Fitness instructor packages workouts for the web

Hardin County native Dawn Bland thinks of her new business as an online gym.
A 1989 West Hardin High School graduate, she began a career in fitness as a group instructor and personal trainer in Elizabethtown  and felt a desire to help people on a more personal level.
Now living in Hardinsburg, she created an online fitness site, www.dawn
bland.com, because many past and present clients asked if she could record a workout for them to use in case they missed a class or went on vacation.
She started thinking of ways to make it easy for long-distance clients as far away as Columbus, Ohio, and Portland, Ore. After searching the Internet, she discovered websites selling videos or using a site to promote items. She did not find a site offering actual workouts.
The concept began with her desire to post her daily workouts to help women who have the desire to work out but don’t know where to start or how to maximize their time with the most effective exercises.
“This is a stumbling block for many people who have good intentions but feel the frustration almost immediately,” Bland said. “It's overwhelming enough to find yourself physically in a place that you want to change, but then sorting through all the articles, DVDs and magazines leaves people confused and not knowing where to start.”
After joining Bland’s website, members can log on when it’s convenient and select from a catalog of live group exercises or personal training videos.
All videos can be streamed through a computer, or a TV and the Xbox  360 or Playstation 3 gaming systems. There’s also an mp4 version of every workout that can be viewed on an iPhone, iPad, Blackberry or Android.
Bland also combines a nutritional aspect to the workout, which she said can help aid in successful weight loss. Videos of health tips and healthy recipes are available. Members also have access to her daily blog about food choices and she stresses having a calorie goal by using the site’s calorie calculator.
“My online gym provides the total health and fitness package and delivers it in a very personal way,” Bland said.
The Web Guys in Elizabethtown brought her “dream to a reality.”
Bland’s goal is to revolutionize home fitness and get the entire family involved.
“I want to show moms just like me that being realistic about their approach to health and fitness works,” Bland said. “I eat realistically, I exercise realistically and it works.”
She is also a living example of her method. After the birth of her first son, she gained 60 pounds and starving herself didn’t help lose the weight. She ditched the diet and started exercising and focusing on good nutrition.
She lost the weight and kept it off. She now is fit and teaching fitness and nutrition to others.
The cost of Bland’s online gym is $29.99 a month. The site has workouts for women and youth led by Bland and workouts for men led by her husband Neal.
Bland said the ease of online access can help people keep New Year’s weight loss goals.
Because people are short on time, the ease of logging in anytime to get a workout on their own schedule is something she sees as a great appeal. Workouts can even be downloaded to do in an office at lunch break. Bland offers variety in exercises to avoid boredom.
Any workout she posts utilizes equipment that can be picked up anywhere, no special ordering required.
Becca Owsley can be reached at (270) 505-1741 or bowsley@thenewsenterprise.com.

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West Hardin High graduate Dawn Bland teaches fitness online at a website bearing her name.

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Dawn Bland, a Hardin County native, hopes to revolutionize fitness instruction by providing workouts online.

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Equipment used in Dawn Bland's workout.

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The gym used to shoot Dawn Bland's online workout videos and create the live programming is in Hardinsburg but accessible online.

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Dawn Bland began her career as a fitness instructor in Elizabethtown and with the help of local web designers is taking her ideas online.

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