Solo Para Mujeres!

Last Saturday the Women’s Exercise program held our first of hopefully many “women only” parties. The idea was to get to know more women from the community, share health information that they may not have access to otherwise, promote our nutrition and exercise program, and introduce more people to the centro. The party was a lot of fun, and a big success with 12 women and teenagers from the community attending, as well as all of the MPI girls. We took advantage of the opportunity to show off our new mirrors which we were finally able to purchase thanks to a generous donation of $200 annually that was designated to our Women’s Exercise program.

We started off the party in the kitchen, handing out recipes and working together to make healthy snacks. We listened to music and chatted while preparing the food and allowing latecomers to trickle in. While the women ate, Emily and I gave a charla on the healthy way to lose weight, tackling the nutrition and healthy diet aspect as well as the importance of exercise. In order to promote our exercise program, we put on music and each gave a 3-4 minute demonstration of our various workout classes. Some of the women who have been to our classes before joined in on the demos while the others watched, cheered us on, and took videos.

After the demos, dripping with sweat, we discussed our plans for the next few months, which include a 5k race in March and a potential 4-week bootcamp to help prepare for it. The women were really interested in our ideas, and gave tons of valuable feedback and suggestions. We listened to questions and comments, and then ended the party by handing out health related articles that pertain specifically to Ecuador. Everyone seemed pleased with the get-together and thankful for the information. We had a great time hosting, and are looking forward to our next fiesta solo para mujeres!

Discussing the importance of healthy diet and exercise

Gigi and Paola joining in on the Zumba demo

Taylor leading the class

Nicole discussing proper weight-lifting form

Weight class demo