Fitness trainer Laura Anata’s workouts emphasize Pilates, Perfect Ten Training, Yoga and Good Nutrition
By Kelly A. Goff
Photography by Robert French
Laura Anata’s Bikini Bootcamp class has a cult-like following with enthusiastic regulars who swear by their instructor’s methods and philosophies.
“I’ve lost 20 pounds in just three months,” said Yvette Leija, a 38-year-old mother of four. The stay-at-home mom attributes her enthusiasm and dedication to making exercise and nutrition a main priority in her life to Anata. Leija does daily early morning cardio work outs and takes fitness classes at Women’s Super Fitness five times a week. She most looks forward to Anata’s Bikini Bootcamp classes, which she attends twice a week. “Anata is very inspirational and really motivates me to pay attention to my entire health and well-being – from nutrition to self-image. And I appreciate that she’s not trying to force me into a size five!” laughs Leija.
The making of a motivator
Anata is a 38 year-old mother, as well as a certified personal trainer with 17 fitness certifications from yoga and Pilates to Super Slow and kickboxing. As the daughter of an Olympic gymnast, Anata became a member of the U.S.A. Gymnastics Team at age 12. At 19, after years of traveling the world and starving her 5 foot, 5 inch frame down to 95 pounds in order to compete against pre-teens, she quit gymnastics and started college. In just six months she ballooned to 170 pounds. That’s when her interest in balanced fitness and health emerged. She made a commitment with her dad and stepmother to run together — even going so far as making a star chart where she could record her achievements. Eventually they ran an 8K fun run together. “It was the first athletic event I’d ever done that wasn’t a competition for me, and it felt good,” says Anata.
Those early experiences set her on a continuous quest for knowledge about what the body responds to and how it works. She expounds the results in her group exercise classes and one-on-one coaching sessions with personal training clients. “Basically I teach other women about the healthiest choices I’ve found for my body through a lot training, research and experimentation,” she explains. “In Bikini Boot Camp I combine high-intensity core training using movements and principles derived from Pilates, a variety of yoga practices and Perfect 10 training, which is based on the Super Slow philosophy of low repetition, high exertion [exercise] until muscle failure is reached.” The class focuses on building a corset of muscles around the mid-section and developing lean muscles that burn calories even at rest.
Buddy system
A unique aspect of Bikini Boot Camp is the buddy system. “Research shows people do 50 percent better when they have a training partner,” says Anata. During classes she trains everyone in the Perfect 10 training and breathing techniques. “Then they can pair off at the gym and coach one another. These women become very proficient coaches and benefit by encouraging each other to incredible levels of fitness. They say it’s the hardest workout they’ve ever done, but they love it.”
Think like a cave woman
That’s the nutrition advice Anata gives her students and clients. “I don’t give calorie or fat restrictions, and I don’t believe in dieting. Instead I make it simple and tell them to eat like a cave woman – meaning plants and animals. Eating whole foods leads to radiant health,” Anata says. “I advise an 80/20 eating plan. When you eat 80 percent whole foods and 20 percent soul food, you’re mostly feeding your body with nutrient-dense calories that won’t wreak havoc on your glycemic index. The 20 percent soul food might include small amounts of cheese, wine or chocolate — things that make eating feel luxurious.”
Anata abhors processed foods. “Diabetes, decay, depression and death all come in a box. It’s absolutely unacceptable to subsist on processed foods,” she admonishes. Anata is adamant that we should be nourishing our bodies, not forcing them to ride a roller coaster of insulin spikes and sugar cravings. But as her 20 percent soul food advice demonstrates, she’s not a complete nutritional commando. “I tell them to have a ‘party day’ each week where they can eat some of their favorite foods. Ultimately the body has this amazing ability to balance everything out,” says Anata.
You are not a number
Anata’s pillars of healthy guidance wouldn’t be complete without her confidence-boosting catechism of “love thyself.” She says women tend to evaluate themselves based on a number, such as pounds on a scale, dress size or age. That’s why she tells her clients to stay away from the scale — measuring their progress instead with calipers to determine fat loss. “I really think it’s important to work with women to love their bodies healthier, not hate themselves thinner,” she says. “I tell them we’re divine creatures, and our bodies are a beautiful wrapping. We tend to forget that because we’re bombarded by advertising images that are impossible to attain.”
She says once she convinces a student or client that every woman has her own unique shape and that it’s not about how much you weigh, but body composition, things start to happen. “When their self-view changes, you see their bodies start to change for the better,” swears Anata. “The thing I really like the most about my job is watching the transition of women who come to my classes. You can tell when they start feeling good about themselves — when they feel happy and empowered.”
Striking a balance
The name Bikini Bootcamp conjures flat abs and anorexic swimsuit models, but Anata says it’s really about taking what you have and making it firmer. “It’s about looking better naked,” she laughs. Anata strives to understand a client’s goals and motivations to help them identify what will really make them happy. “I try to help them understand the difference between ‘fitness,’ which is one-dimensional and concentrates on the outward appearance versus ‘wellness,’ which is a more about focusing on a healthy mind, body and spirit.” She notes that if you want your body fat to be under 30 percent, you’re in the vanity zone. “Women with six-pack abs are probably not menstruating, and that’s not necessarily healthy,” she says. “I’d rather they feed their muscles and nourish their bodies.”
High on life
Apparently Anata has a formula that works. Another one of her students, Diana Reyes, has lost nearly 50 pounds and nine inches over the past five months. “I was about to give up on working out until I met Laura,” said the 37-year-old Reyes who had been exercising regularly for two years and hadn’t noticed any appreciable results before she met Anata. In just a few months, her borderline hypertension has disappeared, she no longer requires iron supplements for anemia and she’s set a goal of fitting into a Dallas Cowboys’ cheerleader outfit by this Halloween. Reyes also plans to become a certified group fitness instructor so that she too, can help women like herself realize their health and fitness goals.
“Diana called me the other day and said, ‘Laura, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m feeling sexy!'” recalls Anata. “I told her she’s supposed to feel like that all the time, it’s a fabulous fringe benefit of good health.”
