Hey Gang! I hope your week is going wonderfully! As you can probably tell from my sporadic posting, I’ve been heads down in “start-up land” after the grand opening of my 2nd fitness studio, GRIT Fitness – Design District. It’s a such a dream come true to see this 5,000 sqft facility be filled with positive vibes, loud music and lots of sweat!
I’m just wrapping up week 2 of operating and learning a lot! Business expansion comes with lots of joy and also growing pains (I’ll write a full blog post on that later). But today, I wanted to share a crazy-good deal that my team and I are offering: TWO WEEKS of GRIT for just $25!
Enjoy a special, limited-time offer to preview unlimited classes at our new Design District studio from June 20 – July 3. This offer is open to everyone, including current and former clients.
This means all of the Dance Club Cardio, Jazz Funk, Turbo Kick, powerbelle, Body Sculpt, HIIT, Flexin’ Flow & REVOLUTION classes that you can handle. It’s also a great time to check out the awesome amenities including towel service, showers, changing rooms and WiFi lounge!
*Offer valid only during the dates above. Design District Studio only. No exceptions. No transfers.*
If you live in Dallas, I’d love to meet you and WERK you out! Come join the par-tay and have an awesome day! xoxo, Brit
Hey Hey friends! I hope you had an awesome Easter weekend! I enjoyed some much-needed family time and good food. Also did quite a bit to shopping for equipment for the new GRIT Fitness Flagship Studio. It’s almost time for the Grand Opening – eek!
My sister/workout buddy and me after church on Easter Sunday!
With warmer weather on the horizon, I want to share my 6 favorite sculpting moves to help us get “Summer Body ready! As a group fitness instructor, I get asked all the time, “How can I get more toned and defined?” The simple answer is, “Start strength training 2-3 times per week.” Now let me clarify, the 5-minute arm circuit with 1-3 pound dumbbells during spin or barre class doesn’t count. Our bodies need real resistance training with weights that are heavy enough to actually build lean muscle mass and increase metabolism. Also, there’s no need to worry about getting “bulky” with high repetition workouts, such as this one. So let’s get started!
For a super sweaty sculpting session, start with a 5 minute warm up jog. Then grab a pair of 5-10 pound dumbbells and complete 20 reps of each exercise below. Repeat the entire sequence 3 times. Be sure to stretch for 5-10 minutes once complete.
1. Squat with Upright Row – Start in a wide stance, with your heels pointing in and toes pointing out. Hold both weights down in front of your hips then lower into plié’ squat so that weights come near knee-level. Push through your heels to stand back up while driving your elbows upward so that weights come up to chest level. Repeat.
2. Reverse Lunge with Bicep Curl – Stand with you feet hip-width apart holding one dumbbell in each hand. Take a big step back with one foot, and then lower your back knee into a lunge position so that both legs make 90-degree angles. In the lunge position, curl both dumbbells up towards your shoulder for a bicep contraction. Lower the dumbbells back down by your side. Then push through your front heel to stand back up and step your back foot forward to meet the other. Repeat.
3. Push Up with Shoulder Tap – This is a body weight exercise (no dumbbells needed). Start in a plank position either on your knees or your toes. Do a push up and ensure your chest comes down to elbow height. Between each push up, tap your hand on your opposite shoulder alternating hands between reps.
4. Plank Row – Start in a plank position holding one dumbbell in each hand. Keeping your hips square to the ground, row one elbow up so that the dumbbell comes level with your chest. Lower the dumbbell and repeat on the other side.
5. Bridge Pose with Chest Press – Lay flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground. Hold one dumbbell in each hand at your chest. Raise your hips off of the ground into a bridge pose and then press the dumbbells up so that your arms are straight. Keeping your hips off of the ground, lower the dumbbells back to your chest and repeat.
6. Russian Twist – This is one of my favorite ab exercises! Start in a seated position on the ground with your knees bent. Hold both weights at your chest and lean back into a 45 degree angle. Twist your torso side to side and feel a deep contraction in your oblique muscles.
If you live in Dallas and want more sculpting exercises, join me and my team for a Body Sculpt class at GRIT Fitness. Make it a great week! xoxo, Brit
I’m so excited to share, that GRIT Fitness will open it’s 5,000 square-foot Flagship Headquarters this Summer! This milestone is an absolute dream come true. Never did I ever think that in only 1 year of business, we would get the opportunity to expand. When I opened the Dallas GRIT Fitness studio last year, my only goal was stay alive, haha. But that’s what happens when you have GRIT (passion and perseverance for LONG TERM goals) – you don’t just survive, you thrive!
