Ah, boot camp! An opportunity and a challenge all at once.

Want to prime your proficiency with your workout?

Ramp up the results of your fitness program?

You can take just about any exercise technique, workout, or fitness routine and create a Boot Camp style fitness intensive.

In the fitness studio, in the gym, with a group of buddies, or solo at home.

What is the idea behind a Boot Camp?

Boot Camps are a traditional and esteemed fitness tool that serve a variety of purposes.

• deepen skill level of an exercise technique
• push the body more intensely beyond its previous reach
• rattle the cage of a fitness plateau, such as strength or weight loss
• contribute to physical confidence and mastery
  

Most importantly, perhaps, the value of the Boot Camp lies in the strengthening of the nerve transmission pathway.

This can take place when the neuromuscular pathway is continually reinforced and practiced in a telescoped period of time.

Really, it's like practicing anything. Repeated focus without lots of time away from the task in between reinforces proficiency.

During the course of a Boot Camp, you can feel this sense of mastery and the body working in concert growing each day.

Personally? My Boot Camp experience has been primarily with T-Tapp, Bar Method, and specific favorite body sculpting sequences, such as my Torso Trimming Series and variations of Pretzel.  Each time, I emerge with more spring in my step, more defined shape, and a great sense of well being.

Case in point:  T-Tapp Boot Camp

For example, with a T-Tapp Boot Camp, you commit to completing the Total T-Tapp Workout – or something similar  – in its entirety for from four to 14 days in a row, depending on one's goals. You can pick any days that you can schedule back-to-back.  The continuity of one day after another is important.

At T-Tapp retreats this is especially powerful, because usually you are doing more than one workout a day.  You have  a focus of attention on the task without lots of distractions between workout sessions.

This is one reason many people get rapid results and/or lose so many inches at retreats; they are deeply focused on exercise form.  Repetitively. The typical "Day 3" of a four day T-Tapp Boot Camp is difficult not just because of the physical demand. The brain is asked to push beyond a complacency.  Past previously attained proficiency.

The Love Your Body Boot(y) Camp for February 2010 is a combination of a Basic Boot Camp and Targeted Body Sculpting sequences.

A double whammy.  Talk about putting power into your practice!   Next…

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved image:  kadiwow

It's not just about the endorphins. Or the burn off of stress hormones.

Or the simple pride of achievement from a workout completed that makes exercise a powerful agent of stress relief.

These are all important. But seems it's more than that.

Exercise evidently builds in stress protection and stress relief by generating brain cells that do just that.   The literally build us a happier brain.

And play an important role in stress management.

How exercise makes you less anxious

Though scientists have known for some time that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells, or neurons, it has not been known exactly how these exercise -born neurons might be "functionally different"  from other brain cells.

Recent research at Princeton University is delivering new insights.   More data and evidence that the exercise you do actually provides you with stress relief.  An easily accessible tool for stress management through simply challenging your body to move around more.

Preliminary results of which were presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, scientists allowed one group of rats to run. Another set of rodents was not allowed to exercise.

Then all of the rats swam in cold water, which they don’t like to do. Afterward, the scientists examined the animals’ brains.

They found that the stress of the swimming activated neurons in all of the brains. (The researchers could tell which neurons were activated because the cells expressed specific genes in response to the stress.)

But the youngest brain cells in the running rats, the cells that the scientists assumed were created by running, were less likely to express the genes. They generally remained quiet.

The “cells born from running,” the researchers concluded, appeared to have been “specifically buffered from exposure to a stressful experience.” The rats had created, through running, a brain that seemed biochemically, molecularly, calm. ~ from Phys Ed.; why exercise makes you less anxious, NY Times

You knew exercise was good for your mood!

We've known for years – both practically and scientifically – that exercise enhances mood and improves mental outlook.

But how exercise might directly affect the psychological states of stress, mood and anxiety, was unclear.

Now, thanks in no small part to improved research techniques and a growing understanding of the biochemistry and the genetics of thought itself, scientists are beginning to tease out how exercise remodels the brain, making it more resistant to stress.

Keep moving!

