Flexin’ Flow™ : The Hottest New Yoga-Pilates-Bootcamp Hybrid Workout

March 16, 2015 No Comments

Hello friends! I hope your week is off to an amazing start! I just finished teaching my 6am Flexin’ Flow™ class and I feel very accomplished! Flexin’ Flow™ is a new total body strength, stretching and intensity interval class that I designed and launched last month. If you like the idea of Vinyasa Power Yoga, but have a really short attention span and a deep love for hip hop music, this is the class for you! Here’s the official class description:

If yoga, pilates and boot camp had a baby, it would be Flexin’ Flow™! Our signature, total body workout is designed to build strength, flexibility and cardiovascular endurance. Enjoy the unique combination of vinyasa power yoga sequences, core stability exercises, leg toning circuits and intensity intervals all while jammin’ to upbeat music! Prepare to tone your entire body and leave class super sweaty. Bring your yoga mat! Bare feet; 55 minutes

So here’s a quick overview of how the 55 minute class is structured…

We start off by connecting to our breath and generating heat in the body with a series of arm circles, squats, lunges and chair twists. Keep in mind that the beats are bumpin’ right from the start so we move at a fast pace and stay on beat with the music.

After warming up, we complete a series of Sun A salutations and plank variations to begin generating heat in the core. The goal of this section is to ensure everybody has worked up a sweat – wink wink!

Brit Teaching Flexin’ Flow at Lorna Jane Dallas Active Living Room – Warm Up

Then we REALLY get the party started with an intense, energetic set of leg toning sequences. Think pile’ squats, heel raises and every kind of lunge you can possible imagine. YEAH – sexy legs please!

Brit Teaching Flexin’ Flow at Lorna Jane Dallas Active Living Room – Leg Sequence

The leg series is following by an active recovery of vinyasa flows to stretch and tone the body. I like to include lots of Warrior 1, 2 and 3 variations, push ups, side angles, Goddess poses and more.

Brit Teaching Flexin’ Flow at Lorna Jane Dallas Active Living Room – Vinyasa Flow

After we’ve caught our breath and stretched our bodies, it’s time to increase the intensity again with our calorie blasting “power series.” This is when we knock out some old school burpees, mountain climbers, plyo lunges and other “boot camp style” drills.

We wrap up the workout with hardcore glute exercises, core stability sequences and lower back strengthening moves.

Brit Teaching Flexin’ Flow at Lorna Jane Dallas Active Living Room – Booty Work

Once we’ve reached our max, we enjoy a nice cool down with deep stretches and then take it home. WARNING: If you’re looking for an amazing shavasana, you’ve come to the WRONG place. There’s no time to chill in Flexin Flow – just keepin’ it real. After class expect to feel energized, sweaty and accomplished!

Flexin’ Flow class participants flash sweaty smile post class!

Everyone enjoyed their Flexin’ Flow workout – way to FLEX for the camera!

If you live in Dallas, come take a Flexin’ Flow™ class at my studio, GRIT Fitness – CLICK HERE to view our schedule and register! In only one month, Flexin’ Flow received several raving reviews including this awesome write-up from D Town Sweat, check it out! AND starting May 2, my team an I will teach FREE weekly Flexin’ Flow classes on the W Dallas Hotel Wetdeck – SO FUN! Mark your calendars because it’s GDFR (goin’ down for real) 🙂

Have an amazing week! xoxo, Brit

Lifestyle, Total Body

Total Body Tabata Workout

February 24, 2015 No Comments

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

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

Just for Fun

THE Lorna Jane visits Dallas – Join the Party!

February 18, 2015 No Comments

Hey gang! Happy Wednesday. I hope your week is off to a great start! Things are good on my end. We are cracking away at GRIT Fitness leading classes and having a blast! I’m especially looking forward to this weekend because, THE Lorna Jane, founder and creator director of Lorna Jane Active is visiting Dallas! She is definitely a GIRLBO$$ I look up to. I got to connect with her last Summer at IDEA World Blogfest and she was SUPER nice and SO inspiring! So that’s one event I’m looking forward to. Additionally, I received the honor of leading a 2 group fitness classes in the Active Living Room of Lorna Jane West Village, Dallas – yay! I’ll be teaching PiYo next Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 7pm and 7:30pm at Lorna Jane West Village 3700 McKinney Ave, Dallas, TX 75204. Come out and “move, nourish, believe” with me!

And just for some added Lorna Jane fun, here’s a flashback to some of my all-time favorite LJ outfits…

BRIT’S FAVE LORNA JANE ACTIVE LOOKS

Happy HUMPDAY! xoxo, Brit

Legs

Love Your Legs – 20 minute muscle toning workout!

February 16, 2015 No Comments

Hey Gang! Happy Monday. I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s weekend! I enjoyed a fun V-Day at GRIT Fitness with my instructors and clients. We hosted a special “Sweat with your Sweetie” Valentine’s Day workout, so it was fun to have so many dudes in the house (see above)! We also enjoy healthy snacks and mimosas after class. Great times!

Last night, my girlfriends and I drank the Kool-Aid and saw 50 Shades of Grey! I loved it. (I also read all of the books – wink wink) Have you seen it yet? What are your thoughts?

I’m still overflowing with V-Day fever so I made this 20 minute “Love Your Legs” workout. I’ve incorporated these exercises into my PiYo classes and I’m receiving very positive feedback from my clients. That said, I figured I’d share. Give this workout a whirl and let me know how it goes. It’s a great option if you’re snowed in and can’t make it to the gym. xoxo, Brit

Photos from POPSUGAR and Women’s Health Magazine

Just for Fun, Lifestyle

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

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?

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

Dallas, TX, Lifestyle

Dallas Grit Fitness Studio Photos & Grand Opening Festivities! January 17-24

December 29, 2014 4 Comments

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