Mbrace Studio

Transcript:

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Best of LKN, a podcast featuring the best small businesses and the most influential professionals around Lake Norman, North Carolina. Each week, we spotlight those businesses and individuals that are making a positive impact here in the Lake Norman area. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the show.

Jeff:

Happy New Year Lake Norman, and welcome back to the podcast. I want to thank you for following along with the Best of LKN Podcast and for your support throughout the first year of our journey. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to our weekly email newsletter. The form is at the bottom of our home page at www.thebestoflkn.com. You only need to enter your first name and email address. Quick and easy, and we thank you so very much for your support. We have had so much fun producing and developing this podcast, and we’re looking forward to bringing you even more great content in 2021. I say we because I’m not alone on this journey.

Jeff:

This project wouldn’t be possible without my great friend and partner in this endeavor, Phil Deppen, the owner of Cranial Overdrive, a creative design studio. Phil has dedicated so much of his preciously scarce free time to helping me out with graphic design, web development, and much needed advice on nearly a daily basis. As if one podcast production weren’t enough, Phil has helped me produce our other podcast, the Best of Charlotte, a podcast focusing specifically on exceptional small businesses within the City of Charlotte. I’m eternally grateful for his friendship and the expertise he has so generously shared with me. I’ll post a link to his creative design studio in the show notes.

Jeff:

I’ll also post a link to the Best of Charlotte’s website. While I’m on the subject of generosity, I want to also share how grateful I am for all of our amazing guests that we’ve had the privilege of meeting on this podcast. This podcast wouldn’t exist without your participation, and I have been just so proud to share your stories with our audience. You’ve taken so much time out of your extremely busy schedules to share your journey with me and the audience, and I am just so thankful to each and every one of you for joining the podcast. Now let’s talk about this episode, the first episode of 2021. It’s the New Year, thank God and I think the guests in this episode and their impactful message will resonate with many of you.

Jeff:

As you begin to take action on those important New Year’s resolutions, the business is Mbrace Studio, a physical fitness program based here in the Lake Norman area. Founders and personal trainers Andrea and Diana are ready to help you rock those New Year’s resolutions, and they join me to share the story of the Mbrace journey. You’re going to love this episode, enjoy. Andrea, Diana welcome to the podcast.

Andrea:

Thank you.

Diana:

Hi, it’s great to be here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thanks a lot for your time. I appreciate it. I think it was Katy Kindred who recognized you in a conversation that I had with her and her husband, Joe. She just spoke so highly of what you’re both doing there at Mbrace. I felt compelled to reach out and bug you until you committed to an interview, so thanks a lot for joining me. I appreciate it. Before we get into everything, the work you’re doing at Mbrace Studio, let’s get a little bit of a bio, a little bit of a background on both of you. Andrea, let’s start with you.

Andrea:

Okay. I have been a personal trainer since 2006, and I absolutely love it. It is a passion for me. I love getting my hands on people and watching them change, pushing people when they need pushing, holding back when they need a little extra TLC. That’s how I met the Kindreds. We’ve been training together for several years. I went to Michigan State University, so that’s where I got my bachelor of science in human biology. I just really love the human body and all that it can do. I am married to my husband Richard, and I have three kids. They go to the Community School of Davidson. My oldest, Richie has autism so I understand that limited time that you might have for exercise, but also the importance of that mind, body, health. When I exercise personally, I’m a better person.

Diana:

So real.

Jeff:

That’s all right.

Andrea:

I mean I can miss a day or two, but really not more than that because it’s just part of who I am. That’s my goal when I work out with people and our goal for Mbrace, and why I reached out to Diana was I want people to have fitness be part of who they are so that when they don’t exercise, it feels weird. It’s not something that is a grind every day. It’s just part of who you are. I have coffee every morning, I work out every morning. If I don’t something, I feel a little off. That’s my goal and that’s my true passion. It’s always been my dream to bring it out into the open and face my fears and put myself out there.

Andrea:

I’m lucky that I found Diana, and we’re different in a lot of ways, but our backgrounds and our love of fitness and helping people made Mbrace Studio grow and everything just clicked. It really is amazing, so that’s me in a nutshell.

Diana:

That’s a good nutshell.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative), mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Diana, before we get into a little of your background, before I forget to mention something, you guys are really big fans of the James Clear book, Atomic Habits. I’ve noticed on in a recent social media post, so I’m looking forward to diving into that, but Andrea, you mentioned missing a day or two, and then just getting back on track, but James Clear mentions in his book how important it is that you can miss a day or two, but the successful people tend to rebound faster, right?

Andrea:

Yes, and that’s my rule. You can miss one and that’s from James Clear, but never twice.

Jeff:

Right, yeah.

Andrea:

Yes, mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Okay. All right, cool.

Andrea:

Even if it’s an active rest day or something-

Diana:

Yes, yeah.

Andrea:

… we believe in those, but you’ve got to be doing something active.

Jeff:

Yeah, for sure.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

I’m looking forward to diving in a little bit more with Atomic Habits before we close out today, but Diana, share a little bit of your background.

Diana:

I was what I would call myself an art jock I was heavily into film and editing, and I went to school in the film industry. I worked in reality TV, fell into fitness. I grew up playing sports, all kinds of different sports, but once I graduated college, I started working for reality shows, then moved out to LA, had two kids didn’t work as much, but ended up starting out teaching cycle at a gym, really fell in love with that. My background is more in group X and getting a whole class just really amped up into fitness and then eventually, I moved out here, got my PT certification, learned so much from everything around me, still learning. We’re really big on growing our craft because it’s constantly changing.

Diana:

The science of fitness is changing. Me and Andrea, we just found each other at the gym. I was there almost every day because I was a coordinator at the Y, and I would see her come in beast mode. She was just always focused and when she had her headphones in, I’m like, “Yup, don’t, don’t…” and I get it because I was the same way don’t talk to me. “We’re in this zone, don’t talk… I’m in my reps. Right now, oh-oh, that’s my fourth step.”

Andrea:

Right. [Crosstalk 00:08:22].

Diana:

I get that too. We’d like ha, ha, talk a little bit in between and everything. She almost actually was going to work at a local studio with me, but she had a lot of family planning and things going on at the time when I was at that studio. We’ve just been interwoven through the last, what, five, six years because we both moved here around the same time. She’s been here a little longer, and then COVID happened and I didn’t have a gym to go back to. Then I realized I didn’t want to, I don’t think. I think we wanted to start doing our own thing and being our own bosses, and taking bits and pieces from other gyms at work, and making it our own and really honing in like she said the crafts of fitness, and knowing what really works and how people changing up the routines, the workouts, not making everything the same.

Diana:

We still do progressions, getting people stronger, lifting heavy weights, but we have a balance with it throughout our workouts now. Mobility is number one. We’re really diving into mobility and realizing that it’s something that as we get older, we really, really need to focus on and we want our members to as well.

Jeff:

Some yoga, Pilates type motions or…

Diana:

No, but it’s more of a flow. You’re still working out, but you’re really working in with your hip flexors and your joints, and all the little parts that bits and pieces of what we do forget about and that’s why people get injured.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah.