All the more reason to keep moving during the busy holiday season.  Yes, it will help burn off some of those holiday calories, keep your system healthier and sustain and build muscle.

Yet now more than ever we are finding that regular exercise is a powerful stress management tool. Another undeniable connection between body and mind.

Get out there and move.  Doctor's orders!   Next…

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved image:  novic

Can the indiscriminate eater make peace with the disciplined dieter within?

(YES.  But first…)

Let's face it.

There are two distinct voices within for anyone who has ever had a weight problem.

How about we meet these two, face to face (and fork).

For one, there's the indiscriminate eater.

Qualities: You know, the one that wants to eat whatever it wants, whenever it wants, as much as it wants.

The Challenge: Denying that this voice exists only makes it emerge in the must unseemly, unmanageable, and covert ways. Like bingeing, sneaking food, and hiding rations.

And if you haven't experienced all three of these behaviors like I have, then maybe two of them, or one. Or had the desire to implement one of them.

Then we have the disciplined dieter.

Qualities: The one who actually knows (deep down, you do) how and what to eat to be able to lose weight or maintain weight and be healthier. And the disciplined dieter we are talking about is the one with wisdom. The OCD – obsessive compulsive dieter – is another voice entirely. Let's get that clear.

The Challenge: Potentially, getting derailed in "perfect diet" muddle that gets you nowhere fast when it comes to your fitness, fat loss, and weight management goals. Most often challenged by the disowned voice of the indiscriminate eater.

Actually, there are several other voices out there in the eating and food realm but for now we're sticking to the two in the title.

Evidence

Each of these voices leaves definite trails of qualifying symptoms.

Most obviously, the indiscriminate eater emerges as what I refer to as the "spoiled brat syndrome". Certain that it is surrounded by other women who all can eat "whatever they want whenever they want and still stay thin", there is a loud stamping of the foot in rebellion when the common sense of the disciplined dieter mentions her agenda.

This creates an enormous conflict within. It can lead to the pain of white-knuckle dieting (a losing proposition and not to be aspired to, trust me) and its inevitable backlash.

The disciplined dieter voice wants, most of all, discipline so that it can maintain control. This is necessary for it to create successful weight management, fitness, or weight loss. Evidence of the disciplined dieter can be found in plans, lists, good and bad categories, and "good and bad" eating behaviors. Some of these pathways are more productive than others. For example, when we get into "good and bad" anything, we hook all the other feelings we have about being "good" or "bad.  Better to take the perspective of "that which is most compatible with our [weight loss, fat loss, bodyshaping] goals."

Where these two voices make peace.

These two voices, very strong in any woman with a long and colorful diet history, can find a meeting place of peace.

A connecting point where they can join hands and walk you the path of fitness and weight loss freedom. It is a truce worth searching out and investigating.

The very process of this investigation will deliver to you very, very valuable information about what it is you really want in terms of your fitness, body-shaping, and weight loss goals. When we're caught up in the confusion and swinging back and forth from one voice to the next, confusion and frustration reign. What we want is clarity, conviction, and of course, success. One of the very first questions I ask my weight loss clients and students in my coaching programs such as the Woman's Fitness Blueprint is "why do you want to lose weight? Or get fit? The answers to these questions, seriously considered, lead us to tremendous insights about our pathway.  They unfold our power to build the mastery that brings us to realization of our goals.

Yes, we can integrate these voices by inviting them to joined forces as the disciplined eater.

The one who knows, deep down, the principles to embrace and strategies to implement to succeed at lasting weight loss.

The one who gets to eat, fully enjoying an alimentary experience. Embracing the very satisfaction of good food well eaten. Yes, we need a dietary plan. But all that is is disciplined eating.

And eating sounds so much more fun, free, and happy than "dieting", yes?

It takes an inner energy shift, a different mindset, and disentanglement from the confused voices of the past.

I know, because it happened for me.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved image:  maddy

We all know about the proverbial field of dreams.

What about the DOCTOR of your dreams?

One that actually is highly motivated to help you build health, rather than seek to salvage and treat what's left of your health after you've lost it?

