Amanda Kloots is moving forward, full speed ahead.
“I don’t idle well,” the 38-year-old fitness maven told The Post, just over a month after her husband, Broadway actor Nick Cordero, died at 41 from COVID-19 complications, leaving behind Kloots and their 1-year-old son, Elvis.
On Tuesday, Kloots announced her first live workout class since the pandemic hit, setting off her husband’s monthslong battle with the virus. Her fans, who followed her constant updates on Cordero’s health, showed up in droves to support her: The 250 digital slots filled up “in a couple of hours,” Kloots said.
Although still in the raw, early stages of grief, Kloots says she expects teaching the class will be a form of healing for her.
“It’s so easy to watch another Netflix show and not . . . get out of bed,” said Kloots, who previously performed on Broadway and had a spot on the kick-line as a Radio City Rockette before teaching group fitness at Bandier’s New York studio starting in April 2016. “[But teaching] always made me so happy and filled me with a ton of energy.”
Her work in the fitness world has also taken on new meaning since Cordero’s death.
“After what I went through with Nick, you realize how important it is to stay healthy, and eat healthy and move your body,” Kloots said.
“You have the ability to stand on your feet, and to walk, to jump, and skip and smile. Don’t take it for granted. Use your body.”
She and Cordero, who met on Broadway, had only lived in LA for a few months when Cordero was hospitalized, then placed into a medically induced coma, where his health declined.
Kloots updated her social-media feed throughout Cordero’s illness, captivating fans and followers who played Cordero’s music, specifically his song “Live Your Life” daily at 3 p.m., and rallied around the hashtag #WakeUpNick.
After Cordero passed away on July 5, Kloots said moving her body was a key “stress reliever” and “therapy.”
“I’m not sure if my sister in-law did it for herself or for me, but she asked, ‘Can you train me every day?’ ” said Kloots, who, in addition to training her sister-in-law every morning since her husband died, took up tennis at the suggestion of Christa Bennett, her best friend and also former Rockette. “She said, ‘Just find something new for yourself that’s not tied to anything and can be part of your new life.’ ”
Also part of her new life: a new house in Laurel Canyon, that she moved into Wednesday. Kloots said on Instagram that owning a home was “Nick’s dream” and shouted out NYC-based interior designer Michelle Gerson and her late husband’s celeb pal Zach Braff for their help transitioning. Braff was seen last month on a walk with baby Elvis, and his girlfriend, actress Florence Pugh and even got a commemorative tattoo of his late friend.
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“[Nick’s] presence is definitely in the house,” said Kloots, who stayed in Braff’s guest house for several months during her husband’s battle with COVID. “It feels like a new chapter, and all of the memories of everything that happened have been in other homes.”
She said grief “hits her at weird times,” such as when she’s driving down a familiar block in their new city. “I’ll see a restaurant we ate at, and that’s what triggers me,” said Kloots.
Kloots said listening to Cordero’s music has been one of the biggest helps. She’s also been blasting adrenaline-pumping pop music to get in the zone for her upcoming class — though her son prefers the oldies.
“Elvis loves the Beach Boys,” said Kloots who added that her baby, who “has Nick’s face” seems to hit a new milestone every day. “Yesterday for the first time, I was folding laundry and dancing around the bedroom, and he danced too. He started bouncing around and shaking his head.”
She said her son “keeps me so happy and smiling,” and serves as motivation to get to work training students. Her class on Friday costs $25 and will support her and her family. She also has a $9.99 a month subscription service on her website, which includes short workouts.
Her three signature classes include a jump-rope routine called AKRope, which “tones your entire body while doing cardio intervals,” the AKBody class, “a mix of light weight toning exercises and cardio bursts,” and AKDance — “it’s what I’m teaching this Friday. I make up dances to pop songs, and it’s really high-energy and nonstop for 50 minutes.” She calls the workout “Britney Spears backup dancer meets Jane Fonda,” and promises a sweat.
She has a fourth addition to her lineup coming soon based on the sessions she had with her sister-in-law, and promised “a two-minute workout.” She’ll be training virtually from the Bandier’s Studio B in LA and said the Zoom class on Friday, which she hopes to make “more consistent” going forward, will “make me feel like myself.”
“It feels like I’m coming home, and that I’m where I need to be,” said Kloots.
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