Diana:

If we forget those and you’re just lifting weights all the time and we’re just shortening those muscles, and we’re not really having those moments of lengthening and working in with the fluid motions of our bodies, then that’s where injuries are created.

Jeff:

Yeah, like middle-aged guys like me who get back into soccer and the first game, they…

Diana:

That’s what we said, yeah. In one of our videos, we talk about that. In our 20s, we’re just pounding hard in the ground, and then that’s when an injury occurs and guys especially shoulders, always shoulders. There’s so much going on in your shoulders. I think as we have learned and we’ve gotten older, we’re wiser for it. We’re only wiser because we’ve gotten injured at the time.

Andrea:

Yeah, yeah. It is funny, we have a class on Sundays at Lost World. It’s fun because a lot of our members are females, but they do bring their husbands and to watch the husbands-

Diana:

Because it’s a mobility one.

Andrea:

… going through the mobility, they’re doing their best and I am proud of them, and they get their beer after. They are earning their beer-

Diana:

They are, for sure.

Andrea:

… but yeah, they’re working on their mobility and they’re all avid exercisers, but they it’s humbling to realize, “Oh my Gosh, I can’t touch my toes, or this is really, really hard.” I do love that.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

One of the things Diana didn’t mention is she’s a new mom of a baby.

Diana:

Oh, right. I forgot about my family life.

Andrea:

I’m here to help because I love her baby.

Diana:

Sometimes he comes to the recordings, so you’ll hear like bah, bah.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Andrea:

That doesn’t mean when we got together with COVID and having kids at home and the unknown, we have six kids among us. The amount of juggling that goes on behind the scenes of doing remote learning, our kids both all go to the Community School of Davidson, doing that during the day. Like she said, she’ll bring her baby Dean over. He’s in the background while we’re doing videos. She’s editing like we talked about, editing out those parts where he might be crying. We get that time crunch that people have, and that’s our passion is making sure we can give people that fitness with that amount of time.

Diana:

And with the community building as well. Huge on that.

Andrea:

Oh, yeah. We understand that. We understand being busy.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

We want you to embrace where you’re at, the time that you have, your abilities that you’re working with. When Diana and I first started which was several months ago, she was just coming back from having a baby. To watch her body change, it has been amazing. Yeah.

Diana:

It was very humbling because it’s been so long since I’ve been in that state of just having a baby, where I’m feeling like I was in beast mode prior to being pregnant and then not being able to do one push-up afterwards, I was like, “What’s going on?” I’m still working on my push-ups. I’m still working on like building that strength, but it’s great for me as a trainer to remember what it feels like for other people just starting out, and to seeing our members starting out not being able to do certain things and then now as we always include them because we make fitness simple with our workouts as well. It’s a lot of gym lifting with a little extra flare, but it’s never something like, “Okay so now we’re going to do a grapevine push up into a press or whatever.” We keep it very basic-

Andrea:

With modifications.

Diana:

… very simple, with modifications always.

Andrea:

Always.

Diana:

I’m usually the one modifying, so at least they have that visual of somebody one of us doing it. We have people that want to go beast mode, and they go all out and they see Andrea. It’s a good variety.

Andrea:

Yeah, definitely. It is, and it’s been really fun seeing everyone in the outdoor workouts and seeing them… They are our walking billboards for Mbrace.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Seeing how their bodies have changed, their strength and the biggest thing is their happiness. They know they used to not be able to do a burpee, now they can. They can do 10 burpees. We can do it three times through. That’s our thing, I can guarantee after one workout, you’re going to be happier. You’re going to walk with your head held higher. You’re going to feel proud.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Embrace where you’re at, what you can do, and start. I can only help you once you start, but we’ve all been there. There’s no egos with Diana.

Diana:

Oh, absolutely not.

Andrea:

We don’t want people that have egos actually. We include everyone.

Diana:

The outliers maybe, the outliers of fitness honestly.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

That’s been always my passion, my goal is getting… and of course, the athletes have been doing it for a long time. They’re injured, and they just don’t know enough about their bodies. Everybody all those aspects, but really those people that just never felt comfortable in a gym or a group X class or anywhere. They never felt wanted or needed. Yeah.

Andrea:

You can do it in the comfort of your home-

Diana:

Exactly.

Andrea:

… and that’s what we’ve met people that we would never know in the community that were walking by, saw our sign, and decided to join. It’s so cool. Then we see like at our class last Saturday, they were like, “Oh my gosh, you go to Pine Lake or I’m a teacher here,” and it’s like the community is so strong-

Diana:

We’re realizing how strong-

Andrea:

… and how cool…

Diana:

… and how small it’s… Yeah, it is, it’s very… Yeah.

Andrea:

Yeah. It’s very cool, but we do have people that live in Chicago, and we have someone in Ireland. You don’t have to necessarily just be here in Lake Norman. You can be anywhere.

Diana:

We actually did a recent survey asking our participants where if they do more on demand or Zoom classes, and it’s broken even. I was really surprised with seeing how many people prefer Zoom and actually more people are getting more of a benefit on on-demand. We have one that wakes up… because we have our videos up by 5 a.m. every day. We have a teacher who I can check and see too, who’s viewing the videos and she’s up there. At 5:05, she already started watching it. It’s just creating that habit for yourself because it does feel weird. You grew up watching home workout videos. She’s all these people she follows. I have no idea, so I’m getting into this whole world of the workout girls and then this and then body… What is it? The body rock, body rock-

Andrea:

Yeah, body rock. Yeah.

Diana:

… and then toning up. All these people and I’m like, “I’m so used to just going to a brick and mortar and getting it done.” For me, it was a total transition, but if I can do it, so can they as well, so can you guys.

Andrea:

Yeah, because I need my fix, right? I got to figure out how to get it, and I had to change where I did that. It was at home, and then you have a little bit more control. We want to give people that.

Diana:

I don’t know if I can go back honestly. I mean she’s got great weights, and that’s the thing too we do tell our members for Christmas that we hope you ask for heavier weights as you progress, and you get stronger and you just build your own home gym because it’s changed a little bit our mindset I think, and I do prefer working out at home now.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Andrea:

We want them to be healthy, so yeah.

Diana:

That’s the biggest thing when I was a personal trainer coordinator, the number one issue, the number one obstacle in their way was time management, getting there. I mean so many people, we’d have these connect appointments and I never would see them back. They did the whole free 2-week thing or month of free membership, but they never came back. Those are the people we’re really trying to grab and hold on to.

Jeff:

Yeah. If it’s not convenient, you won’t do it, right? You got to make it obvious and convenient, right? Is that something that James Clear talks about?

Andrea:

Yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

Sunday mornings. Is it Sunday mornings at Lost World?

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Is it rain or shine?

Diana:

Yup, because we can move inside. It’s such a big space and open. We haven’t had to yet, but yeah, yeah [crosstalk 00:18:11] 10:30.