Let's be honest. A part of us intuitively knows that when we're healthy, lo and behold we've become more fit.

And quite often, shed some extra avoir du pois along the way.

I suspect this is why many actually say the "just want to be healthy".  They actually desire the joy of being fit and without the agony and discomfort of excess weight.  But sometimes we need guidance, pragmatic steps, a caring and knowledgeable hand to hold in the process. In short, a guide to get us going.

Where do you start – or restart?

It can be a daunting task – "getting healthy" – especially if we have a history of failed attempts that has left a bad taste in the mouth.  A negative association with the process of getting healthy.

Sometimes we just need a fresh start.

A fresh approach.  New spectacles.

It is excitement that brings me to the keyboard today.  Excitement about sharing with you a NEW program that may be just the kickstart you need for a fresh approach.

More accurately, a gentle push.

For this plan invites you to build specific healthy practices over a period of time – 48 weeks for that matter.

And I am not recommending this sight unseen.  As a matter of fact, I am undergoing this course of study myself.

Care to join me?

Enter My Dream Doctor

In truth, what would your "dream doctor" be like?  For myself, she or he would:

1. Start with the reminder (lovingly communicated, of course!) that I am, in large part, responsible for my own health.
2. Impart to me some specific tools that I could implement in a progressive fashion to build health.
3. Make the items from #2 simple and easy to understand
4. Integrate nutrition, exercise, and mental approach as equal partners in the quest.

(As a matter of fact, the Woman's Fitness BluePrint is designed on these principles.)

Which is why what my Dream Doctor has put together is such an exciting find.

But don't take my word for it.

Take a look at this fabulous program that my friend and colleague Dr. Carolyn Dean has put together.

The philosophy?

Thomas Edison said the doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his or her patients in the care of the human frame, in a proper diet, and prevention of disease.

The doctor of the future is here.  And she can be yours, too.

Her name is Dr. Carolyn Dean.  Let's just call her My Dream Doctor.

I'm studying Module 1 from her new 48 – week wellness program now, yet felt compelled to come in here and tell YOU about it before I read another word.

Take a look and tell me what you think!

P.S. Remember, Dr. Dean is going to be a guest on my late summer TeleClass series September 22.  Watch for details.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved                                     image:  sianni janus

Am I primed, motivated, and eager to work out each and every time that I do?

Guess again.

Yet there isn't a day that I wake up feeling strong, fit, slim, and energetic that I don't absolutely, thoroughly, completely relish and enjoy the fact that I am.

You better believe it.

THIS my friends is the real deal.

What keeps me going

You know what keeps me going with healthy practices?  This means

• regular exercise
  
• a whole foods, plant-based diet
  
• stress protection and management (don't leave it to chance)
  
• flexibility training, and
• activities for practice of mindset and mastery.

What keeps me going is that there is nothing like feeling fit, toned, energetic, and slim.

No matter what else life brings your way.  (Trust me on this one, I know.)

But being resilient, full of vitality, and FREE of the remorse and dissatisfaction with extra weight, sluggish energy, and bad health due to choices has been more than a blessing.

It's been a life saver AND a life maker.

Make no mistake

Being healthy and fit bring enormous benefits for your quality of life.

This means how much vitality you have each day as well as physical and mental resiliency for all that we find ourselves amidst as part of the human predicament.

You will live better and more productively if your body and mental training are cultivated intentionally.

Don't leave it to chance.

Make it a priority.  Get support if needed.  Put on your own oxygen mask first.

And enjoy what the fit enjoy.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved

Burr Leonard (l) with Lani Muelrath

I've never had a bad Bar Method Studio workout experience.

As it turns out, there is a choreographic genius to the orchestration of the Bar Method Studio workout, and you recognize it from the drop of the first downbeat.

And the effect is intentionally designed.

The birth of this brilliance? In the mind of Bar Method creator Burr Leonard.

Choreographic genius

Each and every opportunity for me to work out in a Bar Method studio has been anticipated and enjoyed not for just the workout that I get, but for additional reasons.

Reasons for which you can describe the effect, yet not always nail the reason.

