Amanda Kloots enjoys living a healthy lifestyle as she’s constantly staying active. And while she’s always been active due to her dancing background, her health and wellness journey began nearly 15 years ago. PopCulture.com recently spoke to Kloots about her journey that started when she was teaching fitness in 2010.
“It just clicked,” The Talk co-host told PopCulture. “It made sense to me. It made sense with all my background and what I loved. Then teaching and seeing people get stronger, seeing people’s confidence just soar through the roof, make friends, have a community, it really started to touch me in so many different ways. It really was one of the first times where I looked at fitness as more than just, I have to go to the gym, I have to get on this machine, be on it for an hour so that I can burn this amount of calories, and then I am allowed to leave.”
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“It turned into like, oh no, fitness is so much more. It’s a mental game. It’s a joy game. It’s a community game. It’s a place to feel love and acceptance and challenge your body. It was that kind of beautiful revelation that I was like, oh, I actually … I love this about working out. I love this about taking care of my body and making it stronger.”
Kloots is always looking to try new things to keep her body in shape. Recently, the 41-year-old began cold plunging, which was tough for her at first because she’s not a fan of the cold water. “I don’t like being cold in general, so I live in Los Angeles,” Kloots explained. “But my good friend was my coach that day, and he gave me the pointers of, ‘You just go, you just get in. You don’t think about it, you just get in.’”
“That really, really does help because if you tiptoe into this cold plunge, your body just starts seizing. But if you just get in and not think about it, it really does help. Then you just really focus on your breathing while you’re in there. I didn’t set up any kind of crazy goals for myself, especially that first one. I was just like, I’m going to get in. I’m going to see what I can do. I’m going to focus on my breathing. I’ll get out when I need to get out. It is a good challenge. Some days you’re able to do more than others, but I do love it. I love the benefits of it. Now, I just play my favorite songs in order to get me through the cold water.”
Kloots is also making sure that caregivers are staying in shape. She has a partnership with Voltaren Arthritis Pain Gel and sends out different exercises for caregivers each couple of months to make sure they take care of their bodies. “Sometimes we get so caught up in our day-to-day activities, especially when you’re a caregiver, and how much you have to give of yourself that you forget about yourself,” she said.”
“So I like to make up these exercises, just helpful reminders of little, quick things that you can do at home to stay strong. The ones that we are debuting now are all for your upper body. Again, these are exercises that I’m going to be showing in my living room that you don’t need any equipment. I use a towel for two of the exercises, basically just showing that there are easy ways that you can keep yourself strong so that you’re strong for the person that you’re caregiving.”