Seeing this vision come to life has given me so faith that the best is yet to come! I came up with the idea for GRIT about 3 years ago after realizing the ONLY reason I had a gym membership was to take group fitness classes. I thought, “why don’t I create a place that offers a variety high-energy, music-driven classes all of the time?!”I became obsessed with creating innovative fitness classes by taking standard workouts and making them “gritty” with added intensity and motivating playlists.
The idea spun around in my head for over 3 years, but not until 1 year ago did I take the leap of faith and quit my high-profile consulting career to work on GRIT full time. In the beginning it was just me, teaching free community classes on the weekends and moonlighting as a fitness instructor to get away from my “real job.” Now we’ve grown to 7 original class formats, 14 instructors (pictured below), 35 classes per week and a family of over 2,500 active members!
But…we are SO MUCH MORE than another fitness concept – we’re a fun, fierce, fabulous fit family!
Monthly social events (e.g. Cardio & Cocktails, Vino & Vinyasa)
FREE community classes attracting hundreds of participants
Building deep personal relationships (#GRITFAM for life)
Passion and perseverance for long term goals
That’s what GRIT is all about!
This is ONLY the beginning, we’re determined to transform the fitness industry into one what welcoming, hard working and focused on helping you live your best life! The next step is build out our flagship studio in Dallas, TX. I’ve secured an amazing 5,000 square foot location in Dallas’ Design District which we are transforming from an art showroom to our flagship studio!
I’ve hired architects and contractors to build 2 studio rooms: 1 multipurpose group fitness studio and 1 cycle studio for our newest indoor cycling format, “GRIT Revolution!” The flagship will also have a locker room with showers, offices, a stretch bar and a lounge area! This will be the official GRIT headquarters where we innovate new class formats and host instructor certifications, social events and lots of sweaty classes!
I’ve raised almost all of the money for the nuts and bolts of the finish out (e.g. demo, construction of new walls, plumbing, flooring, etc.) BUT we still need funding for class equipment, awesome lighting and killer sound systems for each studio room.
If you’ve taken one of our free community classes, joined us for a cardio party, followed my blog for a while or if you’re simply on board with our mission – help us build this FIERCE flagship studio to better serve the #GRITFAM and the world! We’ve got a LOT of work to do, but with your help we CAN make this bold, gritty vision come to life. BE A PART OF THE GRIT MOVEMENT!
Hey Friends – Happy Monday! To compensate for my recent posting hiatus, I’m coming back strong with 2 blog posts today – yeah buddy!
I’m so excited to announce that this Sunday (Sept. 27th) my fitness studio GRIT Fitness will be the official Dallas leader of Lorna Jane Active Nation Day! Join me and fellow GRIT instructors Annabel and Emily as we lead you through a super special “Shake, Sweat, Sculpt: GRIT Mash Up Workout” = Dance Cardio + Turbo Kick + Body Sculpt! The class is 100% free and open to the public – it will take place next Sunday at Dallas’ NorthPark – Center Park Garden at 10:00am. Shop styles from Lorna Jane NorthPark and enjoy healthy bites along with your sweat session! ****BRING YOUR YOGA MAT****
“Active Nation Day is a movement created in 2012 by Lorna Jane to inspire women, their families, communities, cities and the world to live a more Active Life!” (Lorna Jane). You can learn more about Lorna Jane’s Active Nation Day at http://activenationday.com
Get excited! I can’t wait to see you there! xoxo, Brit
Image: Maria, Annabel and Me after Maria’s Friday morning Flexin’ Flow class
Hey Hey Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was full of b-day celebrations – 4 of my closest friends have birthdays this week which means my calendar was full of pool time and partying – yippee! (Shout out to Jen Kelm, Melissa Bass, Cerise Manns and Leslie Jerome – I LOVE YOU ALL) As icing on the cake my fitness studio, GRIT Fitness, was featured in the Dallas Morning News. We are moving on up! Here’s a quick run down of my weekend shenanigans…
On Friday morning, I woke up bright and early to take Maria’s Flexin’ Flow class. I always encourage the instructors at my studio to take each others’ classes as it helps us grow as teachers and makes our team feel cohesive and supported. Me and Annabel (who teaches Dance Club Cardio and Turbo Kick) thoroughly enjoyed Maria’s Friday morning class and all 3 of us posed for a little post workout photo 🙂
On Friday night, I celebrated the b-day of my childhood best friend, Leslie. She lives in Memphis right now with her husband BUT they are moving back to Texas next month. I’m so excited! If you recall, I was a bridesmaid in Leslie’s beautiful Southern Charm wedding a few months ago. She and I had a blast at dinner and drinks on Friday night.
