The Suffern Music & Arts Festival kicked off the first training session in the SMAF Seismic Slimdown competition.  One of the most unique benefits of being a festival volunteer plays on the popularity of NBC’s “Biggest Loser” show.  It’s called “Give Back/Get Back SMAF Seismic Slimdown’.  This FREE 8-week contest is open to women only.  Actually, I should say it was open to women only.  I crashed the session last night

The “Give Back/Get Back SMAF Seismic Slimdown” is being delivered in conjunction with the Village of Suffern Recreation Department. Montebello resident and certified personal trainer, Richard DiSanto (owner of www.TrainwithRich.com), was tapped to lead the contest.  Train with Rich, a Rockland-based business, is a sponsor of the Suffern Music and Arts Festival. 

Ramapo Times was planning to cover the first training session and then profile the eventual winner as they received their makeover.  This all changed however while attending the Suffern Chamber of Commerce's breakfast meeting.  One of the Seismic Slimdown participants threw down a challenge. 

"I'll bet that you're not man enough to show up and participate with us women," taunted this participant, "you can't keep up".

Clearly I couldn't let a challenge like this go unanswered.  Camera, notebook, water & towel in hand, I walked from my home to the community center (nothing like getting in a little extra exercise) and attempted to quietly join the eight women who had signed up.

Once my camera was spotted, it was made very clear to me that no unauthorized photos of participants working out would be permitted.  I reluctantly agreed. (Eight women, arms folded and stern looks can be very persuasive.) 

My nemesis arrived late ( I assumed she was backing out) and the trash talking began in earnest.  

A number of things quickly became apparent:

1. Women can trash talk as well as any man I've ever heard
2. There are clearly a number of side bets going on
3. These women are dead serious and extremely motivated
4. Rich DiSanto knows what he's doing

We started off with some stretches.  Rich told us that stretching is a very important part of every workout and shouldn't be left out.

We then huffed, puffed and grunted our way through some yoga, squats, modified pushups and arm exercises with resistance bands.

The competitive spirit is alive and well but some of us are convinced that a ringer has entered the contest.  One participant seemed to breeze effortlessly through each exercise. 

Kelly Miller from suzysaid.com showed up to talk about her website and what they're planning to do to help promote the Suffern Music and Arts Festival.  SuzySaid.com will be highlighting the Seismic Slimdown participants over the coming weeks.  After a few minutes of goading, Kelly has agreed to join the group at the next session on Saturday.  

Yes, the trash talking continued during and after the training session and I'm happy to say that I did get a few good shots in.   

I suspect that Rich DiSanto was just warming us up and that things are going to get much more intense in the coming weeks. I will be back for Saturday's session and I have every intention of unofficially winning the competition as an unofficial competitor.