In brief, Bar Method Studio workouts leave you feeling:

1. thoroughly worked out, head to toe
2. strong
3. stretched
4. centered
5. focused
6. like you effectively used every minute
7. complete, as a well-balanced meal.

A conversation with Burr Leonard

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at length (right after attending a class taught by her) with Burr about the Bar Method system.  I asked her about, among other things,  the design behind the scenes.  The choreography of the workout and the delivery of instruction that result in such a positive and powerful experience for those in class.

As a matter of fact, though our conversation addressed many questions, that was where I started.

Which, as you'll see from the interview notes, pleased Burr enormously – as that is her favorite topic of discussion and ongoing development within the Bar Method programs itself.

It is fascinating to see the intention behind the design of these workouts.  A deeper appreciation of the process – and effect – is the inevitable result.

This interview excerpt (part 1 of a series)  is from that part of our conversation.

Lani Muelrath:  I've never had a bad Bar Method experience.  Your system – and I think that's your signature – besides the way you put the workout together – is the way your workouts are choreographed.  You feel like you get to put all the attention on the exercise and YOU (the instructor) creates the space -  the delivery of the mats, for example – how did you come up with all of that?

Burr Leonard:  Hmmm.  Well, you're asking me about my favorite subject.

There are really two elements to the Bar Method that I think are unique among barre-based workouts.  And one is that we've designed the workout – we've worked it logically to be as safe and hard as possible.   And as we worked on getting it safer and harder, we realized that those two aspects – components – actually go together.  The safer it is, the less it hits the joints and the more it hits the muscle.

I mean, a very simple example would be reverse push-ups.   When I inherited reverse pushups from the Lotte Berk Method, they were performed with the shoulders forward of the hands, and the legs straight.  And our physical therapist told us that separating the arms from the shoulders and putting the weight on the arms is not good for the shoulders.   And then we discovered when we brought the arms next to the back in alignment, our body weight fell right over the muscle and made it much harder.  So in that exercise and many others, we've tweaked the exercises to be better and harders.

And then second, we worked on getting all the "holes" out of the class.  The little places where people yawn, and adjust their ponytail and take a glass of water, look at the clock, and think about lunch.   Our goal is to involve people's minds 100% in the workout, from moment one to moment…you know, the last minute.  And they kind of wake up, and say "Wow! That went by fast!"

And so we work -  part of the [instructor]  training is called "flow".  And there are really two components to "flow".  One is transitioning the exercises,  so that the last beat of one exercise is the first beat of the next exercise.  So there's no looking around the room waiting for the next thing to happen.   You may notice that one key moment is the transition into thigh.  So  as soon as the stretch at the bar before thigh ends, we train our teachers, as that second leg is coming down off the bar, you push the button, and the thigh music begins…

Lani Muelrath: So you're fully engaged….

Burr Leonard: …the music is going bang, bang, bang, so you're (breath in) " wow!  We call it interlinking.  Interlinking the sets.

And the second way we do that is in between the sets we have a counting rule.  We have 13 or 14 counting rules, counting technique.  So it keeps the students involved.  The counting rule is to interlink the subsets.  And the subsets are the ten slow, the ten medium, and the ten fast.

So, the ten slow would be 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8.., next ten faster, the last 20 really fast.  So we don't say "9. 10. and…"  Now when your thighs are burning, shaking, and dieing, we don't want to hear "9. 10. AND …uh oh!  That little…when you're in that zone of challenge, the least little second is going to feel like forever.  So we never, we never LEAVE them for one second.  We're always  with them every second.

And this is moving into the teaching technique that we've developed over the last, almost 20 years.  And, um, there are other elements.  Orientation – we have 14 "orientation rules" we call them.   And we teach the teachers to always face the students.   I mean more that face the students, eye contact.  Always looking around the room.  So even when we're demonstrating an exercise that calls for facing into the bar, we're not facing into the bar. We're facing them.

Watch for part 2, coming soon!

© Lani Muelrath All Rights Reserved

The qualities of a winner – at weight loss or any other worthwhile venture – are not hard to recognize.

