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Treat Yourself Tuesday: Massage Envy Review & Giveaway

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Good morning! I have a special post for you today because it includes a giveaway- that’s a nice way to start your Tuesday, right?!

While the holidays are fun because they’re filled with friends, family, parties & gifts, they can also be stressful when you’re trying to squeeze in a million things, all while trying to stay calm and in the holiday spirit right? Even though I’ve tried to slow down a lot over the years by not going to everything I’m invited to, I still struggle with completely slowing down, which is why massages are so important for me to prioritize. Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I had the chance to slow down and do something for myself by visiting Massage Envy’s Newton location,

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Massage Envy I’ll give you a little background: They are a massage company with locations all over New England. They offer various services such as a standard massage, therapeutic services, facials and more. What I love about Massage Envy is that their prices are very reasonable, especially if you become a member. $65 a month gets you one 60-minute massage or skin service a month and then discounted rates if you want to upgrade to longer massages or other enhanced services. You also get a discount on your second service of the month should you decide to treat yourself extra nice 🙂

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I had heard a lot about Massage Envy so I was really excited to check it out. Upon first walking into the Newton location, I was greeted by a few very pleasant staff members working behind the desk. I had to fill out some paperwork (make sure you arrive early for your first visit!) and loved the fact that they offered me a warm towel for my neck as well as water. Little services like that make me happy!

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The massage itself was also a really great experience. Julian was my masseuse and he was fantastic- he asked if I had any areas of concern/tightness or areas where I wanted him to focus. Life has been stressful lately and I carry my stress in my shoulders/back so I told him those areas would be great. He had a map of the human body in the room and I loved that he used it to show me where he planned on doing work and then at the end again to show me the areas I was especially tight.

As we got going he asked how the bed temperature was as well as the pressure, and then throughout the massage I appreciated how he a. didn’t talk to me (I don’t want to talk while I’m getting a massage!) and b. checked in a few times to make sure I felt ok and that the pressure was good.

And then before I knew it, the 60 minutes was up 😦 I was not ready for it to end, I’ll tell you that! Even though I’m used to the full spa-like experience because we usually go to Exhale Spa where they have robes and showers and steam rooms and things like that,  I really enjoyed my first Massage Envy experience. It is a wonderful place to get a massage if you’re looking for just that: a quality massage to help relax you and work through areas of tightness/tension. The monthly membership is especially enticing since it’s such an affordable price AND would guarantee that I’d make time for myself once a month to relax and unwind.

Lucky for you, Massage Envy has offered to give one lucky reader a free 60-minute massage to the location of their choice in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire! You can find the location that would be nearest to you by going here.

All you have to do to be entered to win is comment on this post telling me your favorite way to relax. Want extra entries? Leave an additional comment if you “liked” the post on Instagram or Facebook! I will randomly pick a winner on Friday, December 9th- good luck!

Thank you to Massage Envy for inviting me in for a glorious hour of relaxation- Can’t wait to go back!

Some Food For Thought…

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Over the weekend, I attended parts of the Boston MANIA event in Danvers, MA. MANIA is a big fitness convention allowing fitness professionals to get together, learn from the “experts” and gain some continuing education credits. This was my 3rd MANIA event, and while I think it can be beneficial, I think it will be my last time attending. I’ve noticed that not much changes in terms of presentations/sessions from year to year and I didn’t feel like I gained much in the way of new fitness tips/exercises that I can use in my classes.

However, on Saturday afternoon I opted to switch from a battle ropes class (because it was seemingly the same as it was a few years ago when I took it) to a session called “What Do I Eat”, which was lead by Bruce and Mindy Mylrea. Mindy is the creator of Tabata Bootcamp and she and her husband have transformed their diet over the past 5 years to being a primarily whole food plant based diet. While this isn’t necessarily the diet/lifestyle for me, I always enjoy learning more about this way of life from people who have spent years researching, experimenting and living a certain lifestyle.

There were many parts of the presentation that I really enjoyed, but I think what I liked the most was their approach to working with and helping clients who want to lose weight. Rather than telling them they can’t have something (because deprivation always has the opposite effect!), they tell them that they can, but they show them how to re-prioritize what they’re eating. It was a super simple concept, which is exactly why I wanted to share it with you; as my girls Lauren and Athena always say: healthy doesn’t have to be hard. If you start with a few manageable changes that you feel like you could sustain for the long-haul, you’ll find that the whole process of change will be easier than if you start out by removing all the “bad” stuff.

