Heather Lewis

I’ve always thought of exercise as something you do to burn calories. I’ve had the occasional “runners high” or endorphin driven high fives after a good spin class but I never really loved any of it. I did it because I loved to eat and I didn’t want to get fat. That strategy worked for a while but when I had four babies in four years, the “do it to be skinny” motivation lost it’s appeal. Sleepless nights, the stress of taking care of small children, and a difficult career left me stressed, tired, and about 50 pounds overweight.

After losing a lot of that weight by sheer force of will (calorie counting and running), I felt happy to be at a healthy weight but I was bored and hungry and knew the old habits would so easily return unless I found SOMETHING that I could enjoy for the long haul so I decided to give Four Barrel a try.

It is this amazing hour of my day where I can turn off my brain and just listen to my body. All the stresses of life are pushed away and for an hour there are no cell phones or computers or mirrors, and you can forget about everything except focusing your mind on the thing in front of you. It is so physically intense that you can’t do anything else except be present in that moment with that movement and your fellow athletes who are constantly supporting you and pushing you to your best. I cannot say enough about the community of athletes and how they support and encourage each other. Some of my “victories” at the gym are things that others have been doing easily for years, yet they are (almost) as excited as I am for each milestone because they were there with me the long weeks trying to achieve it. Exercise isn’t about “calories burned” to me any more. Exercise is about the excitement of challenging my body to see what new thing it can do next. Come check it out. You will not regret it.