My 11:11 list: Getting fit and melanin-rich
My 11:11 list: Getting fit and melanin-rich
Top 5 early-morning-fitness routines with women of color
For the life of me, I don’t know how I went almost four decades without hearing the theory that making a wish at 11:11 was a symbol of good luck. As much as I talk about my birthday being 11/11 and going to Maui on 11/11 and being in plane seat 11, you’d think I’d have heard this “wish” concept by now. I have to thank Ricki Lake’s clue on “The Masked Singer” for enlightening me. From the time she got eliminated in 2021 until now, I make the number “11” even more of a priority.
I make a wish at 11:11 a.m. and 11:11 p.m. on a daily basis, and almost all of them come true. (I think that’s due to “Words of Affirmation” creating determination. Along with another goal to write down a one- to two-sentence positive experience each day, speaking things into existence matter.)
Recommended Read: “Review: Flirty Girl Fitness brings sexy back to aerobics ~ Instructors Naledi Sesinyi and Jaydin Christine help Chicago women bring out 'untapped sexiness' through dance fitness routines”
So how do I remember do these things? Last year, I created a to-do list of 11 things I must do every day to form a permanent habit.
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I agree with Psychology Today that it’s b.s. to believe that a habit can be formed in 21 days. (Is it wrong that I laughed at “I am pretty sure it does not take 21 days of smoking crack to develop a crack habit” though?) Still, there have been multiple goals on my list of 11 that I started doing automatically to the point that I no longer needed to check them off of my Google Tasks. Once one of the 11 goals becomes as common as drinking coffee or brushing my teeth, I cross it off the list and write a new one.
One of my 11 goals: Do a minimum of 15 minutes of fitness with a melanin-rich instructor.
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Yes, I know someone will say I’m “playing the race card” or “everything is not about race” by specifying a melanin-rich instructor on my list. (If you’re one of those people, you’re definitely on the wrong Substack writer’s column cause damn near everything in this series is about race. Find an “I don’t see color” writer. I’m not her.)
So why does race matter so much to me when it comes to fitness?
Glance at the average health magazine. Besides “Men’s Health,” which has a long history of diversity on its covers and feature stories, it’s damn near impossible to see a brown-skinned woman on the cover. I subscribed to “Self” print magazine for years because they were the only mag that did it before George Floyd’s murder started making the more popular health mags feel guilty. (You know who you are.)
Video streaming sites love to show me women with flat butts, no hips and flat chests, which is exactly the opposite of my body since I was about 12 years old. Even when I was a size 6 in my early 20s, the hips and butt never left. Oddly, I grew a cup size in my early 30s! And I don’t want to work out with anyone who bought a black woman body either. Own your skinny.
Finding black women (or women of color) who are fitness gurus and gym rats dispels the myth that we’re all prioritizing our hair over our health. (I’m still aggravated by a certain news outlet that swears black women prefer dirty hair and not swimming over exercise, especially considering I’m quick to jump in the ocean and super lazy when it comes to blow drying my hair. Team Air Dryer!) It is possible to love your hair and your health equally.
So here are my top five black women (and women of color) fitness channels that meet one of my 11 daily goals.
1 of 5: Kukuwa Fitness
Whether Coach Cass is dancing with the fellas, Kukuwa and Coach Kree are a tag team, Kukuwa’s other daughter Sam makes an appearance or a few fun guests join them, this group is always a good time. They have countless free workout videos on their YouTube channel, a large percentage of which are on my dance fitness playlist. Here’s one of many.