoya, Tiffany & Lauren – our baddies from Baylor Hospital

So with the transition to February, I started a new “Love Your Body” challenge for the GRIT Fitness members. Whoever completes 16 workouts by the end of the month, receives a very special gift from me!

So far, over 20 of members have signed up for the challenge and they are NOT messin’ around about getting those workouts in. Check out our leader board…some folks have already completed 7 workouts in only 5 days! #FIERCE

Clients are SO excited about the February challenge – who doesn’t love a gold star?

As you can imagine, our classes have been super packed and energetic. Our awesome instructors do an amazing job of leading the crew. Here’s a quick pic from Kemi‘s Body Sculpt class last night…

And a post-workout pic of me, Jenny and Annabel after Annabel‘s SUPER FUN Turbo Kick class…

Next weekend were are hosting a special Valentine’s Day workout! All members can invite their special someone to workout with them for free. We already have lots of dudes registered for Dance Dardio – should be entertaining! Maybe I’ll make all the guys freestyle dance in-between burpees 🙂

The lobby at GRIT Fitness – excited for Valentine’s Day!

Well gang that’s all for now. I hope your February is off to a LOVELY start! Any fun plans for the weekend? Post a comment and let me know. I’ll back on Monday with a new workout, breakfast ideas and fitness fashion favorites. Lots of luv to you! xoxo, Brit

Fitness Fashion, Lifestyle

Best Headbands for Sweaty Workouts

February 3, 2015 1 Comment

Hola friends – Happy February! I can’t believe how fast time flies – OMG. We just started a new February “Love Your Body” challenge at GRIT Fitness studio. Every member who takes 16 classes within the month earns a very special surprise gift. The challenge started yesterday and we already have 15 members signed up, 3 of whom have already completed 3 classes! Do you think you can completed 16, one-hour fitness classes before the end of the month? I challenge you to give it a go. Not only is it a great personal challenge but it’s an effective way to quickly shape up for Spring Break – March will be here before you know it!

So this may be the most random blog post I’ve ever written BUT I thought it’d be appropriate to dedicate a post to my love for headbands. Nothing motivates me to move more than a jammin’ playlist and a killer headband! The difficult part about headband selection is that I sweat A LOT so I need headbands that a) adequately absorb moisture b) look super cute c) stay in place. After years of being a fitness junkie and a headband addict, I’ve finally nailed down the top 4 headbands that are best for sweaty workouts. Here’s my list…

Brit’s Favorite BANDZ

Living One Love (Living One Love) – These are the BEST for funky prints! They also come in solids. The band is made of dri-fit fabric and fits wide across your forehead to absorb sweat immediately. The solid hot pink headband in the top center photo is from Living One Love.
Sweaty Bands (Sweaty Bands) – I love these because you can customize the design – how fun! They have a velvet lining that keeps the band from slipping. Also, they come in either narrow or thick widths so you can pick whatever you prefer. (I have some of each). The blue diamond shape headband above is a Sweaty Band.
Lululemon Bang Buster Mesh (Lululemon) – I like these because of the thickness. They are great for hot yoga. The patterns are more chill/classic but they fit really well and don’t move at all during your workout. The wide yellow headband I’m wearing in the bottom center photo above is a Lulu Bang Buster.
Under Armour Thick Braided Headband (not pictured) (Under Armour) – These are really unique-looking because of the braided pattern and bright colors. The woven fabric keeps the band from slipping and they have a bit of an 80’s aerobics look which I like 🙂

What’s your favorite workout headband?

Lifestyle

Life as an Entrepreneur + Sexy Arms Workout

January 29, 2015 No Comments

Hey gang! I hope your week is going well. This is week has been MUCH more mellow than last, as my new studio is up and running without the craziness of grand opening week. My team and I are having a blast getting to know our clients and teaching classes. The energy at GRIT Fitness is through the roof! After this week, we’ll operate in a more “business as usual” mode with less on-the-fly to changes to our schedule, policies, memberships, etc. For instance, today marks the end of our grand opening membership offer to enjoy a year of unlimited classes for only $75 per month! If you live in Dallas, you’d best get up on this (wink wink) – CLICK HERE to purchase!

