Fitness Friday with Dana Monocky
Welcome back to the blog! We’re so excited to start a new series called Fitness Fridays, where we dive deep with rising Instagram fitness influencers. In these posts, you’ll read all about the lives of some of our favorite influencers and their personal tips for staying motivated.
First up, we have Dana Monocky (@danamonocky). Not only is Dana a boxing instructor at Shadowbox in NYC, but she also works for Dataminr, a software company that offers real-time information discovery tools to its users. It’s safe to say that Dana has her hands full between those two roles, but she still finds time to satisfy her inner wanderlust. Her instagram feed will have you planning your next vacation immediately.
How does she balance all of these roles? Her secret: a set of specific, manageable goals.
“All three roles [fitness instructor, full-time tech gal, and influencer] are seamless parts of my being at all times,” Monocky said, “but what works for me is focusing on the specific goals at hand in that given moment. I think people see the word ‘goal,’ and they automatically tend to think of the big picture, which is great. When I think of my “goals”, however, I’m also considering the daily tasks that are immediate.”
When it comes to her fitness instructor journey, it all started with a need for an intense workout as a former high-school athlete, turned college student, Dana said. “I’ll never forget my first boxing class,” she said. “It was pretty much a ‘what-the-hell-just-happened?’ kind of moment. It was hard; it was technical; and I loved every second of it.”
That first boxing class punched (no pun intended) Dana into a new momentum, and she has been teaching for a year and a half now. Since joining Shadowbox as an instructor, she has been able to invest in her own instructor development through coaching with their master trainers, she said.
“You can typically find me on a bag in other instructor’s classes at least three times a week,” Monocky said, “and I still make time for the other workouts I love too, like pilates or cycling. I think taking class and constantly trying to improve ties into how I prep for my own classes, in addition to the work that goes into each class' program.”
Since the beginning of state shutdowns in March, creativity when staying focused and active at home has been a must for everyone. One way Dana has been staying active is through Shadowbox’s on-demand workout classes, and through mixing up her routines to keep each workout new and different, she said.
The pressure to accomplish everything required of our office jobs at home mixed with wanting to continue our normal routines amidst a global pandemic can feel overwhelming and unending, but setting goals, as Dana said, for ourselves each day is one way to remain productive. However, when we’re all able to travel and socialize again, Dana had one major travel tip:
“I’m a ‘loose planner’ when it comes to travel. I’m all for planning around the staple ‘must-do’ or ‘must-see’ things wherever I’m headed, but I prefer to spend most of my time wandering through neighborhoods, and hitting unique coffee shops and bars. Honestly, most of my travel planning goes into food and drinks -- I always check the Infatuation, Thrillist, CNTraveler, Culture Trip, and Eater to narrow down spots!”
Thanks for all the advice, Dana! Stay tuned for our next post in our Fitness Fridays series.
