I can barely move this morning.  My thighs and butt are so sore.  Seriously, I can barely go down the stairs.  Why you ask?  Because yesterday I had a killer workout with Curves and Jillian Michaels in New York City.

I was invited to come and check out the brand new 2015 exercise program that Jillian designed for real women to do at Curves and also meet Kirstie Alley to learn more about her amazing 50 pound weight loss through Jenny Craig.

When I arrived in New York, I was a little apprehensive about the workout.  Many years ago, when I first got married, I tried out Curves with a friend.  I believe they had just opened a location in my town and I wanted to see what it was about.  At the time, I thought it was fun, but it was something maybe older women did and it didn’t seem to be a super great workout, more low intensity.  I remember at that time, it was circuit training, which I really liked, alternating between resistance machines and some cardio activity.  But, the vision I had in my head of people doing the cardio was very low-key, for example, walking in place.  This is kind of what I anticipated for the day’s workout.  I should have known better!

We started with some balance exercises to warm up and then Jillian came out to greet us and get us started with the work out.  She was a bundle of energy! We started off and it was still circuit training, alternating cardio, strength, and resistance training by switching stations every 30 seconds, but the days of walking in place are over, baby!  Jillian designed some great exercises to do on the mats between the resistance equipment, such as squats, lunges, round house kicks and more.

I will say I started on the resistance machines first, so I was not exactly following everyone else on the mats, so when it was my turn to switch stations, there were only a couple of people doing the mat work.  I could have followed the exercises playing on the TV screen in the studio, but why do that when Jillian is there in person and totally willing to coach me along the way?  Yup, I got one on one instruction from Jillian!  It felt like she was my own personal trainer, encouraging me to pick up my intensity a level, keep going, and motivating all the way.  She could not have been nicer and I really feel like I pushed myself to do better with her help. I love the stations are only 30 seconds, but sometimes the exercises she had us doing made it feel a lot longer than 30 seconds.  We were all working up a sweat, which is something I didn’t remember from years ago.  This was a serious workout, but it was fun!

The time went by rather quickly and it was over before we knew it, but it was an incredible workout!  Trying to walk up the stairs afterwards, I could immediately feel the work I had put my body through.

I probably would not have considered going back to Curves based on my experience before, but I have to tell you, this is a new game and I am all for playing.  I am going to look into my local Curves to see about joining, as that was an incredible workout and the fact that I am feeling it so much today makes me realize that I need to work my body harder to get the results I want and Curves is a great way to make that happen.  I really am impressed with the workout I got with Jillian!

Working hand in hand, Curves and Jenny Craig have made it easier for women to achieve the fitness and weight goals they have.  Now Curves and Jenny Craig are going to be in the same location so that women can get the support and resources they need to achieve great health.  With this in mind, we headed upstairs after our workout to learn about Jenny Craig and to sample meals that are available through the program.

I have never tried Jenny Craig foods before, but I didn’t honestly expect a whole lot of flavor from diet food.  Looking at the options, I was surprised by how good it looked.

We were introduced to Mike Raymond, the CMO of Jenny Craig to learn about the new partnership of Curves and Jenny Craig and then were excited to see Kirstie Alley and learn about her commitment to the program and the help she received from her personal consultant in the program.  The cool thing about Jenny Craig is that every single person that joins has their own personal consultant to learn how to transform their lives through diet.  Motivation, encouragement, and check ins are all standard with the consultations as the help you achieve your goals.  It sounds like an absolutely awesome program!

The day before was Kirstie Alley’s birthday, so we were treated to some delicious cupcakes from Jenny Craig to celebrate.  They were really amazing and in no way tasted like diet food.

We then were able to try an assortment of dishes for lunch.  There were tons of appetizing selections and I was more than pleased to find that they were very tasty.  Pastas, flatbread pizza, enchiladas, asian styled chicken, baja-style chicken quesadillas, and Southwestern chicken and rice were some of the meals I was able to sample.  Each one was delicious, rich tasting and satisfying. It would be easy to eat like this and not feel deprived.  Then of course there were some desserts, too!  I think it’s important to have a lot of selections to keep motivated in eating well.  Having dessert is wonderful and keeps you wanting to keep at it.

I was really excited about the opportunity to try out both the food from Jenny Craig and the workout from Curves, as both, especially together, would bring amazing results.  I am definitely going to look into both and see where it goes from there.  If you want to know more, check them out online!

 

*I was invited to an event to learn more about these programs.  All opinions are my own.