There are SO many moving parts to manage when running your own business. Everyday I wake up with a long “to do” list and every night it’s never finished…sigh. I thought I’d be able to manage everything on my own, but I’ve quickly learned that I need help! In order to grow and execute things with the highest level of quality I HAVE to depend on others. This has been really tough for me because I pride myself in “doing it all.” Fortunately, I have some amazing friends who’ve volunteered to work the front desk and help with social media marketing barter for classes. Not bad huh? I’m a lucky girl.

Right now I’m focusing on outlining the marketing strategy that we’ll execute over the next few months. I’m also prioritizing my team’s development, so I spend lots of time in one-on-one practice sessions to grow the skills of my instructors. I have NOT figured out how to keep my car clean, plan my meals or how to effectively structure my days, so if any fellow entrepreneurs have advice, PLEASE SHARE!

Alright, that’s enough about my life. Now moving on to some valuable info for you! In honor of Throwback Thursday, here’s one of my all time favorite, Sexy Arms Workout from the GRIT by Brit archives. Give this bad boy a whirl this weekend and let me know how it goes! You can CLICK HERE for details and to watch an instructional video. ENJOY! xoxo, Brit

Lifestyle

SELF Time Makover Program – Making Time to Chill Out

January 26, 2015 No Comments

Hello friends! Happy Monday! I’m intrigued by SELF Magazine’s 21 Day Time Makeover Program, so I jumped on the bandwagon and I want to share my experience with you guys. The program requires you to take a short quiz to the find the right time makeover program for your personality type. As expected, one of the recommendations for my Type A personality is to “chill the eff out.” As a result, I decided to get more serious about my personal goal to allocate one day per week to just “chill.” Yep, that’s right, I’m making time to do absolutely nothing.

My recent transition from corporate America to opening my own fitness studio had been SO exciting a but a bit exhausting. Now I teach up to 13 classes per week and when I’m not teaching I’m doing marketing, training instructors, selling memberships, installing water fountains, cleaning toilets…the list goes on and on. Here’s a few pics from the studio that we took over the past few days…

Thursday night’s hip hop class was a huge hit! My little sister, Kortani AKA Tootie, is a fierce dance instructor!

Here’s a little video clip of the choreography our clients learned in their first hip hop class. Not bad huh?

I as so excited that my friend Anna recently moved to Dallas from Boston. We met while she was in high school in Ithaca, NY. I volunteered as a youth leader at Bethel Grove Bible Church while I was in college at Cornell and she was in our youth group. Now she’s all grown up, living in Dallas and engaged! Small world 🙂

My amazing friends have continued to send me pretty flowers and gifts – so blessed to have a strong support network!

While I had a crazy busy grand opening week at the studio, I did however, devote my entire Sunday to just chill (we don’t have Sunday classes at GRIT Fitness yet). Contrary to popular belief, it was actually a lot harder than I thought…

I started the day by making my coffee and watching a church service online. It took so much power to not turn on my laptop, but I succeeded. I then sat on my couch for a bit and folded some clothes until lunch time. My friend Dan and I enjoyed a fun Sunday brunch at Henderson Tap House and caught up over several mimosas – that was a great decision 🙂

When evening rolled around, I couldn’t help myself so I started analyzing the customer feedback surveys from our first week of classes and outlined enhancements we are going to make at GRIT Fitness this week. I only spent a couple of hours on this, so I’m still proud of myself as I spent the rest of the day just chillin’ (wink wink). I hope to do better next Sunday – will keep you posted! xoxo, Brit

Couldn’t help myself, finished the day doing just a little bit of work…I’ll do better next Sunday

If you had a Time Makeover, what would you make time for?

Abs

Complete Core Workout – 30 minutes of abs, lower back & oblique exercises

January 21, 2015 No Comments

Hello friends! Happy Workout Wednesday! I’m still on cloud 9 and in a bit of whirlwind as we continue holding classes during our grand opening week of my new studio, Dallas GRIT Fitness. AHHHH it’s so exciting. We packed the house again last night for our “Eat Clean Train Dirty” event in partnership with Megan Lyons, creator of the The Lyons’ Share Wellness . Our classes were FIERCE and sweat puddles were everywhere (just how we like it).

