Kai here – also known as the “freak athlete” and “muscle of the group,” a title I’ve coined for myself here at BOMANI Cold Buzz. I hope everyone’s been staying safe and finding ways to maintain their sanity during quarantine. One of the things I’ve been trying to do each day is stay active, whether it’s making sure to get outside for some fresh air or starting a home workout to get a good sweat in. For me, basketball was my whole life growing up. I was blessed to be able to play the game at a high level – leveraging my accomplishments into starting my own basketball training business that allowed me to put myself through college. Through that business, I am incredibly thankful that I was able to impact the lives of a lot of younger athletes, but that’s a story for another time.
All members of the BOMANI Family grew up as athletes, which is one of the reasons quality and clean ingredients was so important to us when creating BOMANI. With sports playing a large part in our early lives, we have always focused on our health and what we put into our bodies. As adults, we found ourselves looking at the nutritional panels of products and were frustrated, not only by the lack of transparency of the ingredients, but the amount of carbs and sugar in each.
We all know the feeling of finishing up a Saturday morning workout class at our favorite workout studio (Barry’s Bootcamp for me) – you’re heading to boozy brunch and you don’t want to waste the workout you just did by putting all that sugar into your body. That’s the reason we were so hellbent on making sure our product was lower calorie and had 0g of carbs and 0g of sugar.
Because we believe staying active during this time is important, we at BOMANI have started doing daily at home group workouts on Zoom. We’ve been making sure to track all of our workouts on the Vizer App which allows us to donate a meal to the food bank for each workout we complete to give back to those in need during this time.
Some days, we’ve been lucky enough to have the workout led by our favorite workout instructor, Erick Wilson! Erick is widely considered one of the top Barry’s Bootcamp instructors in the country, and we at BOMANI are thankful to call him one of our good friends. Erick also is lovingly referred to as a “BAMF” (if you don’t know what that is…Google it) because of the intensity of his classes and the results he gets for his clients. Anyone who knows Erick knows that it’s impossible not to come out of his classes drenched in sweat, but also with the biggest smile on your face.
I connected with Erick the other day about why it’s so important to stay active and workout during these times. See below for some insight he was kind enough to share, in addition to one of his favorite at-home workouts that you can complete from the comfort of your home – no equipment needed. I’m sure by the end of the workout you’ll understand how he earned his nickname.
Question – Kai Drewry:
“I know how busy you’ve been leading virtual workouts for Barry’s Bootcamp during this time and can’t understate the amount of joy you’re bringing to people during this time. We here at BOMANI are incredibly thankful…. and incredibly sore from the workouts you’ve taken us through! Would you mind sharing with the readers how you got started and found your purpose in fitness?”
Answer – Erick Wilson:
“First off I want to thank you and the rest of the BOMANI team for considering me to be apart of this blog. I’m a huge fan of what you guys are doing and truly appreciate the love and support. Well, the start of my fitness journey began at the age of 9 years old. I was lucky enough to have a nationally renowned Olympic bodybuilder as a father – he was Mr. Teen America in high school, and he taught my older brother and I the basic fundamentals of lifting and fitness at very young ages. He started off by teaching us with light weights so we could focus on breathing, form, consistency, hard work, and most importantly, patience. Not only do all these fundamentals perfect your lifting routine, but he was basically teaching life lessons as well.
I remember telling him I would never use fitness as a source of income or a job; I will always want it to be a hobby and something I can do with my friends. Even though it became a source of income, I don’t see it as a job. I see it as passing the knowledge onto people. It’s no secret that my classes are intense, which is definitely in part due to the fact that I grew up playing competitive sports (wrestling and football) where I worked hard with the coaches through the gruesome practices I had every day. It was that intensity and motivation from my coaches and fellow teammates, who were also my best friends, that gave me the extra push to sprint harder and get stronger.
Though times are tough, I believe this is a perfect time to find yourself. To find what you love doing, to find what drives you, to find what makes you happy, and to stay consistent. I encourage my clients to use this time to try other workouts: if you’ve never been a fan of running, try to run a little every day; if you never had the time to try yoga, do it now. Try to use this time as a reward for all of your late-night or early morning workouts that you dreaded. Find something that makes you happy and makes you feel alive after the workout, and keep doing it. Consistency and patience are key in this fitness world.”
Workout Time!
Now for the good stuff – the at home workout! We’re going to be doing a full body workout that’s sure to get your heart rate going and get you nice and sweaty. You won’t need any equipment, but if you have dumbbells at home and want to make the workout more challenging, feel free to incorporate them into some of the exercises. Let’s get after it!
And that’s it everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed the workout – reward yourselves with a BOMANI and enjoy the rest of your day. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions We love shearing from you!
