I've been FAT. I mean, really fat.

To give you some idea, at my heaviest, I was nearly 300 pounds and I am just under 5 foot 3 inches. I looked so bad I didn't allow anyone to take pictures of me and I never looked in mirrors. I was so fat I couldn't really tell the difference between where my breasts ended and where my stomach began when I was wearing cloths. I was depressed. I was out of shape. I hated myself.

It's been an 11 year journey to where I am today: a fit, much more lean, sexy woman with confidence and a voluptuous hour glass figure. I've dropped approximately 130 pounds and, as my good friend Bryan noted recently, my weight is still plummeting.

I am not really the kind of person who enjoys going to the gym. Generally speaking, exercise is a word I deplore. I haven't really thought it fun to go to the gym and get on a machine and repeat the same thing over and over again for years and years. And I found that often times going to aerobics classes was challenging because I couldn't follow the instructor because things were too complicated. I have been a sporadic gym goer, at best.

So if you're wondering what I've done to help myself go from a sluggish, lethargic, couch potato to an active, happy, dance instructor, the answer is this: PoiRobics. This is a new exercise format that focuses on upper body muscle development by swinging weighted bean bags around while dancing and moving the lower part of the body. PoiRobics offers students a way to increase their coordination, balance skills, body awareness and overall fitness by moving around and doing something FUN!

Schedule:

Please see the schedule for Intermediate Dance classes.

Pricing:

Classes are $35 a session or pre-purchase 5 classes for $150.

Overview

Now I want to share this amazingly fun exercise with the world so I've designed a series of classes that allow participants an opportunity to reshape their body and redefine their relationship with it. The class is 60-75 minutes and is divided into the following format:

15 minutes: Poi-Robics Move Intro. This portion of the class is an interactive session intended to give students a basic set of poi movements that will be used throughout the remainder of the class to increase muscle development in their upper body while raising their heart rate. If you have taken the class before, you may not need to attend this section of the class -- it is optional. During this portion of the class I will greet students and build rapport so we can work as a team on having fun while getting in better shape together.

5 minutes: warm up and stretching to help get your body ready to move and be more active

42 minutes: interval aerobic work with the poi with an emphasis on gradually increasing the complexity of the moves we do at a pace that works for the students in the class. During this time, we'll also do traditional fitness exercises including abdominal work, balance work to help you increase your body awareness and extensive leg movement with the flair of poi added to concurrently raise your heart rate while building muscle tone in your upper body.

8 minutes: abdominal work to flatten that tummy

5 minutes: stretching to help protect the muscles you've been working so hard and cool down to a reasonable resting pulse

Fun is the key to it all, at least it was for me. I hope you'll join me for this experience where you can expect to sweat, feel good and have fun in a friendly environment where we partner together to improve our overall fitness and health.

To register, email poirobics@glittergoddess.com.

Go here to learn more about Poi Instruction.

Click here to view the current class schedule. Click here to view other course options.

To register for classes, please email or call 415.543.4911.