Me and Leslie at HG Supply in Lower Greenville, Dallas, TX
On Saturday morning I taught my usual Flexin’ Flow class at the W Dallas Hotel on the 16th floor wet deck. It was super hot and sweaty but tons of fun. We had a huge crowd on Saturday, over 90 people. Afterwards of a few of my friends from the Junior League stayed on the wet deck and we enjoyed post-workout mimosas at the pool bar. Check out this awesome review from D Town Sweat from Saturday’s class.
Miranda, Maria, Coral and Me about to enjoy post-workout mimosas
Sunday morning started with a chill trip to Starbucks where I grabbed the Sunday paper to check out our feature. I was so pumped to see that our article made the front page of the Health section! CLICK HERE to read the full article by Special Contributor Kimber Westphall (Twitter @fit_trip_Kimber). I’m so grateful that Kimber chose to reach out to me and put the spotlight on my new little business. She and I also made a cool video together which you can view below…
The b-day festivities continued on Sunday afternoon with Melissa’s birthday pool party. Melissa and I met last summer when she attended my Flexin Flow class at the W hotel. Overtime we became friends and now she teaches Flexin’ Flow at GRIT fitness. It’s great to see her grow into an amazing yoga and fitness instructor. We spent the whole day chillin’ outside, jammin’ to good music and drinking delicious cocktails. It felt good to truly refrain from working all day and just enjoy some fun in the sun!
Melissa posing with her birthday cake! Happy 28thCoral, Melissa, Maria and Me enjoying the party…hanging out in something other than workout clothes for once!
Today I’m back to the grind. I’m writing this blog post from my favorite coffee shop, MudSmith, as I enjoy an egg/avocado sandwich and prepare for my classes this week. This weekend was awesome and I’m looking forward to an even more amazing week ahead. I wish you the same. xoxo, Brit
Hello friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful week. As a lover of all things fitness and all things Dallas, I was super excited to stumble upon a new Dallas blog providing objective, thorough reviews of the city’s hottest fitness studios and classes! D Town Sweat launched only a month ago and has generated a huge following due to its honest studio reviews and thorough class assessments. After a few hours of Instagram stalking, I found the voice behind the blog, Kate Putney. This TCU grad is a management consultant by day and fitness blogger by night (AKA Girl BO$$) I met Kate last Saturday when she came to my studio and knocked out back-to-back workouts. Check out her reviews of our Flexin’ Flow and Body Sculpt classes. Afterwards Kate and I had coffee and I got to learn a little more about her fitness and blogging journey. Here’s the scoop…
What motivated you to start D Town Sweat? With shared studio memberships hitting the Dallas market, I’ve had a lot of friends recently incorporate a consistent fitness routine into their daily lives, and I’ve been so proud of them for making that commitment to better themselves. I’ve been a life-long runner, but I too started exploring Dallas studios, and often wondered what to expect when heading to a new class, or what else was out there in terms of yoga, cycling, strength etc. I tried to find a single location to read honest and thorough studio/class reviews, and while there are a few other bloggers that do an awesome job of blogging about fitness, I couldn’t find anything that was just Dallas fitness, and really honest and straight-forward. After a few weeks of searching around, I figured, why don’t I do it? I have always enjoyed reading fitness blogs like Wisdoms of Health so I knew what made a good one. I want to help connect people in Dallas to fitness that’s right for them, and I hope that D Town Sweat will be that resource.
Describe your fitness journey. My fitness journey started with my mom. From the time I was a baby, I ran with my mom – first in a jogger, then next to her on a bike, and finally with her, starting in middle school. She always took time out of her day to focus on her health, and by prioritizing fitness, she engrained in me the importance of taking care of my body, no matter how busy life or work gets. I ran my first 1/2 marathon in high school, and my first full marathon at 24. I recently ran the Dallas Marathon, and soon after decided that it would be beneficial for my body to try to mix up my fitness routine, which is where D Town Sweat comes in.
How do you define a “healthy lifestyle”? A healthy lifestyle to me is a balance, and not just a balance of fitness and food. I think in order to truly be healthy, you also need family and friends, a community, faith, a work-life balance, adventure, and stability. Fitness and eating well are part of the overall picture, but if you workout and eat well, and live in isolation, or work yourself into the ground, you’re not living a healthy life.
What’s the most interesting/unique fitness class you’ve taken? The fitness class that comes to mind as being one of the most unique is a Big Kahuna class I recently took at City Surf. A fitness class on a surfboard is most definitely unique, and surprisingly really hard! I would recommend it to anyone in Dallas who is looking to try something completely different! No prior-surfing skills required!
