A note from PlyoJam co-founder Stacey Beaman. I want to take a minute and share my story of how dance fitness, and PlyoJam in particular, revived my level of fitness and helped me stick to a cardio workout that I actually enjoy. But first, let’s go back to a younger Stacey. In my teenage years I was highly involved in sports and never had to think about how I would fit in my exercise. Drills, running and swimming, were just naturally built into my rigorous practice and game schedule and I was fit as a fiddle. I never even thought about “working out.”
In my twenties I became a bit more aware of weight gain and the need to exercise to stay in shape. However, it was pretty easy for me to maintain my fitness level by playing recreational volleyball, and on off days going to the gym and spending hours on elliptical machines and treadmills. At that time I knew nothing about dance fitness. The volleyball was fun, but those cardio machines were a major snooze fest! It was so boring, which of course lead to the frequency of my trips to the gym becoming less and less.
As I made my way into my thirties, I had given up rec volleyball and I could not stomach the thought of going to the gym. It was at that time I took my first cardio dance fitness class and realized that dance fitness might just be the thing that could help me attain a desired level of fitness once again. I needed to get back into shape! But as it does for so many people, life got in the way. Several challenging life events led to forty pounds gained, dance fitness was forgotten, and I was left out of shape and miserable.
Little did I know what was right around the corner. Jason Layden, creator of the PlyoJam format, was a friendly acquaintance of mine. When I attended his birthday party in June 2014 he asked me what I was doing for the summer. I was a school teacher at the time, and I had just been released for summer break. Even more exciting was the fact that I had a sabbatical planned and in the Fall I was going to Europe for five months. I had the whole summer to plan for my trip and work on my fitness. Jason invited me to his dance fitness class and it sparked my memory of the one dance fitness class I had taken years earlier and how much I loved the idea of dancing to stay in shape.
I decided to attend Jason’s dance fitness class, something called PlyoJam, and even though I was terribly out of shape and feeling a bit chagrined over my poor condition, I was hooked! I had no idea how fun a dance fitness class like PlyoJam could be. And PlyoJam was so much more special and amazing than that other dance fitness class I had taken years earlier. I felt like a kid in a candy store and was soon obsessed. I quickly saw that dance fitness could truly be the answer to my cardio needs and weight loss prayers!
I adopted the PlyoJam lifestyle and have never, ever looked back. I knocked off fifty pounds, became highly involved with the brand and the format, and am now COO and co-founder of this dance fitness brand that I adore so much. And I can say from personal experience that dance fitness is truly a way to get in fantastic shape while actually having fun! I have lived and breathed it, and I am thrilled to see dance fitness, and PlyoJam, changing lives as it has changed mine.