About the Author

Luisa’s Story​

Luisa Heymann grew up in Washington, DC, and nearby Bethesda, Maryland, but hit the road in her 20s, eventually visiting and occasionally working in 46 states and 43 countries.

Over the years, she’s worked at running an ice cream parlor in Vieques, Puerto Rico, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, and as the advertising director for Kitchen Bazaar gourmet housewares stores. Hobbies include snorkeling somewhere warm whenever possible, singing in the Napa Valley Community Chorus, teaching aqua aerobics off and on for 20+ years, and 10 years as part of a hot air balloon crew.

Currently, Luisa and her husband John live near Yountville, California, in an area they call “rural lite” (well & septic but only eight minutes to Whole Foods) with a couple of rescue dogs who get them out walking every day, rain or shine (or wildfires, ugh).

After a lifetime of being physically active, in 2014, Luisa was sidelined with a broken neck after being hit by a drunk driver.

For months,
she could barely move…

So when she was finally able to resume something approaching normal life, she had to start getting back in shape in teeny-tiny bite-sized pieces … thus, the concept of mini-workouts was born. She soon realized that these were a fantastic addition to her weekly schedule — even once she could exercise normally again — and has kept them up ever since.

How about you…
what’s your story?

If you’re in a similar situation working to come back from an illness or injury, are sedentary and/or tire easily and would like to have more energy, have a scary health problem that you need to get under control, or are just plain tired of being out of shape and don’t know where or how to begin to get your body on the road to better health, Mini-Workouts are a great place to start!

luisa-heymann-hiking-patagonia

I’m hardly an Olympic-level athlete (I spend a lot of time at
my desk and love to binge-watch mysteries), but I like to hike
and am such a fish that I taught aqua aerobics for 20+ years,
so I’ve always managed to stay in reasonably good shape…
sometimes better, sometimes worse, but consistently pretty
energetic and healthy. Then in 2014, I was sidelined with a broken
neck after being hit by a drunk driver—ouch!—and in a nanosecond,
my life was turned upside down.

For months, I was in a neck brace and could barely move, so
when I was finally able to resume something approaching normal
life, I had to start getting back into shape in teeny-tiny bite-sized
pieces; thus, the concept of Mini-Workouts was born. By
consistently doing Mini-Workouts every day, gradually increasing
repetitions and upping the number of daily sessions as I was able,
I eventually returned to good health. I was lucky… and I was very
persistent. I soon realized that Mini-Workouts were a fantastic
addition to my weekly schedule, even once I could move normally
again, and have kept it up ever since. Some days I’m really
disciplined and highly motivated; other days I phone it in (hey,
I’m no angel), but I do at least some, every single day, and it pays
huge dividends in terms of strength and stamina, and good health,
considering the minimal effort required.

—Nicole Cutts, Ph.D. Success Coach & Clinical Psychologist

“What I love about this book is that it speaks to real people like the busy executives and entrepreneurial women that I coach, who lament not having enough time in the day to engage in self-care. As a practitioner of somatic coaching, I stress the importance of exercise for anyone who wants to be successful! I will be adding this book to the toolkit that I offer clients.”