Me and my class doing some serious core work on Monday, 1/19/15 during my very first PiYo class taught at my new studio, Dallas GRIT Fitness! Photo by Fagin007 Photography

We got great feedback on the core exercise sequences in the workouts so far, so I wanted to aggregate them into 1 complete core workout just for GRIT by Brit readers. Here is goes…

GRIT by Brit Complete Core Workout

Duration: 30 minutes

Equipment: Mat or soft floor surface + one medium dumbbell or medicine ball (6-8 pounds)

Instructions: Complete each of the following exercise for 60 seconds continuously. Once complete, rest for 2 minutes, then repeat.

In plank position

Straight arm plank alternating knee pulls, pull opposite knee up to opposite elbow
Straight arm plank knee taps to the floor, keeping the spine neutral and core engages, continuously drop the knees to tap the floor and return to starting position,
Straight arm plank mountain climbers, pull knees up to chest alternating as fast as possible
Straight arm plank jacks, keeping the core engaged jump feet apart and back together
Forearm plank hip raises, lower to your forearms and raise hips up to dolphin pose them back down to plank
Forearm side plank alternating sides, open up to a forearm side plank, come back to center, then open up to the other side

Lying on back w/ knees bent and heels on the ground

Bicycle crunches, hands behind your head, alternate reaching you opposite knee towards opposite elbow
Alternating heel touches, reach for each heel alternating sides, work the obliques
Row the boat, sit up at a 45 degree angle, holding the weight with both hands, Russian twist side to side
Crunches pulses, holding your weight straight up towards the ceiling, crunch up and pulse for 3 reps, lower, repeat

Lying on back w/ legs straight up in 90 degree angle

Climb the rope, reach each hand up towards your opposite foot alternating continuously
Toe touches, holding your weight or medicine balls, reach up try tap your toes
Leg raises and lowers, place hands under your booty and lower your legs 6 inches above the ground then raise back up to 90 degrees
Scissor kicks, keep hands under booty and keep legs super straight, alternating lowering one leg 6 inches above the ground while keeping the other at 90 degrees, switching back and forth
Knee tucks with leg extensions, keep hands under booty and pull knees into chest then extend forward so that legs are 6 inches above the ground, repeat

Let me know how it goes! Post a comment if you have questions about any of the moves. Lots of luv, Brit

Just for Fun

GRIT Fitness Launch Party Recap #1

January 19, 2015 No Comments

Happy Monday friends! OMG what a weekend. I’m happy to share that we had a VERY successful launch party for my fitness studio, GRIT Fitness, with over 300 members of the Dallas community coming out to show their support and share their positive energy. I couldn’t have asked for a better grand opening day and my heart is SO full! Here are a few pics from the party (I’ll post official photos once the photographer finishes uploading them!) …

On Friday, before the party, I set up the front desk with fresh flowers and an official announcements of our grand opening special offers. Unlimited memberships from only $75/month – a steal!

Then my Pastors (Stephanie & Robert Canady from All Nations Fellowship Church), family and friends came to the studio to pray for me, my team and our business. My mission is to use fitness to help people live life more abundantly and have hope for their future! We prayed that GRIT Fitness will ALWAYS stay committed to its mission.

On Saturday we got the party started – woo hoo! I was so happy that my dear friend Frank, the W Insider from W Dallas Hotel, graced us with his presence and brought some W swag bags for our guests!

I was SO HONORED that Gail Warrior, the CEO of Warrior Construction and Warrior Elements joined the party despite tearing her achilles tendon early that morning. She’s so inspiring and I hope to be as successful of a business woman as she is!

Flowers, cards, gifts and words of encouragement filled the lobby from my dear friends and family. I feel so loved and continue to bask in gratitude for my support system.

My #dreamteam and I snuck out from the party for a few minutes to take 1 official celebratory photo – we are NOW OPEN FOR FITNESS!

Today we will offer our first classes at the studio – I’m excited (and a little nervous). All but 4 classes are already sold out so we are getting ready to rock a packed house tonight. There are a still a few spots left in our Thursday & Saturday classes, so if you live in Dallas BOOK NOW!

I’ll post some pics of our fitness fun, but now I have a finish my playlist! Talk to you tomorrow – I have a fierce core workout in the mix for you.