Jeff:

Well, of flexibility and mobility and having a good laugh, I’ll stop by one Sunday [crosstalk 00:18:18] and participate. I’ve been out of a fitness regimen since almost May of 2019. I was doing so well, and we took a 2-week vacation. I never got back into it. When I got back, I let life get in the way and work and everything else. One of my near-term goals is to get back into a habit and routine.

Andrea:

Yeah, we’d love to have you and you get a beer after.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah. Well…

Diana:

That’s always a good incentive.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Absolutely, yeah.

Diana:

There’s something about that though, right, having a beer after a workout.

Andrea:

Yeah. I mean if you can state…

Diana:

You go science…

Jeff:

Counterintuitive…

Diana:

There’s science, it’s somewhere. I don’t have an article for you or anything but…

Andrea:

I think it’s a very good dehydrator-

Jeff:

Yeah, there we go.

Andrea:

… but you can also save the little wooden nickel that you get and-

Diana:

Use it another time.

Andrea:

… use it another time.

Diana:

We always just use it.

Jeff:

Yeah, sure. Yeah, absolutely, it’s Sunday. Yeah.

Diana:

Exactly. It’s mobility Sunday.

Andrea:

You’re right, yes.

Jeff:

Oh, cool. Yeah, I’ll stop by and be a great example of what happens when you are just getting back into mobility and…

Andrea:

We’ll go and get your beer for you. We’ll just lay on the map.

Jeff:

You might need to.

Diana:

You could drink during it too. It’s okay, we’re laid back with that.

Andrea:

No, we’ll get a lot of people though.

Diana:

Yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Yeah, there’s no rules with that. Yeah, there’s only rules with form with us, okay.

Jeff:

Right.

Diana:

We’re very serious about form, but everything else is just a party.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Pretty flexible. Yeah, okay, cool. Well, yeah, I mean the sense of accomplishment, obviously you always feel so much better after working out. I’ve always found that getting my daily exercise in the morning is always preferred to any other time of the day, just because it just really sets the tone for the day. Also for me, probably if I don’t get it done right away, it won’t get done because I’ll talk myself out of it the rest of it. Sometimes, it’s good to do it first thing when your mind’s really not fully operating, and before you can actually think about it, just get it done. Well, let’s talk about the Mbrace methodology and early, on I mentioned the four core principles that embody what Mbrace is doing. Let’s dive into the type of programming that Mbrace offers and talk about the four course.

Andrea:

Yeah, okay. I’ll talk about the first one, which is we have weekly outdoor workouts. We know that the weather is a little bit cold right now, but once you’re out there, you’re going to be sweating and feeling awesome. On Saturdays, we have a workout. Right now, it’s at River Run and we bring the weights. If you are working out at home and maybe you don’t have a lot of heavy weights, we’re going to bring those heavy weights. We get to see you face to face. We’re always following the social distancing protocols. We bring sanitizers and wipes.

Diana:

Towels.

Andrea:

Yes. We bring awesome music, and we just have so much fun. It’s a great chance to meet other people in the community. We love that.

Diana:

We also stream live with our person in Ireland and in Chicago, so that they are still getting that nice little workout every day.

Andrea:

Yeah, it’s fun. Yes. Then the second one is we do live Zooms every week. Right now, we have three classes; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Monday and Wednesdays at 7 a.m. and then Friday is at 8:30 a.m. We Zoom with our members. We have so much fun. I love seeing everybody. Some people, you can tell they just obviously woke up in the morning. They’re in their garage. Some people have their kids working out with them in the background, their dogs are in the background. It is a lot of fun. We are able to really see our members and check their form, and we are working out with you. It is a really cool community feel and for people that are a little bit nervous, you can turn off your camera, still work out and see everybody, and then you do it on your time when you feel ready.

Diana:

Most of them really do us checking.

Andrea:

Oh, yeah.

Diana:

We’ll take our pauses, and I need to pause because we’re recording video workouts. Sometimes, we did the workout already the day before. I always try to get them in advance done, but sometimes, we’re doing the workout before.

Andrea:

Yes.

Diana:

It’s today ha, yesterday, I was half-assing it. Today, it’s okay. I just do. I use it as an excuse to say, “Okay guys, come on. There you go Kat. All right, good Kate, good,” just so I don’t have to do it.

Andrea:

We do that at stop. That’s one thing that she said, if you don’t make it to that Monday, Wednesday, Friday class, we have that up for you at 5 a.m. You are going along with our workout schedule, and that’s one thing that Diana’s awesome at the periodization, how we figure out the whole week of workouts, we get every body part. That’s always on-demand, so we’ll let you do that.

Diana:

Yeah. We’re not over using the whole method of that. It’s really just a form as a trainer. Everybody who ever took the tests and the exams goes into that, but I think that it’s also very important to really embody that. Whenever we do these 20-day challenges or 30-day challenge, really focusing and thinking about how we’re using our body, how we’re going to gain that momentum, that endurance, the agility, the cardiovascular, the strength. Number one is strength and the mobility in there as well. Some days, it’s 30-minute hits, right? That’s it, that’s all you need with hip. Because if you go past 30, you’re burnt out, it wasn’t real hit. Then there’s some days where it’s 45 minutes and it’s just super sets.

Diana:

It’s upper body super sets and then maybe on Wednesday, we focus on lower. Some of it’s gym lifting, but then some days, it’s full body stability. We’re working on balance, we’re doing planks. We have some cardio in there and it’s just a big mixture, but it’s also a progression. At the end of their 30 days or if we don’t have a challenge, we’re still doing that. Every week is planned specifically for everybody, so they’re not overusing and overworking their bodies, and you still feel good, strong.

Andrea:

You have that on-demand, all these different categories. You can go along with what we’ve prescribed for you to do Monday through Sunday, or you can decide you know what today, I just really need a 20-minute combat workout. I just want to do abs today, so you have that option to pick that…

Diana:

Ten minutes abs, we have, yup. Bar and flow even we’ve added to the agenda, which is not our strong suit… Well, it’s not Andrea’s strong suit, but she’s getting better.

Andrea:

I do…

Diana:

I used to do ballet back in the day. It’s nice bringing it back, but then I’ll see when Andrea first started out, she’s so cute. She started out, she was looking like a little girl doing a plie, and her little bottoms out in the air-

Andrea:

It was so bad.

Diana:

… and her arms all stiff, but she’s gotten better. There’s certain things we realize that we do love and we know that our members like that incorporation, because that’s working the tiny little muscle fibers, those movements, those high reps and those tiny little pulses and squeeze and tucks-

Andrea:

Yeah, I’m more so on from [crosstalk 00:25:55].

Diana:

… squeeze and tucks.

Andrea:

Yeah. You get that weekly outdoor classes, you have the live Zooms. You have the on-demand workouts, and then we also have what we call food freedom, so that is where we’re going to help you with your relationship with food. I’m a Whole30 certified coach. We are doing a Whole30 round in January and…

Diana:

She is hands-on with everybody.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Diana:

Yeah, there’s a private Facebook group, but she is your concierge. I just see her for the workout. Everybody gets her for a couple weeks to a month, right?

