Faithful Fitness with Beth Miramonti Wants YOU!

What is Faithful Fitness?
Faithful Fitness is about taking care of our whole bodies. It’s about creating the very best House in which we can best accommodate Jesus Christ, our most Honored Guest. It is a place where we can gather and share ideas, goals, challenges and successes. Where we pray for and encourage one another.

What motivated you to start the Faithful Fitness group?
I had been working out at home to a program on TV called Faithful Workouts http://www.faithfulworkouts.com/. Sharon Wood and I attended a fitness class at First Baptist Church in Maryville last year and enjoyed it so much we wanted to do something similar at our church. Having NO fitness training background, I offered to facilitate a group if people were willing to gather and work out together to a video. I won the Best of Faithful Workouts video (our very first training video) in an online contest, and Faithful Fitness was born. 

What areas have you seen improve or expand and in what areas are you still looking for that growth? What are some future plans? 
We began getting together in Jan 2012 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for a 32 minute video led workout. My original intention was to incorporate prayer, devotion and share time into that hour we’d scheduled to gather. Honestly, timing and schedules have cut that time together to only video time, but some of the newer videos we are using incorporate prayer and devotion into the practice. Aside from the workout time at the church I also formed a Facebook Group called Faithful Fitness Friends. There we can check in daily on each other, share praises and goals. I often post devotions, humorous quotes and pictures to motivate and encourage. Several of us recently completed a 4 week Holy Yoga instructional course with Jill Fisk. There are close to thirty people currently involved in a 30 day Plank Challenge, and about 10 of us are signed up as a team called Fit & Faithful for the St. Louis Color Run coming up August 18th.  

What are the age limitations and expected fitness levels of people in the Faithful Fitness group? Do you have to be a member of TUMC to join? 
Faithful Fitness is for everyone over 12 who is interested in getting or staying physically fit. We have several types of exercise and many options to accommodate all ages and stages.  Some of the new videos we are looking at actually show you a chair option if getting to the floor or back up is a problem. Many of the routines can be "boosted" to accommodate the fittest of the bunch. The exercise bands we use allow a person to decide just how much resistance they want to use for each move. Our " TUMC regulars" include Becky Rushing, Debbie Rakers and Rebecca Ellis. One of my most Faithful Fitness Friends, is Stacey Anderson, a good friend from high school who isn't a member of the church, but is still a major part of our group.  Our daughters have joined when in town, and the workouts give those young 20-somethings a challenge as well. It's all about what you put into it. We will take you wherever you are and work from there. 

Is childcare provided for the workout times?  
A nursery is provided in the evenings and would be available upon request in the mornings. Adrian is currently running a kids fitness group that coincides with our workout time for the 3-12 yr olds. 

What is the current meeting schedule for workouts? 
We are currently meeting at 5 am on Mondays and Wednesdays and "walking" ourselves fit with Leslie Sansone's video's on loan to us from Ruth Alysworth. Originally I had named this Spiritual Stretching with a yoga/pilates focus, but we found these videos and REALLY liked them. Of the ladies who are participating, some need to head to work after so we get a brisk 2-3 mile walk in by 6am. We meet at 7am on Saturday mornings for HOLY YOGA and are using the level 1 DVD included in Brooke Boone's book, Exercise for the Christian Body and Soul, which takes about an hour. And finally, on Tuesday evening at 7 we are currently offering a 32 min Faithful Workout, total body workout. 

Tell us more about the 30 day Plank Challenge. 
The 30-Day Plank Challenge is just something I found online and wanted to do, but wanted to have the accountability to stick to it. The plank pose is one of the best workouts to strengthen your core that has one in push up position or on your forearms and keeping your back straight (like a plank) and holding that position as long as you can. This 30-Day challenge is supposed to get you up to holding that pose for 5 minutes by the end of the month. I posted it on the Faithful Fitness facebook page to see who else would be interested in joining and received quite a bit of feedback. Not only are women from my group doing it, but they are recruiting their husbands, kids, and neighbors to do it with them.

"Get Your Plank On" T shirts available now. Limited quantities for most sizes- $10 each.  All proceeds go to Faithful Fitness videos and equipment!!! Get yours while they last! 

Class times and challenges are scheduled to change in August so contact me, Beth at faithfulfitnessTUMC@gmail.com or Adrian at  Adrian@troyumc.org at Troy United Methodist Church for more information. Come join us; you will be glad you did!