Consumers are drawn to Leisa Hart's successful fitness philosophy. Hart stars in the Buns of Steel videos, but there is more to her then just a firm touch. She is also a wife, mother of one, with another in the way, and the creator of a great new exercise concept that works out your mind and your body.

Hart worked hard to accomplish her goals. Along the way she was discovered, setting the wheels of success in motion. "I competed in many fitness competitions, one of which was called ESPN's Fitness America Pageant," says Hart. "That's where the makers of Buns of Steel discovered me, which is how I got my start in fitness videos. I've now shot 14 different Buns of Steel titles and have great success with them – those titles alone have sold over 5000 copies. That just paved the way for me to start developing my own titles."

Keeping Up With the Joneses
As fitness fads come and go, Hart stuck with them, offering the best – and most popular – for her students and clients. "My entire fitness career I've been teaching aerobics – about 19 years now," says Hart. "I started out teaching aerobics and have done everything along the way in every stage along the way – high-impact, slide, funk, step, kick-box and now evolving into yoga and Pilates."

Hart was there as many of these fitness fads "came and went" and watched as her interest and excitement over the varying fads went with them. "I got bored with high- and low-impact aerobics, step, etc.," says Hart. "We were just exercising to this loud, fast, pounding music. I had found that I was looking at the clock when teaching these classes, and that many of the participants in my class were, too. I'd have fun with the choreography and all, but just to do the same thing all the time was too much. It was like my body was working but my mind was not in control. I was just swinging around."

After years of the "same old thing," Hart discovered that those who were exercising, including her, were only going through the motions. "If you've ever seen anyone on a stepper or treadmill, you know what I mean," says Hart. "You see someone with headphones on, maybe reading a magazine or a book, even trying to hold a conversation all the while glancing at their clock or their watch, waiting for their time to be done. That's the kind of workout where you try to do anything you can to keep your mind off of the workout and to not concern yourself with proper structure and muscle control. This isn't what it is supposed to be about; this is not what it's supposed to be like."

Breaking New Ground
Hart continues to follow the mainstream and the varying interests regarding exercise and fitness trends. But the difference now is that Hart has found her heart.

"The main ones that my heart and soul are into now are steering in the direction of yoga," says Hart. "I had found that even when I was exercising at very high intensities and everything, I just kept getting bored with different workouts that I was teaching. I was like, 'There has got to be a little bit more to this,' especially when I started heading into motherhood. Yoga has been so popular, and it's been around for 5000 plus years so I was like, 'There has got to be something to this.'"

Her interest lead to her next project and to what is sure to be her next major success. "Over the past four years I started studying yoga and picking out some of the moves that my students and I could execute," says Hart. "I then began combining these yoga moves, Pilates and some traditional toning exercises that I know to be really true and effective. And that's what I came up with in the videos I produced last year called 'MBC Yoga' – that's mind/body challenge."

A New Twist
Hart's new technique has put a whole new approach on the way she – and many of her students, clients, friends, colleagues and even family – exercise. "Now, I dim the lights in the workout, and the music is 'Enigma-type'," says Hart. "It's just much more low-keyed and slowing. People are never looking at the clock, and when we've finished, they can't believe that the session is over. It is much more of a mind and body connection. That's why we called it the mind-body challenge. We're breathing oxygen into the working muscles and just going much more slowly and flowing into it and really feeling what we're working. The breathing has so much to do with it; it helps the time, and you are so much more into it. You'll think more clearly, and you burn more fat. It makes the workout much more efficient and works the abdominals much more, too."

Now Hart is not just exercising her body, but exercising as a whole. "We took it from just working out the body to evolve it to working out the whole person and every part of them," says Hart. "Not only will they look good but also they will feel good and be able to handle whatever life throws in."

What's Next?
Hart recently finished shooting a prenatal and postnatal video. "We were very tempted to do [this project] with my first pregnancy but I'm kind of glad we didn't," says Hart. "If we would have shot one then I would have wanted to shoot another one now cause I've been through the whole thing. I've been through the pregnancy, the delivery, the recovery, the weight loss, and now I'm starting through it again. I've done it start to finish and feel very good about the results I've gotten. And with my prenatal training, I feel that this video is going to be just incredible. I'm very excited about it."

Hart continues to exercise and teach through her pregnancy, as she did with her first. Having lost more weight than she actually gained, Hart just proves how effective her MBC program really is. "I actually gained 35 pounds during my first pregnancy," says Hart. "But then, over the course of the workout following the delivery, I ended up losing 45 pounds. I did that without doing high-impact, high-intensity exercise. That just proved to me that I got in better shape than I ever was by the workout I designed."

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• Exercise Your Way Through Pregnancy
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• Talk about it!