Andrea:

Yeah, yeah, 45 minutes.

Diana:

It starts once people have an idea, but they’ll be in the supermarket like, “Oh God, is this okay? Is this…” I’m taking pictures. She constantly is at their service, so she’s really hands-on.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

She’s awesome.

Andrea:

That’s what we help people with the food freedom. It is not a diet.

Diana:

No.

Andrea:

I help people reset their health and their habits around food. All year long, I help people figure out not to have guilt or shame around food, especially as we enter into the holidays. If you are mindful about the way that you’re eating, you should enjoy holidays and all the yummy food with your family and friends. They’re all balanced.

Diana:

She’s starting her group with Whole30 on January 4th, but there’s prep time before. It’s really six weeks that you’re-

Andrea:

Yup, it’d be good, be good.

Diana:

… talking to everybody, yeah.

Andrea:

Yeah, we’re going to start on the Monday the 28th, and then we prep. I make sure your kitchen is all ready, and then we just go into what I think the Whole30 is the ultimate in self-care. You will feel amazing at the end, and it is not for weight loss. It is for mind and body health and all these, they call it non-scale victories, NSVs. All the things that, “Oh my knee stopped hurting or my skin looks better or I’m sleeping better, or I can go beast mode every day in the gym.” Those are the things that food freedom’s going to teach you.

Diana:

Figuring out the culprits that your body can’t break down.

Andrea:

I’m really passionate about that part.

Diana:

Then I’m more passionate about the kiddos.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

Eventually down the line, I want to start an education series with parents and feeding their children and healthy foods, and really talking about the concept of getting away from the advertising like, “Kid friendly, why do we have to hide vegetables and things,” and just really teaching children to it starts at a young age. Their palates are always changing. Eventually, we’re going to lead more into that and into more of our community growing.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Yeah, diet is so important, what we put into our bodies, how we fuel our bodies. Yeah, that’s the first step I’ve taken recently is going back to clean eating. I’ve rejoined a meal plan, a company locally and just trying to clean up the diet. The next step is to get my ass out of the chair and moving.

Diana:

Well, the hardest part is the food, right?

Andrea:

Yeah, you’re doing the hardest part.

Diana:

I think that’s the hardest part is the nutrition, it’s for sure.

Andrea:

Yeah, getting that.

Diana:

Yeah, because then you’ll need energy from eating right and healthy, and then you’re like ready to go.

Jeff:

There you go. Yeah, see.

Diana:

Around the holidays.

Andrea:

Yeah, good job.

Diana:

That’s really good.

Jeff:

Yeah. All right, cool. In-person training at River Run and Lost World and live Zoom classes and also on-demand streaming classes. What kind of weighs or what kind of gear do your members need to participate in the Zoom and the streaming classes?

Diana:

We always have modifications if you don’t. Our biggest ones, we love the booty bands for certain things that we do, dumbbells.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

Those two or stability ball. If you don’t have that, we can work with it. We’ll always have one of us doing something without the other, but they always need some kind of weights.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

I mean we’ve even said lift, throw in a heavy backpack. Just load it up with soups a can, whatever for squats, just working squats, dead lifts. Anything like that that you have, but our members are really growing their fitness studio up I think. they’re all in the rooms or a garage, but we keep it simple.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

I mean yeah I’m trying to think of anything to see…

Andrea:

You want a mat. If you’re jumping around on a hard floor, we always recommend mat.

Diana:

We don’t do a lot of jumping though either. I mean like I said, we’ll have some plyometrics in there, but it’ll be me or her doing a modification. We’re definitely not one of those, where we have a home workout, “Oh yeah, no equipment. You don’t need any equipment.” Yes, you do. In order to change your body, you need weights, and you need to grow that equipment in any way you can. I mean I know that there was a… What’s the word I’m looking for?

Jeff:

Oh, the supply chain issues.

Diana:

Oh, supply chain. Thank you.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

I’m like, “Huh?”

Diana:

Yeah, I know.

Andrea:

She’s looking at me, I don’t know. Just like what happens during our workout, we just look at each other. We’re like, “What are you doing? What are you doing?”

Diana:

That’s what we’re having to do, and that’s the thing too. She’ll be piloted, I’ll be co-pilot or vice versa. We just have our moments. [Crosstalk 00:31:30] I’m like, “You’re leading things.”

Jeff:

Oh, I can relate. I thought it was just me.

Diana:

That’s just one thing-

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

… but sometimes, we’re working…

Jeff:

I have a moment about hourly.

Diana:

Now there’s weights and we’ll be like, “Guys, this place is selling weights, go get them”-

Jeff:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Diana:

… run out and get them. They know that this is just how it’s going to be for a while, and I feel like a lot of them have the same views as us not wanting to go back to the gym anytime soon, because a lot of them have kids or busy life. It’s just they found that it’s so much easier to just get it done, but they still…

Jeff:

You mentioned loading a backpack with some canned food for squats. I mean seriously when everything went virtual and remote in the spring, that’s what a lot of people had to work with at home because weights were you couldn’t find them. You still can’t find barbells and plates are hard to find, but dumbbells I think might be a little bit easier to find. Yeah. I mean for a while there, you couldn’t buy gear or equipment.

Diana:

Yes, right.

Jeff:

Yeah, you work with what you have, right?

Andrea:

Well, I was just going to say on Saturdays which is fun is like how I said, I have all the weights. I have weights up to 50 pounds.

Diana:

She does have an awesome little gym thing.

Andrea:

I bring them all out there. You get to play around with, “Oh, you know what, I do need to get a set of 25s.” It’s an investment in yourself.

Diana:

She’s got up to about 50 in there, right?

Andrea:

Yes, 50s. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Diana:

Yeah, we don’t bring them out though, but…

Andrea:

Somebody…

Diana:

Oh, they chat. Oh, okay. No, but I don’t think our members are ready for 50s yet.

Jeff:

I was going to say you wouldn’t need the 50s with me.

Andrea:

No, they’re good for you for the class.

Jeff:

Yeah, right.

Diana:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

I mean there’s definitely certain things that are missed that I’m sure we miss. I love a cave good cable machine, but there’s other ways or a lat pull-down machine, but there’s other moves we found that hit those lats still the same way.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Just changing it up. If you think about humans, I mean we didn’t have gyms up until last century, but we still figured out a way of being active in some way.

Jeff:

Yeah. What would be the best way for a listener to get started with Mbrace? How would they reach out and start that process?

Andrea:

I would follow us on social media first. For on Instagram, we’re @Mbracestudio, or you can follow us on Facebook. Then you can go to our website which is mbracestudio.com. You have the option to do a 5-day free trial, and included in that 5-day free trial, you have the ability to Zoom with us. I really promote that part. I want you to join a class with us, see our personalities, see the community, and see if that is something that would work for you. Some people can’t just press play, and it can be a little bit daunting. I say join a Zoom class with us and five days, you get to figure it out, and that would be the best starting point.

