Famed Beachbody super trainer Autumn Calabrese believes fitness “should be part of your life – like brushing your teeth,” she says. “The body you get is the place you have to live.”
Calabrese will be in Richmond for the THRIVE Women’s Health and Fitness Expo presented by CBS6 on February 29 at the Richmond Raceway Complex for a day of fitness and motivation. She will be offering a workout from her number one workout programs 21 Day Fix and 21 Day Fix Extreme. Additionally, she will conduct a cooking demonstration on the Virginia This Morning Cooking Stage, with a recipe from her best-selling book Fixate. She will also share her philosophy on nutrition and her new program, Ultimate Portion Fix. Celebrity trainer Joel Freeman will also be at THRIVE.
Visit RFM on Facebook and enter to win two pairs of tickets (valued at $45 each) to work out with Autumn Calabrese and Joel Freeman. Enter here!
Calabrese, thirty-nine, got into fitness after years of dance training. “I have danced my whole life,” she says. “I started at thirteen and was competing by the age of fifteen. I majored in dance in college and then went on to get my certification in fitness.”
When she’s talking to people about fitness, there are two points she stresses. The first: Fitness needs to be fun. “It doesn’t mean you will love every second, but it has to be something you enjoy so you stick with it,” she says. “Consistency is the key.”
She is also a stickler for proper form when you are exercising. You need to be aware of “your body and how you move,” she says. “You want to make sure you are not injuring yourself.”
Calabrese started her fitness career working one-on-one with clients, customizing their routines to their goals. Now with Beachbody, she is able to reach more people with her workouts. “With Beachbody, I have something out there for everybody from weight training to dance programs. Programs range from thirty minutes to one hour long. Some are for beginners, and some for people who are more advanced,” she says.
She currently has eight programs with Beachbody that include her breakthrough workout programs 21 Day Fix and its follow-up, 21 Day Fix Extreme. She created Country Heat!, a simple cardio dance fitness program, in homage to her dance training.
The creative process for developing a program is different for her each time. Calabrese is very involved with her following and their wants and needs in fitness routines. “If people are asking for something, I take that into consideration,” she says. “I look at what I have put out and what I haven’t put out.”
She works with her team and Beachbody as she shapes the end goal. “Then I develop the program,” she says.
While fitness is important, fitness alone will not help people reach their goals. “Nutrition is the bulk of it,” she says. “You can’t think that what you do in thirty minutes or one hour will undo a full day of putting garbage into your body. You don’t have to deprive yourself. My program is about balance, portion control, and significantly reducing highly processed foods.”
Her nutritional plan and recipes are based on her color-controlled portion program. “You can still eat the foods you love without feeling like you are undoing all of your hard work,” she says.
She enjoys participating in the Expo and always looks forward to the Q&A session. “That’s what I love the most,” she says.
When it comes to fitness and the state of health in the United States, she doesn’t see the obesity epidemic slowing down. “Our food in America is a huge reason we struggle. We are not as strict with portions,” she says. “Everything is supersized or family-sized and ingredients are not as clean as other countries.”
That’s why she stresses fitness and nutrition as a way to counteract the problem. “You have to stop putting the blame outside and look at yourself,” she says, noting she tends to give tough love in the arena of fitness and nutrition. “People say they are too busy. We have to let go of excuses and start to recognize that our health is important and our health is up to us.”
For more information, visit the event page.
