Today I'm so excited to be talking with Maya Bryant! I originally connected with her on Instagram because as a fellow dancer, I LOVED the way she called out the bullshit in the barre industry. One of my biggest pet peeves as a personal trainer with a dance background is seeing barre instructors online selling lies in the form of "the 4 best exercises for a thigh gap", because that's not how any of this works. Maya has the best way of calling it out without coming off as mean and in this episode, she brings light to the fact that many barre instructors don't look the way they do because of barre--they look that way because that's their natural body type!

After dancing for 20 years, studying Exercise Science in undergrad, being beaten up by diet culture, and eventually falling into compulsive exercise and disordered eating, Maya sought to create something empowering in fitness. During her Master of Public Health Program, she created a workout program, Raise The Barre! Women are under immense pressure to maintain a certain body type that changes every decade and go on extreme diets and exercise plans to try and change their bodies. Those diets, they fail 95% of the time and weight regain happens within 1-5 years. Her research project showed that we can help women feel better in their bodies, without intentionally striving to change them because body image is internal work. In addition to Maya's professional work in Public Health policy, she is also the Founder and CEO of Barre Empowered. A fitness platform for Barre in an empowering way, without the toxic diet culture. At Barre Empowered, Maya helps women feel fierce and fit in their bodies, fall in love with fitness, and develop a life-giving wellness routine that inspires them for a lifetime. 

On this episode we talk about:

Her path from being a dancer stuck in disordered eating and exercise to

How Maya got into barre, what she loves about it, and what really grinds her gears about the marketing?

The biggest myths about barre that are being perpetuated and what she wants you to know is LIES.

Red flags to look out for when choosing a barre class or following a barre instructor on social media.

How Maya brings what she learned from getting her Masters in Public Health to her approach to fitness.

What she wishes more fitpros (and the general population) understood about fitness from a public health perspective. 

The amazing benefits you miss out on when you're overly focused on aesthetics.

How she helps clients set goals to build themselves up, rather than tear themselves down.

So much other good stuff!

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