Diana:

We also have a 6-day sample workout up on the home page that we just put up there, so you can at least see anybody can… You don’t have to sign in and put your information or anything. You can just check it out, but Instagram is probably the best way because I think our personalities really show through in certain videos and get an idea if that’s what you want, awesome. If not, we’re not everybody’s cup of tea.

Jeff:

Sure .

Diana:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Can’t please everyone, right?

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Now, it took me a long, long time to figure that out in business, but anyway, yeah.

Andrea:

Be proud of what you’re paying for.

Diana:

Exactly that and we are and you are, so yeah.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

What time is the River Run class?

Diana:

It’s 9:00.

Jeff:

9:00 on Saturdays?

Diana:

9 a.m. Saturdays.

Jeff:

Should a guest or a potential member reach out to you before showing up for those?

Diana:

No.

Jeff:

No, just drop in?

Diana:

Because it’s all outside, it’s a huge field.

Jeff:

Okay.

Diana:

There’s not a capacity limit or anything like that. Same with Lost World’s.

Andrea:

Correct.

Diana:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.

Jeff:

Where do they park? Is it at the country club, or is there another area in River Run?

Diana:

It’s just River Run Athletic Park and there’s a parking lot right by it.

Jeff:

Okay. All right, cool.

Andrea:

It’s right off Davidson Concord.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s actually past the entrance to the neighborhood-

Diana:

Yeah.

Jeff:

… on the right if you’re going toward Davidson or…

Diana:

Yes.

Andrea:

Yeah, so there’s that parking lot right there.

Jeff:

Yeah, okay.

Andrea:

It’s so convenient. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Oh and EYES UP is officer there yeah which Coach Chad is running an awesome workout for the kids. He takes up half the field with all these kids running around getting exercise, and then some of the parents will join us or just our members. Yeah.

Andrea:

Yeah, so that’s one of our business also.

Diana:

It’s one-on-one family workout. We love it, such a great idea and concept.

Jeff:

Yeah, for sure. EYES UP, I think it was Katy that also brought up EYES UP, and I’ve been following EYES UP on Instagram. I haven’t reached out to Chad yet, I need to. I’d love to have a conversation with him as well.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Andrea:

He’s great with kids. All my kids love it and my oldest Richie with special needs, he gets out there as well, so all kids are welcome.

Jeff:

That’s awesome. I love it. All right, cool. Well, I’ll have all the links in the show notes for the episode, and I’ll plan on joining you guys for a out soon.

Diana:

Yeah.

Jeff:

I got to start somewhere, and I know you won’t laugh so yeah. Oh, maybe you will.

Diana:

No, of course not.

Jeff:

We could all have a good laugh.

Diana:

You’re just going to laugh at ours. My fiance joins in most Sundays and I just laugh at him.

Andrea:

We give people a hard time. Once you’re there and I know you have a thick skin, I might poke at you a little bit.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah, that’s fine, that’s fine. Yeah, it’s all good. Cool. A topic I like to ask all my guests is obviously in 2020, it’s been a really challenging year for so many industries and families and individuals. What have been some really good partners for Mbrace Studio this year? Who would you like to give a shout out to that have been maybe particularly helpful to launching your program this year?

Diana:

I would say well EYES UP who we mentioned, that was really great. It just happened at the same time too. I would say Clean Juice, we are their juice boosters. It’s been great getting in contact with them. They’ve been great. Athleta actually reached out to us. I know they’re down far south which is far for a lot of people up here. It’s a different country, but they’ve been awesome. They reached out and we did an in-store workout.

Andrea:

Lost World.

Diana:

Lost Worlds for sure. I have been a fan of Lost Worlds I think through this as well, because the customer service and staff are amazing. I mean I went out to them first to do a workout there, and the owner is just amazing and everybody there. Through all of this too, they’ve been very gracious I think and very respectful with the safety precautions and all of that. I’ve really respected them a lot, and they’ve been great throughout this whole thing. The owner himself is a runner. He’s really embracing us doing these workouts there. Balanced Body Solutions, I’ve known Christy the owner for quite a few years now. She used to work at the gym I was at too, and their focus is really aging adults.

Diana:

They do massage therapy. They have red light therapy. They do classes, Pilates, yoga, really good mobility work really with the older population. It’s very homey coming in.

Andrea:

I love it there.

Diana:

I love going there.

Andrea:

They do a lot of homeopathic stuff, dry needling, cupping. I think it’s a great place to go if you are an athlete and you need that little extra, you need a little extra boost.

Diana:

Maintenance because we’re machines, so we don’t need that maintenance.

Andrea:

I love it there.

Diana:

The dry needling person that they see, I love, we love using Heidi from HBS physical therapy. You can find her on Instagram, but she’s been great with… I’ve had turf toe for, what, five years, four years now I don’t know, but she just got in there and I’m all cleared up. She’s very intelligent and smart, knows her stuff. I like her.

Jeff:

Is she in Cornelius?

Diana:

She is. She’s Cornelius. She’s over by the Jetton area. She moved over there. She’s by Irish Pew, so she’s up. Yup, well definitely Kindreds as we talked about before, right?

Andrea:

Yes. We love [crosstalk 00:40:38].

Diana:

The [shavels 00:40:38].

Andrea:

… and Katy and Joe.

Diana:

Katy has been awesome, like the shout outs.

Andrea:

Katy was my first client here after having my last baby. We’ve been together for four or five years and training Joe. We just have so much fun.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Joe used to take my cycle classes back in the day.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative), yeah.

Diana:

Yeah, so I knew him way back and would always try to throw in something for him, some song. Yeah.

Jeff:

Some special song.

Diana:

Some special song.

Andrea:

Some special song. Yeah, they love a good beat down every day. We just have so much fun, and I am so proud of all that they do, and they just take care of… I train a lot of their wait staff and the chefs, and just the amount of care that they give all their. The people that work on their staff, it’s just amazing.

Diana:

I’ve got to give a shout out to our members really too, because they a lot of them have stuck through us from the beginning. We went from one really terrible website to a much better one, and they have gone through so much. We gave them a bunch of tanks and stuff. They’re happy, they’re good, but…

Andrea:

Socks.

Diana:

Socks. Yeah, we do. My sorry good friend sells Feetures Socks. He’s a distributor for Feetures Socks. He’s been great with like, “Hey, give these to your members all.” I’m like, “Thank you.”

Jeff:

Yeah.

Diana:

Yeah. I think that our members really are what keeps us going and we…

Andrea:

We have some big [crosstalk 00:42:03].

Diana:

They’re so welcoming, they’re so inclusive. That’s the biggest thing is inclusion. I hate stepping into a place that it’s so snotty and you feel it, and you’re just like, “Oh, I’m here to work out. I’m not here to be cool and popular and have these $150 leggings and make my ass look poppy.” No, I want to be there, I want to feel included, and I want to feel naked and find my people or people that are not stuck up, or people are… They’re every…

Andrea:

No egos.

Diana:

No egos, no egos.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Andrea:

It’s hard to explain it, and that’s why just when I say do that trial…

Diana:

The outliers, the outside, the people that have never wanted to-

Andrea:

Never want to work out.

