City Fit Girls: 2nd Annual Fitness Retreat

Photo cred: www.cityfitgirls.com Photographer: Darren Burton

JAE Blog had the pleasure of attending City Fit Girls second annual Fitness Retreat this past Saturday, August 23^rd, 2014. This year it took place at Impact Hub, located at 4^th & Thompson Street. The lovely venue is where women of all different races, ages, shapes, and sizes joined together to “Inspire, Uplift, Encourage, and Motivate” (City Fit Girls mission). The retreat was only $25 and included your admission, access to 20 different fitness and information sessions, as well as massages, shopping with the vendors, snacks and lunch, a CFG t-shirt, and a book bag full of fitness goodies, coupons, and products to try. It was definitely worth every bit of the money for the wonderful experience we received!

City Fit Girls- Kiera Smalls and Takia McClendon
Photo cred: www.cityfitgirls.com Photographer: Darren Burton

City Fit Girls was founded in 2013 by Takia McClendon and Kiera Smalls, two hard working, young entrepreneurs from Philadelphia who are passionate about helping people live healthier and happier lifestyles. The company was born through Kiera’s weight loss journey, where she lost over 100 lbs. Takia and Kiera offer meal planning, boot camps, workshops, personal training, and a host of other events that promote fitness, diet, wellness, and empowerment.



Our favorite highlights of the Retreat:

Photo cred: www.cityfitgirls.com Photographer: Darren Burton

For our first session, we attended Club Cardio with Kiera Smalls. The atmosphere was very positive and fun. Kiera engaged about 40 females in her own choreographed cardio workout that went along to some of today’s favorite tunes by Beyoncé, Rihanna, Miley Cirus, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Ciara and others. Although females in the class were of different sizes and fitness levels, Kiera kept everyone moving and engaged with their comfort level. Kiera offered her Club Cardio classes every other Saturday and every Sunday at Soup Factory Studio in Germantown. She plans to offer the classes back up for the fall, in addition to her fitness boot camp and personal training sessions that are ongoing. Be sure to check out fitnesswithkiera.com for more information.

For our second session, we attended “Psychology of Eating” with Juliet Burgh. She is the director of Unite Fitness. She discussed comfort eating, primary and secondary foods, distressing, self-control, and the circle of life. Three quotes that came from her that I found to be beneficial with trying to live a healthy lifestyle are “Food is a metaphor for how you live your life”, “Your breakfast creates your cravings for the day”, and “I can have it but I don’t want it vs. I can’t have it but I want it.”

For our third session, we attended SHRED w/ Cynthia Brown from CoreFitness . We had never heard of SHRED before, but a fellow attendee told us that it was only for Intermediate to Advance Levels of fitness. We instantly became discouraged then that same attendee encouraged us to give it a try (applying that City Fit Girls motto), so we did. Boy did we work out a crazy sweat!! The session was very intense; however, Cynthia had her partner show modifications so that everyone could stay moving and engaged in the workout. At the end of the 45 min session, we were happy that we took on a challenge and completed it.



For our final session, we were able to attend Kick Boxing and Self Defense with Brian King. He made everyone partner up with someone as you took turns throwing right and left punches and knees, as your partner blocked. We also did plenty of squats, kicks, and punches to the punching bag. This class was one that I wish my female family members would have been able to attend. It is important for everyone, but more importantly, females to know how to self-defend in the event of an attack, or being placed in a vulnerable situation that is beyond your control.

In conclusion, City Fit Girls retreat was an amazing experience and it gave us inspiration and motivation to get back on the right track with wanting to live healthier and happier lifestyles! Thank you City Fit Girls for the opportunity to attend this event and we look forward to attending this next year, along with the many other services and events they offer. Please be sure to visit www.cityfitgirls.com for more information.