"Makes Me That Much Stronger" - Lite Lesson Week Three by Devon Sasser

Devon will be documenting her experience as she goes through our body transformation package! Stay tuned for her results and story! Go Devon!!! This is her third "Lite Lesson"

I was finally able to make it to the Model Body Workout that the studio offers at 8pm each Thursday. I have to admit I was a little nervous going in. I had no idea what to expect, except that David Kimmerle (my Guru) was the instructor for this class. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure to meet him, he is one of the most dedicated, inspirational, people I have been introduced to while pursuing my fitness goals. He is hard core about fitness and training. To say I was intimidated was an understatement. I was really quite scared.

The class size was small, so I immediately knew I was not going to be able to hide in the back, so I might as well pick a reformer up front close to the mirror. At least this way, I can see the pain pouring from my body, Right? David explained that the class was centered on partnering with another person and we would provide added resistance to our “buddy’s” exercise and vice versa.

Everyone started with a quick warm up. By lying with our backsides down on the reformer carriage and placing the heels of our feet on the bar, we began moving up in down in a squatting movement. No problem, Adrian, often starts his classes out this way. One slight difference though, we had all of the resistance coils attached, and we were instructed to do 100 of these. Holy, immediate burning in the quads, and I was only halfway through! My sweat yield was definitely more than during my typical “warm up”.

Next we were paired with a partner. We were going to trade off performing exercises. I started first, and did 8 quick reps of squats again, and then my partner was supposed to push against me while doing the next set. I actually was stronger than I thought; because I almost pushed my partner, who coincidently was the studio owner, Bambi, over backwards on the first squat. Or maybe, I just caught her off guard (I think Bambi would agree to this last statement). Regardless, I couldn’t help but hum that Christina Aguilera song, “Fighter”, in my head while doing the remainder of the set.

The rest of the class continued to work in the partner setting and targeted different areas of the body (i.e. biceps, back, chest, etc.). Pretty soon we were doing a cool down, and I was soaked. Also to my surprise, my HR monitor displayed that I burned a really high amount of calories. Bonus! This class really was a total body workout, and I highly recommend it.

While driving home in my car, I found myself comparing the way I felt to when I use to train for competitive gymnastics when I was younger, or doing workouts during the summer as a high school cheerleader (yes, cheerleading is a sport). I realized I actually missed that feeling of knowing my body was capable of that type of stamina, and I wanted to feel it once again! Pretty soon, I was humming the “Fighter” song again, as I headed home, with a strong sense of accomplishment.

Devon Sasser resides in North Hollywood with her mother and fur roommates. She considers herself a recovering pessimist, and her favorite pastimes include cynicism, smart arse remarks, and telling funny stories.