Diana:

… work out because of that whole concept, so yeah.

Andrea:

Because I want to get my hands on people when I do…

Diana:

Every time you that, it sounds so curvy.

Andrea:

I know, but it’s like…

Diana:

I know, but because… she’s like, “Grrr, let me get in there.”

Andrea:

No, I was [crosstalk 00:43:04]…

Diana:

Almost touched you.

Andrea:

We’ve looked at…

Diana:

Then there’s COVID time, okay. Can we touch it…

Andrea:

I always ask ahead of time, I’m coming closer to you, but that’s why we have stuck with Zoom because I like to see the people. I need to check and see that you’re doing your abdominals right, because we want you to…

Diana:

We don’t want you to get injured. That’s the biggest thing.

Andrea:

Exactly, yes.

Diana:

We want safe… That’s what we’re saying, we’re serious about form and safety and all of that and everything else is just let’s have a good time, let’s get into that song and like oh, I’m just… [crosstalk 00:43:39]. Sometimes, I’ll just stop in the middle. I would start dancing to it. I’m just like this is awesome, because we just did a 90s upper super set.

Andrea:

I just really love that.

Diana:

It’s just really bicep curls and kickbacks, whatever and then it’s just like, “Oop, there it is.”

Andrea:

Got to dance.

Diana:

Bringing it back, bringing it back.

Jeff:

This needs to be a video podcast. I need to have a YouTube channel because-

Andrea:

Not my dancing [crosstalk 00:44:05].

Jeff:

Those are cracking me up.

Diana:

Yeah, she’s getting better. You’re so hard on yourself.

Andrea:

I graduated high school in 1996. All those jams.

Jeff:

Oh, yeah.

Diana:

She had early ’90s running in and all that stuff too.

Andrea:

Spice Girls.

Jeff:

Yup. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Class of ’93 here, so yeah. I get it, yeah.

Andrea:

Oh, cool, Yeah, here we go. See?

Jeff:

Yeah, totally.

Andrea:

Love it.

Jeff:

90s, 09, one of my favorites.

Diana:

Yeah. You know what, I just watched The Fresh Prince reunion last night. Oh, man.

Andrea:

Oh my gosh.

Jeff:

I heard about it. I didn’t watch it.

Diana:

It is good. I teared up a little bit with my kids.

Andrea:

I love that.

Jeff:

You guys are awesome. Yeah, I may save this video. This will be the first one for the YouTube channel. Yeah. We’ll have to launch the Best of LKN on YouTube and the Mbrace Studio will be the launch episode so-

Andrea:

Oh, awesome.

Jeff:

… keep an eye out for that. Cool. Yeah, I’ll have links to all those businesses and the show notes, and give them shout-outs as well and thanks so much. The message of gratitude to your members, I love it. That’s so glad to hear you throw that in there, and there’s a lot to be thankful for this year for sure, in spite of all the challenges. I love that.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Let’s get into books real quick before we close. I know Atomic Habits is a big one lately. It’s been recommended to me a few times over the last year. I finally got around to reading it. I say read, I’m an audible subscriber.

Andrea:

Okay.

Jeff:

I listen to it, and then I have been going back through it with a spiral notebook and making my own cliffs notes, and just writing stuff down like I’m at a lecture and it’s just powerful, powerful stuff. What are your thoughts?

Andrea:

I really, really love that book. I found it because I also love the podcast Do The Thing with Melissa Urban. She is the co-founder of the Whole30, and she did a podcast with James Clear. He dived in even deeper to the Atomic Habits book. They talked about food and your habits around food. They also talked about exercise. One of my things that I love about the book is a habit doesn’t form in 30 days or 20 days. He really breaks it down, and it is all about the habit that you’re trying to establish. If you are going to say I want to drink more water, that’s not too hard. You don’t have to do that much to create that habit, but if you want to go to the gym more often or something, I want to eat these certain kinds of foods or change my diet lifestyle, that’s going to take longer.

Andrea:

When he talks about the art of showing up, the art of just starting, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You have to establish a habit before you can start perfecting it and honing that skill. That’s where the Mbrace name came about. Embrace where you’re at and start, we will get you to that habit. That’s where it becomes a part of who you are. That’s when that it’s not really even a habit anymore, it’s you. That’s I think the goal, and that’s what you learned from that book is there’s so much research, but you just have to consistently do it. He talks about paving the way.

Andrea:

If you are trying to exercise, but you’ve decided I’m going to join a gym that’s an hour away, and I’m going to get there and I’m going to have to wake up really early in the morning, and then I’m going to have to pack my bag and get ready for work there, you’re not paving the way. You’re putting up all these roadblocks. When you make it really easy and you pave the way in a smoother way, you’re going to have more success. If you do it early in the morning, if you just have to go to your gym that’s in your garage you’re going to have more success. That’s also why we’re saying, we’re taking that excuse out. We’re paving the way for you to get it done and create that habit without all these things going on in life. I really love that part of the book.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

What parts do you like?

Jeff:

Well, I love how he breaks it down into when it comes to goals, it’s more about changing your identity and changing how you identify yourself. I love his analogies where for someone that wants to run a marathon, the goal isn’t to run a marathon. The goal is to become a runner, right? I think he even broke it down to where it was your mindset should be 10% goals, 90% processes or systems to achieve those goals. It’s mindset shift. I want to lose 25 pounds, that’s the goal, but really the process is become someone who exercises and eats healthier.

Diana:

Exactly.

Jeff:

Right?

Andrea:

Right.

Jeff:

I’m not someone who’s losing 25 pounds. I’m someone who exercises every day. It’s a mindset shift. There’s so much more. I mean part of the reason why I listen to audiobooks and I don’t read them, I just talked to another guest recently about this subject. I’ll get halfway through a page, I think my ADD kicks in and I’ll space out and I’ll forget half of what I just read so I’ll go back through it. Also, utilizing audiobooks is I’m able to utilize that found time. When I’m driving or working in one part of my business and I don’t need to listen, my ears are available, but I really love how he just analytically breaks it down and systematizes habits. Like you said, there’s no hacks, right? There are no habit hacks.

Jeff:

I’ve heard that someone else actually at another gym that I was a member at said, “If you come every day for 28 days, it’ll become a habit,” and I’m like, “So if I come every day for 26 days, it won’t be a habit, or I don’t…”

Andrea:

Right, yeah.

Diana:

That was based off of I think it was a Dutch study that I think I read a couple years ago. They did this whole study around it. That’s where this is the verbiage is stuck, 28 days because they tested it on mice, I don’t know, but…

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

It’s almost like at 28 days, it won’t be work anymore.

Diana:

Right, right, right. Yeah.

Jeff:

You’ll do it without even knowing it.

Diana:

You could be having a good month, right?

Jeff:

Right.

Diana:

It’s easy for you to get to the 28 days, but then what if something happens the next month and you have to learn to keep pushing forward and also not making your goals is so huge. We have many people come and say, “I got to lose two dress sizes to get into my sister’s wedding in two months.” No. It’s got to be small little goals, little baby steps into the biggest one, which is just maintaining your health, being able to I want to be 80 years old and not having to use my arms to get in and out of a chair, simple as that.