Sometimes you just need to take a closer look.

Once more, the skills of a winner can be applied to any endeavor.  AND they can be learned.

For starters:

• Winners create the life that they want

• Winners don't make excuses

• Winners take charge rather than taking a number in the complaint line

• Winners continually invest in themselves

Learning to take the “winners” approach is a key element of the Woman's Fitness BluePrint program.  And as a result, I see my students becoming – well, winners.

I’m watching THEM stop making excuses and do what it takes to experience a real transformation.

I’m seeing THEM do whatever it takes to make the changes needed to realize their dreams. They come to realize that a winning attitude is flowing, organic, resilient, adventurous.  Not without it's challenges.

And because of that, they are seeing amazing results.

As a matter of fact everyone in the Woman's Fitness Blueprint has been successful with getting productively consistent with their diet and exercise practices.

They have – and actively cultivate – a bigger vision of what’s possible for themselves.

And they’ve lost weight, if that is what they were seeking, everyone of them, who applied the tools of the program.

And most inspiring of all, I see them overcoming self-imposed obstacles to taking on an extraordinary challenge that turns out to be a personal breakthrough experience.

How to practice the skills of a winner

Create the life that you want

Don’t just wait for something to happen, or fall in your  lap.  Do what it takes to create a certain outcome. Create the mental outlook for opportunity. Decide what you want, what it takes, and then do it. Don’t just wait for something to happen, or fall in your lap. Get support, fellow seekers, and/or coaching to accelerate your process.

Rather than getting stopped by small ideas and small thinking, be willing to stretch your vision of what’s possible.

Give up making excuses

Maybe you know someone like this.  They say they will do anything to overcome their health or weight problem, but when presented with the opportunity, or the answer, they’ll make all kinds of excuses for why they won’t do it.  It becomes a justification – maybe it’s the time, or the money, or some other reason.

Rather than getting stopped by small ideas and small thinking, be willing to stretch your idea of what's possible.

The opposite of accepting responsibility is making excuses.  Making excuses or not taking action, and not moving yourself forward.  It’s an insidious thing.  Really, don't we see people do this all the time? Making excuses and failing to take action.

Take charge rather than complain

What if we aspired to this rule:  you cannot complain about something – anything – that you are not willing to do something about.  If you aren’t willing to do something differently, then you can’t complain about it.

If you understand how much in your state of fitness is YOUR choice, then a huge difference can be made.  This means attitude, mindset, outlook – because that is the place where it starts. In your life, relationships, whatever – because along with responsibility comes success, achievement, happiness, and motivation.

It becomes a matter of personal responsibility.  Understanding your actions – or lack of actions – determines to a great degree what you have in your life.

Invest in yourself

Don’t reinvent the wheel – if you see something that is working for someone else, seek out the person, the program, the model, or whatever has been tried and true effective, or whatever it is that that person has.  Use their experience to find a shortcut to your own solutions.

Each time I've invested in myself, I see that the results are multiple that which I invested.  I am talking about investment in personal growth as well as business growth.

So often we are hesitant to invest in that which is a service which is what will improve our lives.  It somehow seems easier to invest in tangible products.  But as a person who values quality of life and experiences over things, I’ve learned to invest in THAT.  And it’s made a huge difference for me.

You?

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved image: badboypp

"Are you ready to STOP

Imagine – a strategic way to get fit, lose weight, have more energy – and to find the most direct route to success.

I'll teach you my PROVEN, 3-part system for CONSISTENTLY getting healthier and losing weight – while moving away from fitness confusion and overload  -  – to a strategy that WORKS!”

Join me in my FREE Woman's Fitness BluePrint preview Teleseminar, July 28, 2009.

"5 Simple Secrets to Kickstart Success:

The Woman's Fitness BluePrint Action Plan Preview Teleseminar"

On this ground-breaking call you'll learn:

1) The #1 thing you need to focus on to get BIG  results on your weight loss plan (Most fitness gurus don't bother with this part – unfortunately!)

2) Simple steps to craft your Personal Fitness Action Plan so it works! (Psst — This is the exact formula I've used for my 50 lb weight loss.)

