Happy Spring!! To celebrate the season, we're popping up with our HIIT BOX shop for a Pre-Mother's Day Bazaar on Saturday, May 12th at 2pm in the studio. We'll be debuting our athleisure line Gryff - featuring screen-printed and embroidered tanks, shirts, thermals, and baby beanies. As well as Someday Rocks stones + crystals, PULSE healthy snacks, Purple Sage body butter from Colorado, The Wellthy Plate, and delightful hand letter-pressed Happy Mother's Day cards. All small batch, great gifts, and locally made to treat yourself or the mothers and mentors in your life! We'll update vendors through the week. Stop by, say hi, shop local and no we won't make you do burpees!
We have sooooo many strong women that walk through our doors at HIIT BOX. In honor of Mother's Day, we wanted to share one client's personal journey - a mother, a true warrior and a HIIT BOX champion. We hope her story will inspire and encourage you to always persevere.
STRONG MAMA: FRANCES Z.
I had cancer. Pretty bad cancer. I also had a 3-year-old and a husband who made it all worth the battle. Thus, I battled hard. Double mastectomy and 6 months of chemotherapy. I did it all to stay on this earth for as long as possible. That’s the end game, right?
I did it in stride, I might add. With the help of my family, my son never knew what was going on - which was good. You don’t want a 3-year-old confused and scared by something he doesn’t understand. My husband designed a plan; each day he would slowly open the door in the afternoon, so that I could jump off the couch and become Super Mom for a few hours (before I completely dropped).
After getting your tits cut off and losing your hair, eyebrows (oh, the eyebrows!), you begin to no longer think of yourself as a woman. You understand that this is all in order to live. You forget that you used to have hair or breasts and that nothing fits the same, because you aren’t the same - in mind or body. You’re vulnerable and weak. I no longer felt sexy or strong and I knew that I was looked at in sadness and fear from others. That's just the way it is. People fear cancer, like I did before I had cancer, and I know that I read a story into everyone I saw without hair - they obviously “had cancer”. Believe me, having cancer makes you so scared that you can’t even breathe at times. The fear and the physical transformation was so difficult, and the new me that I saw in the mirror was a stranger...but I was alive.
At the time, I was keenly aware of how emotions can make or break a moment, and that having a strong body makes you feel sexy and empowered - so I started by eating right. Change didn’t come overnight and I bought every book on how to eat, what to eat, tricks to feel good about myself, and as well as how to deal with hair loss. Eventually, I was able to move out of the complex sack of consumer shit that is readily available, and started really recreating myself.
It took a while. A long while. After all the surgeries and chemotherapy were over, I was constantly asked, “What are you going to do now?”. Like I had graduated college or something. I felt like I had just come out of hell and made it, that WAS my plan.
That's right around the time when I found HIIT BOX. Walking down the street after dropping my kid off at school, I saw a woman yelling and encouraging and then yelling again at a group of ladies. Like a shining light of fury! Maryam. Even though it looked so damn hard, she totally inspired me. I remembered when I was the “old me” and how I could have walked right in and maybe gotten through a class, but now….how could I even attempt? I have cancer. I’m going thru early menopause. I’m in my late 40s and felt weak and chunky. I was just super happy to be alive, but I also was not yet who I wanted to be. Not to mention my husband had been thru this battle too (it affects everyone), so I signed us both up for classes.
I will always remember that first day at HIIT BOX. My husband and I didn’t know if we loved or hated this Maryam. She makes you fight! You cannot slack for one second, and you better try your best. To me, it became a regiment - just like cancer, just like chemotherapy. Something that I knew would make me better, and I hated it just like chemo, just like losing my breasts and hair - but it was going to make me better. So, I buckled down, I suited up, and I showed up - as often as I could.
Here I am, a year and half later, and man, I am STRONG. My husband is a beast! We both have a better feeling and perspective about our health and bodies. My clothes don’t fit quite the same as before cancer, and I am still not who I used to be, but I am confident, shapely and you can bounce a dime off my ass! Not to mention, I'm healthy, energetic, practically fearless and really have my life back.
Recently I went back to Sloan Kettering for my five-year graduation. Every time you go back to where it all begins you are crippled with fear. Human nature, I think. I told the oncologist that I had been doing HIIT training and trying to get it all back together. She responded positively and said that Sloan encourages and supports High Intensity Interval type workouts for their patients. It has the intensity and strength training that builds muscle before, during, and after the cancer. Also, all of that jumping is great for moving lymph fluids, which is a good thing for all women. She also said that my numbers and the way I look and feel are a testament to committing to taking care of myself. AND I know she was impressed that I COULD bounce a dime off my ass. I’m proud of myself, the way I look and feel. I’m no skinny gal, but that’s not the goal. I’m strong, confident and alive.
We have a lot of exciting news coming in the next few weeks and will also begin to offer unlimited monthly memberships in June. For 15% off all classes and class packages, use the code mom15. Thank you!