Jeff:

Yeah. Yeah, I like that too. You bring up a good point. He talks a lot about starting small. Maybe the key to creating the habit of running every day is start with lacing up your running shoes at the same time every day, and then maybe go outside or whatever, but the other thing Andrea, I think you were the one that brought up the concept of not being perfect, not launching perfectly.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

My business partner in the small media business that we have that we launched in 2020, he and I are saying that all the time, just 80% and go. It’s not going to be perfect, you’ll refine the process as you continue, but the key is to do it every day or every week. Also, his point of if you miss a day, rebound quickly.

Andrea:

Exactly, yeah and having accountability. It’s like paving that way a little bit easier. If you know someone’s waiting for you, you’re more apt to go.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Find those people that are like-minded in your goals.

Diana:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Andrea:

That’s another thing he talks about. We have a community where wellness is important to us. We want fitness to be a habit because it makes us happier. It makes us better moms, partners, co-workers. Those are the important things that we’re trying to build in our community.

Diana:

It really is for everybody. We have somebody who has a syndrome called DISH. I trained her before and she joined us. Basically, she has this degeneration of her bones. Basically, if she hits her herself or fractures her bone, it’s the opposite of unbreakable from that movie with Samuel, and her bones starts growing and fuses. Her limited mobility, she can’t do anything about it. Her spine is fused. There’s certain parts of her body where it’s difficult to do certain things, but she’s still doing it. She’s still maintaining her strength.

Andrea:

She did awesome.

Diana:

She is amazing.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

Her form is not perfect, but that’s because it can’t be, but she can still get down into that squat, she can still do presses, she can still do certain things. She still does push-ups, and she’s inclining her push-up. She’s still planking. She’s still doing things where she has lost those unwanted COVID pounds that she did have. She started with us…

Andrea:

Yeah, she did. She did with auto plateau.

Diana:

She did the whole 30 with Andrea, and she’s very, very strict with herself with having those habits. She Zooms with us every time we Zoom. She does on-demand almost every day, and we’re starting to see that more and more members are actually preferring those on-demands because they can sleep in a little bit. It’s okay, but they still get it done. They’ll text us and that’s their accountability like, “Oh, I did this. I did that da, da, da.” We’re just like [crosstalk 00:54:44] that’s what it’s all about.

Andrea:

We know, we can see it, watched it or not.

Diana:

It’s probably as well they know too. We’re always watching. We’ll have a challenge, a 30-day challenge and they get a swag bag. We have three people… I forget how many we have that are so competitive.

Andrea:

Yeah.

Diana:

At the end, they all did it. They did every day, and we have active rest days on Sundays or mobility or whatever. There’s really nothing, but they still have to go and do something, but I could see if they’re watching. If they weren’t at a Zoom class, then I can tell if they are watching it, and we trust them. I mean I don’t think they’re just putting it on for five minutes and then going away. They’re very competitive people. We have three winners.

Andrea:

We thought we were going to have one. We have three.

Diana:

Yeah. We had three swag bags all ready to go. We had one in Ireland, so that was a whole different swag bag, which we used Amazon for the shipping with that one, but then we had two here. We’re going to have another one in February, 30 days so that one also is where we are just pumping out new material, new workouts, and we have a whole model of the workout. It’s all plans and every…

Andrea:

Accountability.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

Everyone needs that so.

Diana:

January, we’re doing 20-day challenge.

Andrea:

Twenty-day challenge, yeah.

Diana:

Just we’re going to have those workouts Monday through Friday, and then the live ones on the weekends. Yeah. Got lots of plans for 2021, let’s go beast mode. Boom, yes, boom.

Andrea:

That’s what how you had said you and your partner. You just have to start, so it might be 80% great. When we go back and we look at our beginning videos, and it was trying to work with each other. Oh, we’re…

Diana:

I’m getting rid of them, tearing them down as fast as I can. I’m replacing them with this one. We’ll repeat the workouts because the thing is it’s not the workout. The workouts are amazing, we love our workouts. They’re always different. Not one workout is the same. They’re always different-

Andrea:

They’re awesome.

Diana:

… even if it’s just a little extra of this, but yeah. I am…

Andrea:

We are hilarious, but we tried.

Diana:

We did.

Andrea:

That’s another book is Daring Greatly with Brene Brown, where you have to put yourself out there. How you maybe thought, “Gosh, I would love to try a podcast,” you did it. There are a lot of other people who think they could do a podcast, but they’re not doing it.

Diana:

Yeah.

Andrea:

We put ourselves out there. We had to let go of any last little bit of ego that we had. We know we’re not perfect. We have a passion for fitness and helping people. We said, “Let’s work together and let’s try. Embrace where we’re at and let’s try to bring as many people as we can into that fitness habit.”

Jeff:

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it’s so key. My first small business I started in 2012, 2013, I think officially was when I went full time with it. I’ve been pushing that business uphill by myself for almost eight years, and it’s been such a struggle. In 2020, when my very good friend and I came up with this concept for the small media business, we partnered and it’s been so great to have someone who holds you accountable and who also checks my stupid ideas.

Diana:

[Crosstalk 00:57:50].

Andrea:

No, I did. I have stupid ideas too.

Diana:

No joking.

Andrea:

No, no, we get co-pilot.

Diana:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrea:

We get co-pilot.

Diana:

You have your grades. You have your needs, but you’re on point, right?

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah.

Diana:

You got it and then you got it together, and we’re not always going to have it together. That’s the thing too. I couldn’t be doing this by myself. Heck no, she couldn’t either.

Andrea:

No.

Diana:

There are people out there that are, but they always have a partner, they do. It’s a silent partner. For us, we’re each showing’s partner, and there’ll be certain workout of the day where I am just not and she’s not. She’s in the mood or I’m in a mood or whatever. We’re the opposite. We’ll bring the fire and then eventually, we get out of it and we’re there too. We’re like, “Okay, maybe with some grunts in between, but…”

Jeff:

Yeah and not to mention I don’t know everything, I recognize that. I’ve been humbled many, many times over the last eight years with my other business, but also having a partner who brings a different set of skillset and expertise to the endeavor is super helpful. There’s so much that goes on in the business that I don’t have that expertise, I don’t have that knowledge of how to do those things. That’s been incredibly helpful, but yeah, so a big advocate of partnering with someone like-minded, who is passionate about the idea and that endeavor, and also brings another perspective to the process, and again keeps a lot of my crazy ideas in check. He’s funny too.

Jeff:

He’ll be like, “Yeah, yeah, that’s a good idea, but what does that look? What made you think of that, or how do you think… [crosstalk 00:59:51] How would that work?”

Diana:

You’ll be nice about it too.

Andrea:

Yeah, yeah.

Diana:

I’m more blunt.

Andrea:

She’s like, “Why did you do that or go check that, I’ll be there.”

