FIND US ONLINE: DailyNorthShore.com
SATURDAY MAY 23 | SUNDAY MAY 24 2020
SUNDAY BREAKFAST
New Trier Athletic Director Augie Fontanetta holds senior athletes in high esteem. P18
SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE WEEKEND EDITION SENT TO YOUR EMAIL: free@jwcmedia.com
LIFESTYLE & ARTS
An interview with Freda Love Smith P14 FOLLOW US:
NO. 397 | A JWC MEDIA PUBLICATION
IR-RESISTABLE WORKOUT FROM HOME FORMER BLACKHAWK BRANDON BOLLIG AND WIFE DANNAH LAUNCH NEW SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE TO HELP PEOPLE STAY IN SHAPE WHEREVER THEY ARE. BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
When the athletic careers of Brandon Bollig and his wife, Dannah, came to an end—his as a professional hockey player and hers as an NCAA Division I soccer player—both were looking for a workout that could help them stay in shape. Years of playing two physically demanding sports had taken their toll, and Dannah began experimenting with a training regimen using bands to create resistance rather than weights, and a workout that didn't involve exercises that put pressure on the joints. Late last year the Bolligs launched Dannah Eve, which offers a set of resistance bands that can be used for cardio workouts and to workout other areas of the body. Together, the bands weigh 1.5 pounds and are perfect for working out at home or while traveling. Dannah Eve recently began offering a subscription service, The DE Method, that provides access to videos of Dannah demonstrating the many varieties of ways the bands can be used and the five specific workouts for all areas of the body, including abs, buttocks, arms, and upper body. "We really took something that started as a hobby and passion for Dannah, and once her soccer career ended she got the ball rolling on small-scale stuff with fitness videos and that type of thing," Brandon Bollig, a member of the 2013 Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks, says. "Once I retired, we really put in the process of making it a real business and taking it to a new level." "My soccer career, unfortunately, didn't go as planned but it did expose my passion and love for fitness. Once I retired, I told myself I was going to take a few months
Dannah Bollig demonstrates use of the full-body resistance band. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DANNAH EVE FITNESS
off and let my body rest and recover because my body was so beat up f rom the wear and tear," Dannah, who played soccer at the University of New Mexico, says. "But a few weeks later I was back in the gym. My respect for working out was out of it being a necessary evil, but in hindsight fitness was always my healthy outlet and form of therapy, my escape f rom the world where no one can tell me what to do or how to do it." Not surprisingly, Brandon and Dannah met at a gym. The two worked out at the same gym in Highland Park, where Dannah grew up, got together in 2016, and were married in 2018. "At the time Brandon was still playing professional hockey and we were constantly on the go. I tried to get a gym membership wherever we were, and it just started getting really tough," Dannah says. "We were moving so often that a gym didn't seem like the best way to maximize my time or my workout." Dannah says she didn't realize at the time that she was creating her own type of training as she began to gravitate further and further away f rom higher intensity exercise, working with resistance belts instead. She posted her workouts on Instagram, eventually building up a following of more than 25,000, and the idea to turn it into a business was born. "For the first time in my life I was more lean and I felt stronger than I had ever been and I truthfully was more confident in my own skin," she says. "So after about three-plus years of practicing and really refining this training style, Dannah Eve was born."
Out is in lfola.org
Continued on PG 8