Lots of luv, Brit

Lifestyle

The countdown is on…major life change coming up

January 15, 2015 No Comments

Image: My new biz headshot for GRIT Fitness Studio

OMG what a week. I hope you’re doing well. So I’m officially 2 days away from grand opening my own fitness studio, GRIT Fitness, in Dallas, TX – yay! If you happen to live in the area or travel here, I really hope you swing by, take a class and give me a hug! We are having FREE CLASSES all of next week to celebrate our grand opening. You can CLICK HERE to reserve your spot in Body Sculpt, Turbo Kick, Piyo, Hip Hop, Dance Cardio or Power Flow.

Our launch party is this Saturday (see flyer above) and I’m excited/nervous! This week has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster ranging from extreme excitement to massive panic attacks. And on top of that, I’m so behind on blog posts – PLEASE FORGIVE ME!

I figured I’d give you a compete personal update via photos and captions (more workouts to come next week – I PROMISE!) Here it goes…

I spend most evenings at my studio in one-on-one sessions with my instructors practicing their class formats – it’s so fun and they are so fierce! Here’s me and Kayah after dance cardio

And here’s me and Melissa after practicing Power Flow

The instructors on my team have been kicking’ booty and I’m 100% confident that we’ll have a successful grand opening next week – spots in our free classes are filling up so quickly!

Meanwhile, I fed my entrepreneurial soul by attending a Harvard Business Women’s event during which the founder and CEO of Poo-Pouri shared the story of how she started her business. She now brings in over $30 million in revenue a year and started with only $25K investment – I was inspired..sigh

You should watch this YouTube commercial for Poo-Pouri #hysterical

During the day I spend most of my time preparing for the grand opening. This week I ordered these cute water bottles for our launch party on Saturday 😉

And got a banner to hang on our building…

I’ve continued to teach 5:45AM & 6:45AM spin classes everything Thursday, and today was no different. While getting up early can be a drag, it sets a positive tone for my day

I played “No Flex Zone” on my playlist today, so me and some of the fellow instructors HAD to take a flexin’ pic after my classes 🙂

Now I’m headed back to the studio (as usual) to stuff swag bags, help my dad set up tables and finishing the final touches in preparation for Saturday. Say a prayer for me and wish me luck. I’ll send positive vibes your way as well.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend! xoxo, Brit

Inspiration & Motivation, Lifestyle

2015 Goal Setting Tips – How to set SMART goals

January 11, 2015 No Comments

Happy January! So, what are your thoughts on New Years resolutions? I have mixed feelings about them… BUT I’m a big fan of goal-setting and what better time to re-elvaute and reset personal goal that at the beginning of the year?

At my cycling studio, BEYOND Pedaling, we have a new initiative going on in the month of January called #CommitTo30. Studies show that if we stick to something for 30 days we are more likely to make it a habit. My #CommitTo30 goal is to incorporate “mindfulness” (the practice of non-judgmental, present-moment awareness) into my daily routine. I often get so wrapped up in my to-do list that I forget to pause and appreciate the present moment. PLUS research shows that being more mindful increases brain function! Here’s an article from Harvard Business Review that elaborates on the brain benefits of mindfulness.

My instructor bio pic at BEYOND Pedaling #flex

While setting this overall goal is a step in the right direction, it’s not a smart goal until I get more specific about what I’m going to achieve. I love this acronym from George T. Doran for effective goal setting. He says SMART Goals are:

Specific – target a specific area for improvement.
Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.
Assignable – specify who will do it.
Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.
Time-related – specify when the result(s) can be achieved.

With this in mind, I further elaborated my #CommitTo30 goal to the following:

For the next 30 days, I’m going to practice “mindfulness” by pausing for 15 minutes each morning without any media, work or distractions to simply reflect on the present moment. To track my progress, I’ll write down the new things I appreciated each day.

By making my goal “smarter” I actually feel more inclined to stick with it. What are your 2015 goals? I’d love to hear them!

Wishing you a wonderful week! xoxo, Brit

Total Body

Indoor Body Sculpting – My Favorite Winter Workout

January 5, 2015 No Comments

Now that the hype of the holidays has died down, I hope you’re ready to gear up for happier healthier 2015! To help you shake up your gym routine, I want to share my all-time favorite Winter Workout. I LOVE heading to my local gym, plugging in my headphones and moving through these body-sculpting exercises.

