Fitness Files: Suzanne Bowen
The Nadia Murdock Fit Fitness Files series gets up close and personal every week with prominent professionals in the fitness industry. To kick off the series NMFIT interviewed Suzanne Bowen founder of Suzanne Bowen Fitness (SBF). With 12 years of fitness expertise under her belt Bowen has been changing lives with her workout dvd's and personal training. Bowen is also the creator of BarreAmped and SBF online streaming barre workouts. Continue reading to learn more about Suzanne and SBF!
NMFIT: Has fitness always been a major part of your life or was there a catalyst/point in your life when you made it more of a focus and priority?
SBF: Growing up my mother dutifully took me to my gymnastics and cheerleading practices for about 10 years and thankfully I believe that is what got me into my passion of fitness. Though I studied design in college, I found myself gravitating to all the fitness magazines instead of interior design magazines and that is why I was so thrilled landing an apprenticeship at the Lotte Berk Method, the original barre studio, in NYC 12 years ago. For the most part aside from those years in college where fitness was on the dance floor, fitness has been a part of my life.
NMFIT: What are a few of your go-to healthy snacks/drinks that help keep you on the straight and narrow?
SBF: My favorite go to snacks and drinks are raw almonds, Vitamix shakes containing nothing but real food, and iced black or green tea lightly sweetened with stevia.
NMFIT: At Nadia Murdock Fit our motto is “Train Your Mind, Change Your Body” so we must ask: How do you train your mind and stay motivated?
SBF: For eating, I tell myself when tempted by food that "it's just food and there is plenty more." It helps almost every time. It's not that I don't have my very real temptations! I also ask myself how real the food is that is tempting me.
For working out, that isn't really much of a problem since I have found movement I am addicted to and enjoy doing things like leisurely riding bikes and rock climbing. I would definitely say that food is something I have to keep in check with on the motivation side (i.e., not giving in to eating fast food since I know how easy it is for me to compromise on eating mostly plant based foods as opposed to that huge slice of pizza that will go straight to my waist if I eat too much!).
NMFIT: How do you change your body? What are your fitness favorites?
SBF: My fitness favorites would have to be barre exercises and the way learning this amazing technique from the original US source changed everything in relation to my fitness. Before barre, I was a gym junkie with really cut and tight muscles. I did excessive cardio and never stretched. My first year at Lotte Berk Method showed me how unfit I was in my mind-body connection, my core and my flexibility. Since practicing barre, it has affected every other area of fitness. I am present in anything I do as I think about my form and movement, I breathe, and I am honestly kind to my body. It's the way I train myself and the way I train others. Instead of feeling beat up at the end of a workout, I feel completely de-stressed, completely worked out and completely exhilarated.
For more information visit Suzanne Bowen Fitness.
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