Healthy Hollywood: Feel The (Body) Burn

Summer is officially here this weekend! And, if you haven’t been to beach, well I’m sure you’re thinking about it! Some of us dread the swimsuit strut. I know I’m still five pounds away from my beach-ready weight.

One of Access Hollywood’s production assistant, Courtney Cox, came to me the other day with a solution and a workout program she heard is popular with New York City models and can get you toned up like hard-bodied stars such as Vanessa Hudgens and AnnaSophia Robb. It’s called Brooklyn Bodyburn.

Brooklyn Body Burn is the brainchild of Tracy Carlinsky, who runs 50 minutes of high intensity class that has toning effect of Pilates but the sweat-fest of cross fit.

According to Courtney, Carlinsky told her this is not Pilates.

“Just be aware that it’s a lot more intense – there aren’t going to be breaks,” she warned.

Body Burn focuses on maintaining a high level of intensity throughout the class and attempts to work the muscles to the brink of fatigue with no rest.

Courtney hiked it to Brooklyn to check it out for herself.

“As I watched the class before me finish up I was encouraged seeing the graceful participants isolating their legs with ease – but when it was my turn, I realized just how difficult the workout was” reveals Courtney, who adds, “The majority of the workout was spent working each leg in a series of lunges utilizing varying degrees of tension provided by the MegaFormer.”

“The way I flow the class – our legs are our largest muscle group,” Carlinsky revealed to Courtney. Plus, she added, “I just find that for the amount of time you’re going to spend on certain body parts I think that we should really focus the most on legs just because that’s where you’re going to get the greatest metabolic response and really burn out those muscles and stimulate as many muscle fibers as possible which is what’s going to cause our body to have to work harder after class to repair itself.”

But, Courtney tells me, “Even with so much attention focused on the lower body – I felt my core working to stabilize me as I fought the tension from the springs. I left feeling the burn but I didn’t realize how much I had done until the next morning.”

“After your first class you are super super sore … you’re hitting so many other muscle groups that you can’t really hit in other workouts so you really immediately feel that muscle fatigue,” Carlinsky warned Courtney.

The biggest draw of workouts like Brooklyn Body Burn is its ability to work even the smallest muscles and create a lean, toned body.

“It’s such a great workout for models because they’re building strength but not bulking,” said Carlinsky, who added, “Strength is a requirement for Victoria’s Secret models.”
“Apparently they say that in all the shows to wear the wings they’re really heavy so you need to be strong. I may not be wearing wings anytime soon but after a great workout session I felt newfound strength,” notes Courtney.

Way to go girl, you’re a model of fitness in Healthy Hollywood’s book.

— Terri MacLeod