What do you love most about group fitness? I love being able to turn my mind off completely, and let my body do all of the work. I spend lots of time in front of a computer, so letting my body have a chance to take over, and giving my brain a break is definitely one of my favorite things. The other thing that I love is that it’s an opportunity to spend time with friends. At least 50% of the classes that I attend are with friends, so it’s a fun way to spend time together and feel productive.
In your opinion, what 3 factors make the city of Dallas great?
It’s in Texas – After living elsewhere, and traveling far and wide, I feel strongly that there is no other state that has so much to offer.
The People are great – I went to TCU for undergrad, so lots of my close friends landed in Dallas after graduating. Besides the people who I already knew when I moved here, people are just nice here.
The Community – Between the cost of living and the job opportunities, I think that Dallas is one of the best places to be from a job perspective, which draws a lot of really great people into our city. As a result of the awesome people here, there are so many organizations doing really cool things to better North Texas, and the greater community. I’m proud to be in a place with so many good apples.
What does “grit” mean to you? Grit means grinding through the tough stuff – working harder and smarter, even when it’s really rough, because you know the end result will be worth it.
Kate Putney, Founder of D Town Sweat
I highly encourage you to add D Town Sweat to your RSS feed. With new posts almost everyday, you don’t want to miss the latest trends in Dallas fitness! You can follow D Town Seat on Instagram @dtownsweat or on Twitter @dtownsweat
Hey guys! I hope you’re staying warm and dry! It seems like 80% of the US is covered in ice and snow – even us Texans! However, we are still bringing the heat at GRIT Fitness! Yesterday, we kicked off the week on a positive note by NOT canceling our scheduled classes despite the rain/ice storm. That turned out to be a great decision because several of our clients popped in the studio ready to sweat. We had an awesome time and definitely brought some heat to the his cold weather!
Our member, Kelli, showed her GRIT by rolling to Turbo Kick class during yesterday’s ice storm in her hubby’s big body truck!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so here’s a quick run down of what happened over the weekend…
On Friday, I taught my usual noon Turbo Kick class. Shout out to my friend from the Junior League of Dallas, Emily, who’s also a fierce member of our fit family at GRIT fitness (in the middle of the photo below). She took her first Turbo Kick class last Friday and loved it. In her own words, “This is what is must feel like at a rave…with music blasting and lights flashing”…she also suggested we start using glow sticks during Turbo Kick classes and turn the lights off. haha. I like it!
My Turbo Kick rock stars! From left to right: Lew, Jenny, Emily, Me, Kelli
On Friday night I enjoyed a fun yet healthy dinner with my girlfriends at Dodie’s Cajun restaurant in Dallas. I had a decision blacked salmon salad and several glasses of Pinot Grigio. Perfect way to wind down after a long week!
My yummy blackened salmon salad from Dodie’s on lower Greenville, Dallas, TX
On Saturday I taught my usual spin class at BEYOND Pedaling and PiYO (now “Flexin’Flow”) class at GRIT Fitness. My friend Jackie, fellow instructor from my days at 24 Hour Fitness, did the honors of guest teaching our Dance Cardio class – it was a hit! Here’s a link to a little video clip of the fun: Post by GRIT Fitness.
Midday I did a little dance of excitement because the new business cards I ordered finally arrived – yay! What do you think?
My new biz cards with my fitness photo on them! Not sure if photos on biz cards are tacky, but whatever, I like it!
Later I stopped by Dallas North Park Mall because THE Lorna Jane, founder of Lorna Jane Active, made a pit stop in Texas. It was great to chat with her and get a little photo op. I loving meeting fellow girl BO$$’s – very inspiring!
Me and THE Lorna Jane posing with my LJ Diary at Dallas North Park mall
I wrapped up my Saturday by doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes going on chill mode is a great thing, right? On Sunday I slept in, went to brunch with some friends and then get back to work making playlist, writing our weekly newsletter and preparing for the awesome week that I’m now enjoying.
Before I go, I want to share this new Tabata workout I created! At Fossil corporate HQ, I recently started teaching a Tabata bootcamp and I LOVE IT! Tabata is a form of High Intensity Internal Training (HIIT) created by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata. You can CLICK HERE to read more about the history of Tabata. 1 Tabata circuit lasts 4 minutes, but it’s super intense. The structure of the 4 minutes is as follows:
Workout hard for 20 seconds
Rest for 10 seconds
Complete eight rounds
Brit’s Total Body Tabata Workout
I highly encourage you to give my Total Body Tabata workout a whirl. It consists of 5 Tabata rounds and can be completed in 30 minutes. Expect to burn up to 500 calories – woo hoo! Enjoy! xoxo, Brit
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?