Diana:

Yeah, I’m more blunt, and then she’s more like a therapist. She will go around it and I’m like knowing where she’s coming, I’ll be like, “Okay, yeah.”

Andrea:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Yeah. I love when I say something and I’ll get the huh. Yeah, the huh.

Andrea:

I just do a stare. I like to stare. There’s no facial… just looking. Yeah, and I get that from her too.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s really cool, that’s super cool. You mentioned too the process of working out through at home or at your office or in your garage through a Zoom meeting or streaming, how that can be and an awkward process to start if you’re used to actually physically going to a gym on a regular basis. My wife has found that to be extremely impactful this year. She has been religious about going every day to her gym. When everything closed for months in March and they converted to a virtual platform temporarily, they’ve since reopened under obviously safety guidelines, but she continues to do all the workouts from home. She’s like, “Oh, this is my thing now. This is the process. This is I’m used to it.”

Jeff:

It didn’t take long at all for that to just be begin to be a habit, right? Although she does miss the tribe, the group that she worked out with every day. She does miss that contact, but I guess my point is if there seems to be some resistance to the idea of starting a workout program like that or fitness program like that, I would definitely encourage you to try it and give it some time and see how it goes.

Diana:

Yup, on the weekends too, so that they get that community feel and they see each other.

Jeff:

Yeah, yeah, I like that. That’s really cool, a blend.

Diana:

I think that’s the another thing that’s important because at the end of the day, a lot of people yeah, they’ve missed their tribe, but they’re really there to work out too. A lot of times, they’re out running. They’re not talking before or after class, but at least they get that one class out of the week to meet up and…

Jeff:

Yeah, I love that. That’s a nice blend of normal work during the week, and then you can connect on the weekends and in-person classes, River Run. Are there other places too other than River Run and Lost World?

Diana:

Sometimes we do pop-ups. We did a pop-up yesterday at Clean Juice, but it’s so cold that we’re just doing it on the weekends.

Jeff:

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense.

Andrea:

We get hot.

Diana:

We do.

Andrea:

I mean we’re in our tank tops at the end, but everyone’s doing it.

Diana:

She’s from Chicago, and I mean I lived up north growing up. The winter here is a little subtle compared to other places, but it still sucks in the beginning part of the first 10 minutes. I’m like, “We just make everything cardio warm up, cardio warm up. All right, let’s go, come on, come on. Maybe some inch worms, but then it’s like some butt kicks, let’s go, let’s dog it out.”

Andrea:

Yeah. We’re all freezing at the beginning.

Diana:

Yeah, but then at the end, we’re taking off the tops.

Andrea:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jeff:

Yeah, it doesn’t take long to warm up, right? All right, cool. Well, we mentioned the links and how our listeners can start the process of joining embrace and becoming a member, or just trying it out. Of course, I’ll share all that in the links or in the show notes, but before we close our conversation, is there a message… There was that message of gratitude for sure that Diana shared earlier. Is there anything else you’d to say to share with the community or your members before we close the conversation?

Diana:

Just how are you going to make 2021? How are you going to make it for you? How are you going to make it work? I know we’re still in the thick of everything that’s going on, but it is still a new year. We really want you to get up and moving, even if it’s not with us. We want you to be healthy, take care of yourself. Mental health is also something that I know it goes hand in hand with physical activity. If you are in the slumps, if you’re not feeling right, you just get moving, do something, outdoors, lift some weights, find your people.

Andrea:

We want you to make fitness a habit in a fun way, in an inclusive way with zero egos, and we’re going to be your accountability partners.

Diana:

I’m ready, let’s do it. Whole30 starts in January, 20-day fit challenge starts in January.

Andrea:

Yes, yeah.

Diana:

Let’s go.

Andrea:

Yes.

Jeff:

Well, well said. I love that message. Diana and Andrea, I just want to say thank you so much for joining the podcast. This has been a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to sharing this with the audience, and I’m also looking forward to dropping into one of the outdoor classes very soon.

Andrea:

Yes.

Diana:

Awesome. Thank you.

Andrea:

We’ll be looking for you, but if we don’t see, we’re texting you.

Jeff:

All right.

Andrea:

Yeah, yeah.

Jeff:

Hold me accountable.

Andrea:

Yeah, exactly.

Jeff:

Well, thanks again for your time really, appreciate it.

Andrea:

Thank you.

Diana:

Thank you Jeff.

Jeff:

Mbrace Studio is ready to help you make fitness a habit. Thanks Andrea and Diana for joining the podcast. You two are awesome, that was a lot of fun. I’ll be joining the group in Davidson very soon for a workout, I promise. Listeners, you can learn more about Mbrace Studio at www.mbracestudio.com and find them on Facebook and Instagram @mbracestudio. Andrea and Diana also wanted to make sure I gave their favorite photographer a huge shout out Jacoby Rose Photography is owned by Angie Jacoby. Angie is a natural light photographer specializing in newborn, children, and family portraits. She also offers professional headshots for men and women. Angie is located in Cornelius and serves the Lake Norman and greater Charlotte area.

Jeff:

Jacoby Rose Photography is responsible for much of the amazing imagery you’ll see at the Mbrace Studio website and on their social media accounts. You can also learn more about Jacoby Rose photography at www.jacobyrosephotography.com. Of course, I’ll have the link in the show notes. While we’re at it, let’s roll the other acknowledgements in this episode. Lost Worlds Brewery and Cornelius, EYES UP creative movement and fitness challenges for kids by Coach Chad Macy based right here in the Lake Norman area, Clean Juice with locations all over the Lake Norman area and Charlotte and half of the country. Actually, they’re growing by leaps and bounds. Balanced Body Solutions in Cornelius, HBS Physical Therapy also in Cornelius.

Jeff:

The kids go to Community School of Davidson, often mentioned with love by guests on this podcast, so shout out to CSD. Last, but certainly not least, Kindred and Hello, Sailor restaurants in Davidson and Cornelius. Owners Katy and Joe kindred were guests on this podcast back in episode 31, and many thanks to them for helping me connect with Mbrace Studio. Links to all of these places in the show notes as always. Books mentioned, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Daring Greatly by Brene Brown and finally, the podcast Do The Thing hosted by the Whole30 co-founder Melissa Urban. Links are in the show notes for this episode and the complete show notes for every episode are located at the home for the Best of LKN podcast, www.thebestoflkn.com.

Jeff:

Subscribe to our email newsletter while you’re there, much appreciated. Well friends, this episode was a bit longer than usual, but if you’re still with me, I want to say thank you for sticking around and following the Best of LKN Podcast. Many thanks again to Andrea and Diana for joining the podcast and for reminding us that to make fitness a habit, you need only start small, start where you are and start with what you have. Mbrace Studio is there to help you every step of the way and guide you on your journey toward better health. I’ll be back soon with another episode. Happy New Year Lake Norman, bye for now.

Speaker 1:

We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of the Best of LKN. For more information about this podcast, show notes, video episodes, and links to our featured businesses, please visit www.thebestoflkn.com. We publish episodes weekly, so be sure to subscribe and stay up to date. Until next time, cheers Lake Norman.