There are 3 key reasons I love to the do this workout in the winter as opposed to warmer seasons:

Build Lean Muscle Mass – It’s critical to strength train in the winter. Lean muscle mass increases the metabolism to maintain a healthy body temperature and help prevent winter weight gain.
Show off my workout clothes – Since the workout requires a wide variety of equipment, it needs to be done at a gym. If your gym is anything like mine, it can be a bit of a fashion show. I once got annoyed by the “see and be seen” vibe, but now I don’t mind because I rock my super cute activewear from Target® C9. Better yet, I don’t have to go broke to look fierce and fabulous!
No worries about bad weather – Snowstorm? No problem! This workout should be completed indoors since it has several stabilizing exercises.

I designed this workout to sculpt the entire body, so it consists of 9 sets of exercises (3 Core, 3 Lower Body, 3 Upper Body).

Complete each exercise in a set for 1 minute and then repeat. This means each set of exercises takes 4 minutes. With transition time and a little rest, the entire Body Sculpting workout takes 45 minutes. When done correctly, your entire body will feel tight, toned and very sore the next day – trust me! If you have any questions, post a comment below.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Target® C9 through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Target® C9 all opinions are my own.

End of Year Top 10

2014 Year End Top 10

January 1, 2015 2 Comments

HAPPY NEW YEAR MY FRIENDS! I want to take a moment and send you all of my love and good vibes. I expect great things for you in 2015, but you must BELIEVE that good things are in store. It’s a matter of our mind-set 😉

Instead of focusing on “resolutions” for the New Year, I want to simply bask in gratitude for all of the amazing things that happened in 2014. I figure if I just focus on the positive, the good vibes will carry over into 2015. So here it goes, my Top 10 Most Amazing Moments of 2014…

1. Making Greatist Top Blogs of 2014 – Just before celebrating my 2 year blogiversary, I was so honored to make the Greatist list of best fitness and happiness blogs.

Greatist.com 2014 Best Fitness & Wellness Blogs

2. Undergoing a Successful Surgery & Maintaining a Healthy Body – After finding out that I had 13 uterine fibroids, I decided to have a laparoscoic myomectomy to have them all removed. The surgery was a successful and I feel amazing. God is good!

3. Watching my lil sis graduate from Texas Tech University & visiting my lil brother at University of Tampa – I had so many proud big sis moments this year. I’m so grateful that my siblings are doing well and enjoying life.

My dad, lil sis, and mom at Kortani’s graduation (I took the photo)

4. Awesome weekly turnouts at Piyo on the Wetdeck at W Dallas Hotel – OMG week after week we had over 75 members of the Dallas Community come out to my PiYo classes at the W Dallas Hotel. D Magazine wrote us a raving review which was also super cool!

5. Celebrating my 30th Birthday – My dirty 30 was amazing! In addition to throwing the party of my life, my best friends flew into Dallas from all over the country to the celebrate the weekend with me. It was a magical!

6. Traveling to California for IDEA World Fitness Convention & Blog Fest – This was a huge turning point in my blogging journey. I learned so many helpful tips and met so many members of the fitness blogging community. I’ve already paid my deposit to attend again next summer – hope to see you there!

Just arriving to Anaheim,CA and soaking up the sun and cool California vibes!

7. Getting invited to join POPSUGAR Select + and SELF Magazine #SELFMade Collective – I feel so legit now! Be sure to check out some of my special features on popsugar.com and self.com

8. Teaching at BEYOND Pedaling – I finally made time to start teaching at my favorite cycling studio in Dallas. After putting it off for a year, the stars finally aligned and now I lead classes 2 days each week.

Posing after class with this fabulous crew! I love their energy!

9. Transitioning from a corporate career to an entrepreneurial path – After 2 long years of prayer and indecision, I finally took the leap of faith out of corporate America and into the world of entrepreneurship. You can click here to read my special feature about this decision on SELF.com.

My employee/contractor badges from the last 4 years…I’ve seen some things

10. Opening my first fitness studio – DREAMS COMING TRUE – I’m SO excited to start 2015 by opening Dallas Grit Fitness. This will be the first of several fitness studios I open year (stay tuned!)

So here’s to 2014, an amazing year. But as I truly believe, THE BEST IS YET TO COME! xoxo, Brit