I survived Pure Barre Instructor Training! This weekend was legitimately one of the most grueling, challenging weekends of my life. Working out for 8 hours non stop Saturday and 5 hours Sunday was just insane (albeit very rewarding). If you’d like to read more about Pure Barre and how my love for it started, you can check out this blog post. Our Pure Barre weekend started on Friday afternoon. I was lucky enough to be sent to training with my friend Kelly, who will also be teaching at the same studio in our neighborhood. This weekend wouldn’t have been the same without her – she’s just so funny and cute and lovable. (If you’re reading this Kelly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🙂 )
When I found out that I would be attending training in Denver, I immediately texted one of my best friends Blake (also known as my Cookie). She moved out to Denver last year and I’m so happy we had a chance to meet up not once, but twice this weekend! She picked us up from the airport and took us to the coolest restaurant called Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox. The restaurant had a lower level that was like a bar/lounge with live music. The upper level had a opening in the middle that looked down onto the live music stage. Such an awesome vibe and atmosphere!
Their food was also dee-lish! We got the BBQ Oysters and some flatbreads. I got the flatbread with Quail Egg, Pumpkin Seed Pesto, Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Pecorino. Omg… I’m a sucker for egg on anything. It was sooo yummy!!
And here’s a photo of me and my Cookie 🙂 I just miss her so much!! She’s the sweetest, most genuine girl I’ve ever met.
After dinner, Blake dropped us off at our hotel and we knocked out immediately. We had a long day of training ahead on Saturday. Training for Pure Barre instructors is held at the corporate facility in Colorado. We honestly had no idea what to expect – we had gotten an agenda of our daily activities but man.. it was brutal. We went from 8-5 on Saturday and 8-1:30 on Sunday. It was so challenging and my entire body is completely sore. I lifted, toned, and burned til I just couldn’t anymore! There’s a huge learning curve when you switch from being a client to an instructor – there’s so many little things that go into making a great workout. We learned so much from our instructors this weekend and I can’t wait to practice and put the work in to become a kick-ass instructor!
This is Kelly 🙂 she’s so awesome and I can’t believe I was fortunate enough to experience this new instructor journey with her! She’s so encouraging and always there for me any time I have questions. Fun fact: we found out we have the same tattoo this weekend!!! She has it on her wrist and I have it on my hip. Talk about pure barre soulmates! Our tattoos are of the “Om” – a Buddhist symbol with a lot of spiritual meaning. Such a coincidence and it definitely made us feel like it was all meant to be haha.
On Saturday night, 5 of the 11 girls in our training class got together for a nice dinner to unwind. Getting the opportunity to meet so many awesome girls from around the country was one of the best parts of the training! I hope we all keep in touch throughout our journey to becoming instructors 🙂
At the end of the weekend, I feel so happy/proud of how much we accomplished and learned. It’s important to remember that this is only the beginning of a very long and challenging process. It’ll take a month or so from here to become fully certified so it’s #grindtime for the next few weeks 😉 Here I am at the end of training – smiling through all the sore muscles!
After training let out, Blake picked us up and we headed over to a lunch spot for some quick lunch. And this time.. she brought her dog. If you all haven’t noticed… I am obsessed with dogs. If you bring your dog around me – I will hug it, play with it, and take photos with it. If you’re my close friend, I will inevitably deem myself a dog aunt to your pup haha 😉 Bodhi is a Inuit Wolf/Golden Retriever mix. He’s the most mellow dog ever – so sweet and laidback!
Blake and probably the whole world knows the way to my heart is a good ice cream spot. She took us to Little Man Ice Cream, the most popular ice cream shop in Denver. It was SO GOOD. They had tons of cool flavors like Salted Oreo and Twix but I just went with good ol’ Cookie Dough. You can never go wrong with cookie dough. I really wanted to show you my ice cream.. but I’m a fatty and I started eating it before getting a good pic 🙂
I’ve got to say… I absolutely loved Denver! It was the cutest city and I can’t wait to come back soon to explore/visit Blake. I hope you all enjoyed this recap of my Pure Barre Instructor Training and my weekend in Denver! I can’t wait to become fully certified and start teaching classes 🙂 Happy Monday to all you lovelies XO!