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Editor’s Note: “Shaped By COVID-19” is a weekly series designed to help you stay active while you’re homebound, with workouts from some of Denver’s leading fitness and wellness professionals. Got a fitness tip or favorite studio? Email us at digital@5280.com.
The Gym: Hot Mamas Exercise
Year Founded: 2003
The Trainer: Founder and owner Teddi Bryant
Membership Options: New clients can try their first class for free, sign up for a three-class pack ($30), or get an unlimited monthly membership ($99). (After that first month, you’ll need to sign up for a monthly membership tier, which include access to in-studio sessions and nearly 20 live stream classes per week and start at $79; Bryant is also currently developing a library of workouts that will be available to monthly members.) And through Transformation By Teddi, Bryant also offers a monthlong boot camp that includes three classes per week that lean more toward personal training, diet consultation, recipe suggestions, and personal check-ins ($350).
Some things are simply universal truths: Peanut butter goes with jelly. Toilet paper should come from the top. And women’s bodies are different than men’s.
This last truth is what led Teddi Bryant, owner of Hot Mamas Exercise, to begin creating workouts designed for women’s bodies 17 years ago. Bryant, a former competitive body builder, took to Washington Park in 2003 with a set of stroller-pushing moms and a commitment to fitness. “It’s really isolating when you have a little baby at home,” Bryant says. “So I dedicated my classes to women and the community that comes together when you bring all these moms together.”
What started as Hot Mamas Stroller Conditioning eventually became a boutique studio, Hot Mamas Exercise, with classes developed to get results specifically for women. The cheekily named classes (see: Sweatin’ Like a Mutha) draw upon Bryant’s experience with many fitness disciplines, among them boxing, pilates, spinning, body pump, and more. What you won’t find are hernia-inducing lifts and high impact. The heaviest weights Bryant uses are eight pounds, but—trust us—by the time you’re done with what she’s got in store, they’ll feel like 80.
Today, Hot Mamas has become a community that extends well beyond the studio. “Play dates happen, lifelong friendships happen,” Bryant says. “There are best friends who go on vacations together who met here.” Not that Hot Mamas is all play and no work. In fact, Bryant’s sessions are a lot of work. But the regular change in movements, the music, and the personal encouragement from Bryant make what could be 30 to 60 minutes of misery almost—dare we say it—fun.
Bryant kept the community element alive during COVID-19 by hosting live stream classes via Zoom, allowing members to interact with her and each other. And Bryant made sure there would be no musical sacrifices by implementing a mic system early on, so you can hear the hip hop and Bryant calling you out for not getting your butt down in plank. “For me right now, it’s really been about being strong, staying mentally strong,” she says. “How do you talk to yourself in times of stress, like what we’re going through right now? My messaging has been being strong and working in the areas that you can control is going to help you through at a time like this—taking care of your body and your mind.”
The Workout
This 60-minute signature Fusion class led by Bryant combines light weights and movements that feel more like dancing than cardio. That won’t keep your calves, core, and shoulders from getting shaky, but it will make the sweat fest go by faster than you could have imagined possible.
