July 9, 2013
By Chris Granville
Before embarking on a long holiday weekend full of activities sure to tempt me away from healthy eating and abstinence I decided to mix up my workout program, get out of the gym, and try Ashley Mitchell’s Total Body and Mind Transformation Boot Camp in Central Park.
Ashley is well qualified to get people into shape. She’s an N.A.S.M. certified personal trainer and MAD DOGG certified spinning instructor and runs her own business, Lift Your Way to Fit. And when it comes to keeping fit she practices what she preaches. Her healthy lifestyle has led her to recently compete in her first figure competition taking 3rd and 6th place honors in two separate categories. But more importantly is her infectious enthusiasm for what she does. She wasn’t always figure model fit and it’s through her own journey that she has come to demonstrate a passion for fitness and a deep understanding of what it takes to help people achieve their health and fitness goals. Ashley makes working out enjoyable and even though she made the group work hard on this Wednesday evening everyone and was smiling and laughing in between the sweaty grunts.
Any thoughts of exercising in the sunshine were quickly dashed when it began raining minutes before camp began. But as soon as I met Ashley and the rest of the group it became clear that we were going to have fun regardless of the weather. A stretching routine got things started before a quick jog along Central Park South. As we stopped to enter the park Ashley made sure everyone was walking on tip toes. Prancing through Central Park on my tip toes would normally take some degree of arm twisting, but with this crew it was fun and gave everyone a sense of camaraderie as we romped through the park.
Our first stop consisted of a series of sets of Bulgarian squats, step ups on the benches, and high knee drills. It provided a great lower body workout followed by an intense cardio burst. Throughout each exercise Ashley had the group chanting positive mantras to keep everyone motivated. We quickly took off with anther jog to the east side of the park where we ended up at the pond, again taking to the benches. We performed triceps dips with alternating quad extensions that were followed with incline pushups, rounding out the upper body, as we took in the scenic landscape. One of our last exercises was perhaps the most difficult. Ashley led us to a path, slick with mud, rounding up to the top of a hill and began to bear walk up it. We began our ascent one by one, splashing in the mud, working hard as we climbed. She hadn’t gone easy on us because it was raining as once we arrived at the peak we were told to bear walk back down. After washing the mud off our hands, everyone proud of the effort they had put it, we wrapped up the session with some core exercises before beginning the jog back to Columbus Circle.
It had proven to be a great workout targeting all the major muscle groups and working in a good deal of cardio. Ashley is a natural leader and an enthusiastic trainer who makes her boot camps fun and exciting in addition to hard work. Rain or shine I hope I get the chance to join this group again before the summer is out.
If you’re interested in checking out the Total Body and Mind Transformation Boot Camp you can find all the details at Ashley’s website http://www.liftyourwaytofit.com.