Image: Me and Turner (Owner of Dallas Fit Body Boot Camp – our neighbor gym)
Happy Monday Y’all! I hope you enjoyed a nice long post-Christmas weekend. I totally feel the vibes of everyone getting ready for 2015. This morning I subbed a 5:45 spin class at BEYOND Pedaling and the energy was through the roof. I love it when my class comes the the studio ready to work!
I’m spending the rest of the my day at my own fitness studio, GRIT Fitness. It’s so surreal to actually have my “own fitness studio.” A dream come true! Now we are really in the home stretch – only 3 weeks until our grand opening. Yay!
I auditioned and hired 1 more Power Flow instructor this morning which means GRIT Fitness will open with a fun, fierce team of 11 fabulous instructors (including me)!
Here’s a quick run down of the recent progress that me and my family made over the Christmas break…
Hung the door sign and hot pink vinyl lettering the windows
Finished decorating the lobby and hanging signs. Also, got a cool chalk board to keep clients up to date on what’s happenin’
Created a press/media wall to show off all of the cool features we’ve received to date
Stocked the studio with equipment – weights, yoga mats, etc.
Last but not least, I’m spending most of my time this week preparing for our Launch Party and grand opening festivities. If you live in Dallas, I really hope you can join us. The party is on Saturday, Jan. 17th from 1-4pm. Our friends from Lorna Jane will be in the house with some goodies! I’ll be sure to do my part and provide the mimosas and a jammin’ playlist 🙂 After the party, we are offering a free week of classes to the Dallas Community. This is your chance to to check out our rockstar team of instructors, break a sweat a bust a move. Visit our Mind Body site to reserve your spot in a class!
Well, that’s all for now. I’ll bring you some “detox” ideas later this week to get your New Year started off right. Have a wonderful week. xoxo, Brit
Image: From left to right, my friends Ashley, Julie (instructor), me and Andria after our Brawl workout. I was happy to rock my Fire Cracker capris from Lorna Jane!
Hey friends – happy workout Wednesday! I hope your week is going well. I’m working away at my new studio, Dallas Grit Fitness. We are in full swing decorating and getting ready to welcome our fierce, fabulous instructors for orientation in 2 weeks. I’m excited and honored to have the most energetic dancers, trainers and yoga instructors join my team!
In honor of workout Wednesday, I wanted to share some insights from my recent visit to The Barre Code Dallas, Design District. Turns out The Barre Code Dallas Master Trainer, Julie, was actually the Group X Manager of 24 Hour Fitness who auditioned me for my very first fitness instructor position! When I walked into the class and saw that she was teaching, I totally freaked out. Such a small world!
While The Barre Code offers several barre formats my friends and I decided to try out the “Brawl” class because it seemed the most intense. “Brawl, which has been recognized by SELF magazine as one of the best workouts in the country, is an intense class that combines cardio kickboxing sequences with strengthening work for the thighs and glutes.” As a Turbo Kick fanatic, of course this is right yup my alley!
Here’s a quick run down of my experience…
The Class – Brawl is a 50 minutes, high intensity cardio kickboxing class. We did the whole class in socks – no sneakers! Fortunately the floors are a soft rubber that you can bounce on. About half way through the class, we got down on the ground and did 10 minutes of core, thighs and booty toning exercises. Then we ended class with one final cardio push and a cool down.
The Instructor – So I may be biased because I know Julie and personally like her style, but she was awesome! I always appreciate fitness instructors who actually do the workout with the class and practice what they teach. Julie rocked it out!
Music – We kicked, punched and jumped around to a mash-up of Top 40 music. It was remixed into a continuous flow that synced well with the moves. The sound system was great – I could feel the beat!
Who was there – Barre Code is a women’s only gym. Most of the ladies in our class were in their 20’s and 30’s and all dressed in super cute activewear.
Loved – The high energy of the class. We never stopped moving!
Hated – I didn’t bring a towel and had to creatively wipe my sweat on my clothes.
Final Verdict – After class I was drenched in sweat, my thighs were on fire and I had a smile on my face – the 3 signs of an effective workout! I highly recommend.
My friend Ashley, invited us along for the day. She’s a regular at The Barre Code
Ladies checking in at the front desk for Brawl class!
The studio was perfectly accented with thematic fitness equipment – gotta love pink kettle bells 🙂
Afterwards we were sweaty and tired so we treated ourselves to a yummy dinner at Ascension
