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Angie Lee

Photo: Robert Caldarone

ANGIE LEE

DANCING HER WAY TO FITNESS

By Felicia Pesis

"The heavier weights you lift, the better you look!"

In life, everyone has someone they look up to – a person they admire, someone they aspire to be like. Most often, inspiration flows from those who have managed to make a name for themselves. That same name usually appears in blinking lights, plastered on posters, attached to a face that graces TV screens around the world.

But on a few rare occasions, you might find someone who is inspired by those who have yet to make a name for themselves at all. Someone like Angie Lee, a fitness instructor whose most powerful role models are her students. "I am constantly inspired by those who dedicate an hour or two a day to come and take my classes," she says. It is quite admirable of her to look up to her clients for simply training an hour or so a day when she dedicates her entire life to fitness.

This humble fitness expert started off as an avid dancer at age four. As a little girl in white tights, she dreamed of dancing her way to New York City. Upon graduating high school, she moved from Athens, Greece, to London, where she earned a degree in dance theater. At age 21, she finally made her highly anticipated move to New York (without any money or contacts) to pursue her career.

Angie Lee, Colette Nelson, and Cynthia Shafer

Photo: Robert Caldarone

As a dancer, she avoided weight lifting because she feared she would begin to look bulky. That all changed in 1998, when she met the late Tim Lloyd. "Tim became my best friend, mentor and trainer," she says. "He transferred his passion for bodybuilding and fitness to me, taught me how to properly work out and, more importantly, that weight lifting is the key to creating the toned, tight body that most women desire."

After a short dancing career, Angie decided to turn her focus back to her other passion – fitness. She is now a group fitness instructor at both Equinox Fitness and Reebok Sports Club in the Big Apple. She also trains New York socialites and doctors. Her signature classes include Strengthworks, Athleticworks, Pilateswork and Indoor Cycling. She is also developing Bellworks, a new fitness class that uses kettleballs in a group format. "People think teaching is enough of a workout to keep fit, but it couldn’t be further from the truth," she says. "Fitness professionals have a really high threshold. We need to train longer and harder to see results."

To keep up her fit physique, Angie supersets her workouts with plyometrics to burn extra calories and keep her heart rate up. "I am blessed with a naturally muscular figure," she says. "But people like me have a harder time staying lean, so I do a full body circuit training, three times a week. The heavier weights you lift, the better you look. Bulking up is not an issue – if your diet is in check."

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