Charlotte’s own exercise guru Denise Duffy accomplishes more before the sun comes up than most people accomplish in an entire week. She trains everyone from fitness newbies to experienced athletes in her small classes at SmartCore Fitness (she founded the gym and trains there alongside Steve Justice) and still somehow has time to teach seven classes a week at Flywheel. Are you tired yet?
Here’s how Denise spends an average day:
3:40 a.m. … Wake up! I Have two alarm clocks — one electronic and one battery-operated for backup in case of power loss. I never hit the snooze button because it’s too hard to get up if you do. Two days a week I get up early to review playlists for my seven cycling classes at Flywheel Charlotte.
4 a.m. … After a shower (and lots of moisturizer with a special under eye cream, face cream and body cream), I check my phone for the first time to see if a client has contacted me overnight with an appointment change or question.
4:05 a.m. … I’m at my desk reviewing emails (I can receive between 75 and 100 emails a day that require action) and then social media (but it’s still business — people use Facebook to message me if they’re interested in SmartCore), then I move on to read the news online: CNN for national news, the Charlotte Observer for a highlight on local news and MSN for soft news.
4:15 a.m. … Get dressed: Lululemon pants and a SmartCore dri-fit shirt. Mascara is the only makeup I apply for work, and I use very light coverup and lipstick when I do our exercise segments on Fox News or Charlotte Today.
4:30 a.m. … Breakfast time. Usually it’s one egg, wheat toast or half a bagel, orange juice or coffee — Peet’s dark roast. If I’m teaching a double cycling class, I’ll add oatmeal and fruit. I’m particularly in tune with hydration so I drink a full glass of water as I get out of bed (it’s on the night stand), another at my desk between the coffee and small orange juice and more on the drive into work.
5:15 a.m. … Our first clients begin arriving at SmartCore Fitness and they’re ready to jump into our first training session.
9 a.m. … A take a 4-to-6-minute break for lunch. It’s almost always natural peanut butter from Earthfare on wheat bread, because I find that’s the easiest to digest when I have to eat quickly and jump right back into demonstrating core strength moves.
1 p.m. … Last SmartCore client leaves for the day. I train four to six people in small groups from 5:15 a.m. until 1 p.m. except on Wednesdays when I go to Flywheel first.
1:30 p.m. … Twice a week, I do strength training on my own just so I can maintain muscle mass. Between 60 hours a week of training and seven cycling classes, my exercise routine is pretty rigorous.
2 p.m. … Back to my desk doing business accounting, answering emails, planning exercise circuits and creating cycling playlists.
6 p.m. … Workday is winding down, so it’s time for a big dinner at home. We plan our dinners around how much exercise I’ve done in the day: my Monday is a 15-hour day that ends with two back-to-back Flywheel classes so I need to refuel to be ready to go Tuesday morning. So those nights are usually chicken, some sort of carbohydrate like a baked or sweet potato, pasta, quinoa, etc. and lots of vegetables. I have two nights that can be a little “lighter” and those are usually chicken or fish/shrimp and salads. And I love a good glass of red wine. I try to avoid weeknight plans unless it’s really, really important to me.
7 p.m. … Review my emails/social media for the final time.
7:30 p.m. … Evening routine begins: hydrate, stretch and foam role and my normal hygiene routine (including flossing!).
8:30 p.m. … Bedtime. I might find 30-45 minutes to read a book to settle down my mind.
Weekends are for: Enjoying my family. We have twins who are 20 years old: one attends Washington & Lee University and the other attends UGA. During the school year, my husband and I will often jump in the car on Saturday after Flywheel to do a quick overnight trip to visit one of them. During the summer months, we all really enjoy going out to the US Whitewater Center. If we go out on a weekend, we might go to Roosters to grab something to eat at the bar.