3) 5 secrets to weight loss results both during and after you've lost the weight. This simple formula works like magic. Not knowing this used to cost me hundreds of dollars in special foods, diet books, weight loss plans and wardrobe, but I'm going to teach it to you so you can quickly learn from my mistakes.

4) The most critical shift you need to make before attempting to lose weight or get fit. Don’t even bother with all the strategies I’m about to teach you if you’re not willing to do this!

Just enter your first name and email address lower on this page to be added to my VIP list. Can't make the call? That's okay, still sign up because you'll have access to the recording.

From: Lani Muelrath, M.A., Woman's Fitness BluePrint pages

Dear Friend, Does this sound familiar?

•  Every time you embark on a weight loss plan, you get off to an exciting start, but… no results, or limited results at best. Worse, you've spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars on diet and exercise programs only to feel confused or frustrated with all the information…and your results are STILL pathetic!

• Your weight loss approach is designed around all or nothing programs. True, if you aren't implementing tactics, you aren't getting results.  But you can’t force the rules of a diet or exercise plan and expect results that last.  What’s the missing link? – not just to free up your time but so you won't be vulnerable to the ups and downs of getting fit or losing weight.

• You've committed to  a program or two (or more!), and when you did you had high hopes of seeing that big payoff of success. But…it's a lot harder than you thought to do the day-to-day things necessary to achieve your body shaping goals. In fact, you feel like you’ve hardly made  any progress at all (or maybe even NONE) much less have the success of your dreams. How do other people do it?

• You're sick and tired of people telling you you’re “just fine the way you are”. When you first heard it, you were flattered. Or your sick of people telling you you need to lose weight – as if you didn’t know it!  Or you just don't want to fool yourself anymore with resigning yourself to "healthy at any size". Now you're just plain irritated because you know you want better for yourself. Worse, you're STILL stuck wanting for energy, a better shape, and the vitality of your dreams –  despite all your best efforts to change that.

Well, I've got GREAT news for you – you are SO in the right place right now!

My name is Lani Muelrath, and I'm known as the Fitness DreamMaker.

Why? Because converting weight loss struggle into success is what I do best! In fact, I've gotten SO good at it and love it so much, that in the last 18 months, I've successfully sold out 3 group coaching programs with one after another weight loss and body change success stories as a result.  Everywhere from over over 50 lbs to 20 lbs in 3 months to "those last stubborn 5".

I don't tell you this to brag, I share this so you know that in the last few years, I’ve learned a thing or two about a thing or two. I've built a highly successful fitness coaching practice because of the results women get by applying what I know over and over again. And now I’ve got it down to a science.

What's my secret? Well, here it is in a nutshell – The Woman’s Fitness BluePrint. Yes, my personal weight loss success – 50 lbs and over 5 sizes more than 10 years ago -  and the changing of women’s lives when it comes to their weight and body image  all come back to the principles as I teach in the Woman’s Fitness BluePrint. It's the easiest, fastest way to get to that body of your dreams.

In fact, the Woman's Fitness Blueprint is the QUICKEST and BEST way to:

• Organize tactics that are compatible with your lifestyle.  Talk about user friendly!

• Make a BIG difference in your energy and attitude about continued fitness success.

• Feel good in your own skin

• Create amazing behavior patterns that build success FOR you – every single day.

But there is a catch. As simple as weight loss and body shaping can be, it's not easy to get these kind of results. (As many of you probably struggled with first hand, trying weight loss program after program with little to no sales to show for it. Then to add insult to injury, after all this work, you're STILL the "trying to get started on your fitness program") If you don't know what you're doing, you can EASILY waste hundreds of hours with nothing to show for it.

Am I right? So an action plan is crucial to your success.  But it's only the beginning. You ALSO need to:

1. Get yourself in GEAR to follow through
2. Continue on so that you can build new habits of behavior that deliver, like mine to for me, year after year.

Now you may be reading my articles and blog,  and have been listening to my free TeleSeminar calls, and have been trying in vain to duplicate my success by cobbling together my story and advice.

