Surprise that special person in your life with the gift of fitness before the holidays.  The participants who complete all the requirements below will be rewarded with a unique Challenge T-shirt and ONE MONTH FREE to give away to a friend or family member… and of course a celebration to reward you for your hard work and fantastic enthusiasm.

RULES:
Each participant will need to complete 40 hours including:

• 10 hours of TRX
• 10 hours of Barre
• 10 hours of SSS
• 10 hours of Cardio 8 or Ab Attack
• 2 days of 3 classes (we will offer 3 class days on a couple of Saturdays)
• 5 days of 2 classes
• Must do a health history consultation with Jessica Idleman

(Notes: 30-minute classes do count, but must do two to count for one hour. If you complete 25, one-hour classes, you are entered to win a one-month free membership. Guests are only $8.)

 Bonnaroo primarily highlights jam bands, rock and folk rock artists. The festival featured about 160 artists including popular names like Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Shins and Bon Iver.

 Out of the “undiscovered,” one artist especially captured my eye, err, ear—Yuna.

 Yuna’s music is defined by goose bump provoking lyrics, and her soft, warm voice with an acoustic guitar background. Think a more soulful version of Norah Jones.  If I didn’t hear her first either, I wouldn’t believe it either.  

 Yuna believes that music has the power to heal and her music definitely heals the soul.

Enjoy! 

 -Adam

Check out our playlist page to get a taste of  Yuna’s soulful melodies.

http://www.bonnaroo.com/

June 21st – August 21

Enter the challenge and win a free 1 month membership to Balance Fitness!

THE RULES

Each participant will need to complete 40 classes at anytime within the dates specified above. The participants who have completed all 40 classes will be rewarded with a 1 month membership to Balance Fitness Studio. All other participants who did not meet the 40 class challenge and completed a minimum of 25 classes will automatically be entered into a drawing to win a 1 month free membership at Balance Fitness Studio. Prizes will be rewarded to all participants signed up for the “Balance Summer Challenge.”

This class is based on the method developed by Dr. Mercola. This interval training cardio class involves exercising and reaching your anaerobic threshold eight times throughout the class.

This method floods the body with growth hormone which can: reduce wrinkles, firm skin, helps facilitate the body’s natural anabolic processes, decrease in body fat, improved muscle tone, firmer skin and reduces wrinkles, increase in energy, improved athletic speed and performance, ability to achieve your fitness goals much faster.

The class involves:

• Warming up for three minutes
• Exercising as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should feel like you couldn’t possibly go on another few seconds
• Recovering for 90 seconds
• Repeating the high intensity exercise and recovery seven more times

Whatever activity you choose, by the end of your 30 second sprint period you will want to reach these markers:

• It will be relatively hard to breathe and talk because you are in oxygen debt.
• You will start to sweat profusely. Typically this occurs in the second or third repetition unless you have a thyroid issue and don’t sweat much normally.
• Your body temperature will rise.
• Lactic acid increases and you will feel a muscle “burn.”

Cardio8 is offered on Thursday evenings from 5:30 to 6:00 followed by a complimentary classed called SSS Floor.

Come push yourself in this new Balance class!

-xoxo-

Balance Staff

If you’ve said it, I’ve heard it. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been a little on the heavier side, sometimes a lot more than a little. And honestly, I used to think it was just in the cards for me. My family gains weight easily. I’m not naturally athletic. I’m too broke to buy healthy food, and I work too often to work out.

The deck was stacked, the cards were dealt, and my hand always came up the same: fat.

But over the past few months, I’ve been shown differently. Yes, I will never be a supermodel. (Trust me, that is one pressure-filled card I am fine being without!) But health is not about genetics or circumstances or time or money. It’s about choices. You may not be able to afford a celebrity-renowned personal trainer, but most of you can strap on a pair of tennis shoes and go for a walk.

Choices.

There is no diet, workout regime, or magic formula* in the world that will work without a conscious choice being made to follow it. And health is not a 60 day weight loss goal or the willpower to stick to a spinach-and-water-only diet. (Please, do not ever try that diet or anything even remotely similar.) True health is a life achievement. It’s something you work hard to get, and you work hard to keep.

I’m gearing up for Balance’s 6 Week Transformation. I’ve been attempting to make better food choices and attending 2-4 classes a week in preparation. It’s going to be difficult, and I know I have some very sore days ahead of me. But I truly believe that striving to become the best possible version of myself is worth it. I’ll be chronicling my journey on this blog with consistent, and probably humbling at times, visual and written progress. So stick around to see the planet lose one perpetually chubby girl for good.

There are no magic formulas. Or shortcuts. Or secrets of the amazingly beautiful people. You get what you work for, plain and simple.

Koni (pronounced “Connie”) Tenenoff works the front desk at Balance Fitness Studio and is currently redesigning their website to reflect the simple modern style of the new blog. She also works full-time as a Travel Consultant at Expedia and moonlights as a Starbucks barista. Koni also has a personal blog: musings of a hippie. She is taking a break from college to pursue other interests, but is hoping to return in the fall to finish her Bachelor’s of Art in Graphic Design at Missouri State University. During the few hours she isn’t working, Koni loves devouring library books, drinking good coffee with friends, and dreaming of living near the ocean.

I want to share a couple of my favorite recipes with you, because although it takes planning, it is more than worth the effort and the end product is, as I’ve said before delicious, but more importantly, so nourishing to your body.

Today, I want to share with you one of my new favorite recipes from Jessica: Spring Quinoa Salad.

Spring Quinoa Salad

• 1 cup dry Quinoa
• 1 Tbsp olive oil, avocado oil, or walnut oil
• 2 cups organic chicken or veggie broth
• 1/2 white onion (chopped) Optional
• ¾ of a bunch of fresh asparagus, cut into ½ pieces
• 3 green onions (chopped) Optional
• 1/2 toasted almonds (coarsely chopped)
• 1/2 cup diced strawberries
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Lemon juice to taste (fresh squeezed)
• 1 ½ cups of fresh spinach, chopped

Dressing:

• 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard
• 2 Tbsps sherry vinegar
• 1 tsp raw local honey
• 1/2 cup walnut oil or extra virgin olive oil

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place the cut asparagus on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive or walnut oil and season with salt & pepper. Place in the oven when ready, and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the asparagus is roasted to your preference. Rinse the quinoa in water and transfer to your iron skillet. Over medium-low heat and a metal whisk, toast quinoa for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly with the whisk.  Add chopped onion and olive oil and bring the heat up to medium.  Continue toasting quinoa over medium heat for about another 5 minutes whisking regularly.  Add the broth and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until “the tails pop” on the quinoa and most of the liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat and let the quinoa come to room temperature.  Transfer to a large glass or metal bowl.

Whisk together your sherry vinegar, honey, and mustard and then gradually whisk in the walnut oil until it is emulsified.  Set aside. Add chopped green onion, almonds, asparagus and strawberries to cooled quinoa.  Toss in spinach. Add dressing, salt and pepper as needed and lemon juice. It will always taste better the next day…and the day after that.

If you enjoy these recipes and want to see more like this or you seek more in depth information on whole food and it’s benefits, go to Glow Nutrition, LLC , and check out the talented Jessica Idleman, our resident Hollistic Health Counselor.

Mandy Vela-Huff teaches Barre, Super Sexy Sculpt/Rebound, TRX and Boot Camp at Balance Fitness Studio. She is also a licensed aesthetician and is the Balance go-to girl for facials. Besides fitness, Mandy loves Askinosie Chocolate, good coffee, her son, Julian, and her husband, Brad Huff. To learn more about Mandy, click here.