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Our team of experts is ready with a wealth of valuable information, created just for you. Get ready to discuss fun and unique ways to help you reach your fitness goals, connect with your community and focus on improving your body, mind and spirit.

This blog is a new chapter for us and we are thrilled to invite you along for the journey. We are committed to ensuring that the YMCA has a positive impact on your life, and this new blog is just one way that we plan to achieve this.

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For Downtown YMCA BodyPump Instructor Lara Chapman, Colorado Springs isn’t foreign territory. With her husband active in the military and Lara’s previous service in the Army, it’s no surprise that her family was stationed here in Colorado Springs for a second time.

Prior to moving back to Colorado Springs, Chapman and her family lived in Virginia. As a mother of two, she felt that her body wasn’t showing the results she desired from simply running for exercise. Running was taking a toll on her knees and ankles, which hindered her exercise progress.

Lara desired to find an alternate form of exercise. She had heard of the BodyPump class from a fellow co-worker at her local YMCA, but was worried that weight lifting would lead to a bulky physique. However, one day she took a chance, attended a BodyPump class, and was hooked.

“It was amazing. I immediately started to see results and feel confident,” Lara explained. “And it wasn’t so much the number on a scale. I just felt energetic, strong, confident.”

After a couple month of attending BodyPump classes, her favorite instructor asked if she wanted to teach a class herself.

“It was more of a long-term goal of mine to teach a class. I felt like I wasn’t in perfect shape and I was about to move and had two little kids at home, but I did it anyway and I loved it.”

After teaching a handful of classes at her Virginia YMCA, Lara and her family moved to Colorado Springs in June. She didn’t want to give up on teaching just because she relocated, so she began her search for an opening as an instructor position at a local gym. Lara investigated multiple gyms in the area, but said that none were the same as the YMCA.

“[The other gyms] just felt steril. They weren’t as welcoming or community-focused as the YMCA. So I applied to audition as an instructor at the Downtown location!”

Lara has now taught BodyPump for a few months, and she couldn’t be happier! You can catch her classes on Wednesdays from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Downtown YMCA.