(But it's STILL not working?)

That's because you don't have my ENTIRE system. You see, I have this down to a science. I know EXACTLY what you need to do and HOW to get the BEST results. Plus, there are things that are CRUCIAL to do – and you might be inadvertently skipping them because you don't think they're all that important!

You see, it's not your fault you still struggle to see the big changes you desire. Most systems give you bits and pieces of tactics, without the crucial element of mastery of psychology how to put an entire system together. Typically you'll get maybe a piece of the system (and most likely it's from someone who doesn't have my track record of success) but you won't see the WHOLE thing.

For instance: It's VITAL you get all the pieces of the puzzle, because if you don't, chances are you're not going to get the longterm success you are looking for.

That's why I'm inviting you to this call:

"5 Simple Secrets to Kickstart Success: The Woman's Fitness BluePrint Action Plan Preview Teleseminar "

Just enter in your first name and email address to be added to my VIP list. Can't make the call? That's okay, still sign up because you'll have access to the recording.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved

From your first step inside a Bar Method studio, you become aware that there is something different about this workout.

It's not just the soothing, serious colors and beautiful photographs on the wall.

It's not just the sculpted, lovely shape that the women (and yes, sometimes men) who come to these classes seem to have in common.

As if this isn't enough!

Rather, it's after the workout begins that you sit up and take notice.

And for an investigative mind such as mine when it comes to all things fitness, here is where the inspection begins.

Consistent delivery of solid, sound instruction

I've never, ever had a bad Bar Method studio experience. That includes those at this San Francisco location (How Kate kicked my butt in Bar Method class) and the studio in Walnut Creek.  There are several in the San Francisco Bay Area.

How many have there been for me?  Probably under 20.  Yet that is enough time to have experienced no less than 7 instructors.  And the consistency of quality hasn't waivered – not once.  It's like the Starbucks of studios – you know you are going to get exactly what you came for, with no compromise in the quality or standard of delivery.

As it turns out, this is no accident.

The intention behind the method.

The Bar Method truly IS a method, on mulptiple levels.  Physical, mental, and emotional.  This is because the choreography of the workout flow is holistically designed to engage not only the body layer by layer but also to keep the mind focused.

The choreography here is more than the sequence of steps.  Let's get that clear.

Physically, the Bar Method workout incorporates and well-thought out – and planned – sequence of instruction.  The workout builds from simple warmup, weaving in stretches and isolation work to intentionally alternate between comprehensive (all body) work, isolation work to work deep into the muscle  for superior body shaping, and stretching to create greater flexiblity, strength, function, and beauty.

Mentally? There's no down time.  Every minute of the 60 minute (count on precise start and end times, a real plus)  sessions is planned and presented in a fashion to keep moving things forward.  There's no time for glancing at watches or catching a quick chat between sets.  The workout keeps advancing, building with the creative force of instructional detail, counts, and the music.

Emotionally one emerges from this well-planned experience refreshed not only in body, but spirit.  The hour is meditative due to focus and orchestration.

A conversation with Burr Leonard:  more to report!

The Bar Method delivers this experience, of course, without you knowing exactly why or what the plan is, and that's just fine.

Yet as a teacher, fitness coach and pro for a few decades myself, and as one always looking to investigate what works and what doesn't,  it was a treat to experience  having the design behind the workout explained personally by Burr Leonard, it's creator, herself.  Perceptions were confirmed, as enlightenment about more of the details of the workout took place in our conversation.

So, consider this Part 1.  More to report as interviews are transcoded.

What's on the video?

For now, enjoy the video of a day at the Bar Method Studio, including:

• clips from a mixed level class taught by Burr Leonard, Bar Method creator
• private, one-on-one instruction from Burr in a favorite, signature Bar Method exercise:  the Pretzel!
• a glimpse inside the San Francisco Marina studio, the Bar Method flagship location

And stay tuned for Part 2.   Find the studio nearest you here:  The Bar Method, where you can reserve class space in advance or pick up a video for home practice.

© Lani Muelrath 2009 All Rights Reserved