Day: May 24, 2013

Friday Things! All sorts of random things…

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Hi friends! Happy Friday! and long weekend… the best kind of weekend, right?! What do you have planned this weekend?? Unfortunately, I am not going to Figawi, but now that I have seen the weekend weather, I am not as sad about that decision! I am teaching kickboxing tomorrow morning at the YMCA and then my sister, chuck (aka her cat, Charlie) and I will make the trek north. Our family always hosts the Memorial Day BBQ and our friends, the Mahoney’s, always host the 4th of July BBQ (because they have a pool and pool parties are the best!), so I am looking forward to helping my parents host a little get together!

Unfortunately, I don’t have the day off today, so let’s get right to the post so I can get back to work 😉 (I wrote this on my lunch break, so no worries!)

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On Wednesday, Danielle came to my UXF class and then we met up with Amy at Redbones for some delicious, cheap BBQ… can’t get better than that!

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I got lunch from Bee’s Knees yesterday. Bee’s Knees recently opened up a location in Fort Point directly across the street from the entrance into my building for work. I immediately fell in love with it. Literally, if I could design a store, it would be Bee’s Knees. They have all sorts of weird, quirky, “granola” type items that they sell and as a foodie and health nut, I love it! Oh, and they have a nice wine and beer selection, too- told you it was the perfect store!

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(I got this on sourdough because I learned on Sunday that if you can’t order whole wheat or Ezekiel, order sourdough since it’s much easier for our body to break down)

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I had my butt handed to me when I took a Core Fusion Cardio class at Exhale Spa. Seriously, I despise mountain climbers because I struggle so much with them (my shoulders burn!!) and we did enough for a lifetime. But still, I left that class with a smile! I even took one of the moves and brought it to UXF:

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1-legged walk out push-ups. Love!

Speaking of more moves that I have loved bringing into class this week, I learned this beauty from Celeste at the Wellness By The Water Retreat.

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Run the plank!!! so fun.

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My dad’s emails literally crack me up! What is even more funny, is that he doesn’t comment ON my blog posts, but rather, he sends me an email with his comment. So funny.

023Deep Knee Bends= the new way to refer to squats. Wadda ya think of that?! I love it.

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Speaking of Jess, she just sent out her first newsletter, featuring yours truly! As I have mentioned before, Jess and I have partnered together to create “Mommy’s Moves” which will be a series of short, but effective workouts with busy mom’s in mind. This one is just 7 minutes, including my intro, warm up and cool down, and I don’t care how busy you are, you have 7 minutes to dedicate to your health and fitness! Click on this link to check it out. If there are any new mom’s out there reading my blog that have ideas of what they would like to see in a quick workout, please shoot me an email or leave a suggestion in the comments section!

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Look what arrived on our doorstep this morning!

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My sister and I splurged and purchased Jack Rogers for the summer. I absolutely love the ones I bought, but I think they are a smidge too small:(

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This is why I don’t shop online; I like instant gratification so when I order something and it doesn’t fit, it is REALLY disappointing:(

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Try this circuit 4 times through!

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Ok, one more thing. JP sent me this from http://whatshouldwecallme.tumblr.com/post/51016946731/when-i-take-on-too-many-things-at-once. Hahaha totally me!

Phew! I think that is it? If you’re around for kickboxing tomorrow morning, please come! It will be the best way to kick off your long holiday weekend 🙂

Questions for you: What’s the best thing you’ve done or seen this week? Do you own Jack Rogers? Are you a fan of online shopping? Ever been to Bee’s Knees or Redbones?

Exhale Spa: Core Fusion Fest

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A few weeks ago, I received an email from someone at Women’s Health inviting me to join them for a Core Fusion class at Exhale Spa.

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Umm, twist my arm, will ya? It’s well-known that I love all things health and fitness related, so of course I said yes! In addition to my love of working out, I love to take new-to-me classes, because they are always humbling. I may be able to Kickbox for an hour no problem, but Core Fusion Cardio for an hour? An entirely different story!

Anyway, May 22nd was “Fusion Fest” at Exhale Spa- how fun?! I signed up for the 7:45am Core Fusion Cardio class with Chrissy Snyder.

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From their website, here is how they describe the class:

core fusion cardio

Sweat it out in this barre-less, fat-blasting cardio class, designed to sculpt and tone your entire body. Consisting of weights, mountain climbers, karate kicks, speed skaters, flowing yoga poses, and an ab sculpting series, this high-intensity class followed by a calming cool finish will leave you feeling energized and strong. Kick your heart rate into high gear with this non-stop, endorphin-filled hour. Open to all levels.

Well, I’d say that was a perfect description! I wish my heart rate monitor worked, because I’d love to see that stats on what I burned for calories and what my average heart rate was in the class. It felt HIGH the whole time! Mountain climbers after mountain climbers after mountain climbers, and lots of push-ups squeezed in between and then the legs and weights! My goodness. My legs were absolutely BURNING during the lunge portion of the class. I actually had to take multiple breaks.

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Chrissy did a wonderful job speaking clearly throughout the class without fumbling her words. She was incredibly encouraging and I really liked how she counted out loud the whole time because personally, I like knowing how much longer I have… it helps me push through the pain! She also remembered my name right away- big plus in my eyes! As an instructor, this is something I am constantly working on because I think it makes people feel really good when you remember their name and refer to them by name throughout the class.

We worked through “sets” throughout class. The first set was primarily mountain climbers and push-ups, and from there, we focused on upper body, lower body, kickboxing (umm hello. loved this!!), more mountain climbers and push-ups and ended with great core work. Mind you, we did cardio throughout the WHOLE class. I have never done so many mountain climbers! My shoulders will be screaming tomorrow. A lot of the poses were yoga moves, too, which felt great.

011Going into the class, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I think the class exceeding any expectations I could have had! I loved that the cardio was relatively low-impact… my poor joints need that. By the time we finished our core work, I was more than ready to shower and eat!

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The locker room at Exhale was absolutely beautiful. I loved the products and the fact that they had everything you could ever need: towels, robes, slippers, combs, hair gel, deodorant, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, razors, shower caps, q-tips. Seriously, they didn’t miss a thing!

016I was so happy that I took the morning off from work today so I could have as much time as I wanted in the locker room! It’s always such a nice change of pace from the usual locker rooms I am in 🙂

After I was showered and lotioned up, I checked out my swag bag:

022There were coupons in there for future visits, and I can absolutely guarantee I will be going back. I also want to look into the Sports Massage that they offer as I think that would be super beneficial for my sore and overworked muscles!

Big, big, BIG thank you to Women’s Health and Exhale Spa for inviting me to such a wonderful event! I received such a warm welcome from Samantha and Chrissy and all of the other employees… Can’t wait to go back!

Questions for you: Have you ever done a Core Fusion class? What’s your favorite thing to find in a locker room? Favorite thing about trying a new class?