Amanda Kloots Shares the Easy Exercises Caregivers Can Do To Stay Strong
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The world got to know Amanda Kloots as a caregiver to and cheerleader for her husband Nick Cordero, who passed away in 2020 after a long fight with Covid-19. But her own creative journey and fitness career has been in the works for a much longer time. A former Radio City Rockette and Broadway performer and current fitness entrepreneur, jump rope afficionado, talk show host of CBS’s The Talk, Dancing with the Stars contestant, and author of a memoir and children’s book, Kloots is constantly pursuing her multiple passions and spreading her own infectious positive outlook in the process.
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One of her latest projects is a partnership with Voltaren, an arthritis pain gel that was a go-to for her when she had an arthritic hand injury during Dancing with the Stars Season 30 in late 2021. She already believed in the product itself, and since the campaign was around making sure caregivers of parents, partners, children, or other loved ones are also taking care of and strengthening their own bodies, it was a no-brainer to forge a partnership. “When they came to me with the caregiver partnership, I loved it because I’m a single mom and took care of Nick in the hospital. You don’t realize how much you lose yourself when you have to take care of someone else….caregivers aren’t given the respect and care that they need,” Kloots says.
She developed a series of exercises for caregivers to do in the minutes of the day that they have for themselves (check out her Instagram videos for a demo). These are designed to be simple sequences of moves and stretches you can do at home, with minimal equipment. That’s already how Kloots has set up her fitness business, which involves dance cardio, jump rope, and bodyweight and toning workouts you can stream from your living room without gym equipment.
The focus of the workout sequence is keeping your body strong, especially if you have to lift and assist other people, and using movement as a stress reliever. “One of my favorite reasons to work my body out is to give myself a break and clear my mind,” Kloots says. “It’s about finding those five minutes in your day to follow along with the exercises I’ve created, do a downward dog, hold a plank, do a 10 minute walk around your neighborhood, or do a 10 minute meditation.”
Kloots is so adamant that caregivers give back to themselves because it can be an exhausting and often thankless (unpaid) job. Both movement and self-care should be incorporated in your day, but so should a self-acknowledgement of everything you’re doing to take care of another person. “Remind yourself to give yourself a pat on the back,” Kloots says. “When you’re caregiving, a lot of things go unseen, and even the person you’re caring for doesn’t always have the ability to say thank you — it may be an elderly person suffering from dementia who can’t tell you how much you are appreciated.”
That’s why Kloots has to also walk the walk and make sure she’s taking time for herself as she juggles parenting her four-year-old son, Elvis, hosting The Talk, and other professional projects. With her early morning schedule, it can be tough to find the motivation and energy to work out after work (relatable). Her solution? She loves to constantly switch up her fitness routine to keep herself energized. “I mix it up. Every day I do something different: train myself, take another trainer’s class, or take a dance class. I love being a student for a change,” Kloots says. And while she’s filming The Talk, she’s known to jump rope in the parking lot of the studio. “Sometimes I’m on producer calls at the same time. I could be jumping rope on this call right now and no one would know,” she laughs. She equates that non-negotiable 10-minute jump routine to taking a shower each day.
As much as she embraces changing it up in her workout routines, she’s learned to accept change in life too, though that can be more difficult to put in practice. The Covid-19 pandemic in particular made a life-changing impact on Kloots and her family. “I think that the pandemic changed a lot of things for everyone, whether we recognize it or not, even subconsciously, the way a lot of us live and act and think,” Kloots says. Losing her husband so suddenly, with him going from a state of great health to systemic illness in a matter of months, radically shifted her perspective on life and her relationships. “Each day is a gift, and we don’t know what’s in store for us — I’m a huge advocate for finding peace in our life, not going to bed angry, not fighting, and trying to find resolutions. We don’t know the other side of tomorrow,” she says.
Her plans for her life before the pandemic don’t look anything like her life now. “It’s hard to plan. I’m a huge dreamer and goal setter, but I’ve learned to love change. We are meant to change, grow, and evolve. I’m a completely different person than I was three years ago,” Kloots says. She actively encourages others to fight the fear of personal growth, even when it’s uncomfortable, and change in your environment and situation. “I’m a huge positive quote person,” she says. (She posts a “positive quote of the day” to her Instagram story every day, often alongside videos of “Musical Mornings” jamming out with her son Elvis, who has blossomed into a musically-inclined, free-spirited personality before followers’ eyes over the last three years.) One of her all-time favorite quotes? “The scariest thing is being the same person in 6 months.”
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