Here’s what they shared with us:

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The idea being, start with your veggies, fruits, grains, etc. because the stomach response to stretch first and then calories so filling it up with food that takes up a lot of space without a lot of calories first will help eliminate filling up with all the high calorie foods that don’t take up a lot of space (ie: it takes eating more of that food to stretch the stomach and tell you you’re full). After that, you eat your fillers, which is probably my favorite part of the meal- I LOVE sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc. Lastly, you eat what you really want- whether that be steak, pizza, pasta, etc. By filling up on the whole, natural foods first by the time you get to your bowl of pasta, you’ll likely be too full to eat the whole dish, which is key if you’re trying to lose weight.

While listening to them speak on this, I couldn’t help but think back to pizza lunches at work. Rather than filling my plate with multiple pieces of pizza- which I know will weight me down for the rest of the afternoon- I take one plate and fill it up with salad- lots of salad! Then, I take a slice of pizza on another plate. I eat my salad- maybe even have seconds of it!- first and then make my way to the pizza. By this time, my stomach has been filling up with lots of veggies (stretch factor!) so I’m less likely to eat multiple pieces of pizza, but i still feel satisfied because I ate pizza which was what I really wanted. Win-win situation if you ask me.

I know this may seem like a no-brainer to a lot of you, but if you struggle with weight loss and dieting, maybe this will help you re-think what you’re doing and try a new approach if what you’re doing doesn’t seem to be working. Also, Lauren and Athena are great resources for this topic, too, because they believe in a similar approach to weight loss.

Questions for you: Are you someone who jumps from diet to diet or do you prefer to make lifestyle changes? Do you work better going “cold turkey” and eliminating stuff entirely or do you prefer an approach like the one above where you keep in your “guilty pleasures” (not my favorite term) but just changing your portion sizes and increasing veggies? 

Wednesday Workout: 20 Minute AMRAP with weights

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Hi there! Happy hump day 🙂 Are you having a good week so far? I’m so excited to write these posts for you because even though I have no idea if you’re enjoying them, benefiting from them or even reading them, I like adding the workouts I’ve done and enjoyed to my online “catalog”, aka, my blog 😉

I mentioned in another post recently how I’ve been enjoying tabata style workouts, especially when I’m tight on time because I know that they always kick my butt. The other day when I was at the gym during my lunch break I knew I wanted/needed just that: a short, butt-kicking workout. I’ve also been trying to bring back weight training on a more consistent basis so I made sure to pick appropriate exercises.

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By all means, nothing fancy, but it got the job done- in just 20 minutes (ok, like 25-28 with warm up & cool down 😉 ).

I’d love to know if you try this!

Questions for you; Do you enjoy these posts or do you skip the blog on my Wednesday Workout post days?

Five on Friday {11.4.16}

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Good morning! TGIF- big time! This week has been something else, and I am more than ready for it to be over! However, even though this week was stressful, there were still some bright moments worthy of sharing, plus I have some neat events to share, too!

  • MiniLuxe Seaport– To celebrate their opening, they are offering FREE manicures, on a first come, first serve basis Friday through Sunday so if you’re in the area I highly suggest trying to snag one! I love how clean their locations are and they do such a great job!
  • Cyc Popup at Janji– On Saturday, November 19th Cyc Fitness is hosting a few popup classes at Janji on Newbury Street. The cost is $35, but that includes a shoe rental, bottle of water and a free salad at sweetgreen, which is a pretty good deal! There are rides at 3pm and 4pm and if you’re interested you can sign up here on their Splash page. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it since we have friendsgiving that afternoon, but it sounds really awesome!
  • Clean Bottle Campaign- Speaking of Janji, they reached out to me about a  Kickstarter campaign that their office-mate, Clean Bottle, just launched. I have one of the bottles that they are campaigning for and I love it because it’s super easy to clean (opens at both ends- genius!), hold and fill. I also like that because of the square shape, the bottle doesn’t roll around.If you want to support them in their quest to make a 32 oz. bottle, head on over here.
  • Pumpkin ice cream- The other night RM told me he got me a surprise at the store. After looking around, I found this beauty. I was initially nervous that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, but after one bite we both agreed that it exceeded them! The flavor was on point and there were even little crust pieces in it. We both agreed we should probably stock up before it runs out 😉

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  • Seaport Sweat winter classes- This past week kicked off the winter class series and even though class last night had to be cancelled because of the weather, Wednesday was awesome! It was my first time ever leading a run, but it ended up being great. It was a smaller crew, which was actually nice for the first night. We did a total of 3.2 miles and I threw in mini circuits throughout the workout which was a nice way to break up the running. If you’re interested in joining, search for Seaport Sweat on Eventbrite or check it out on Facebook. All levels are welcomed! And if running isn’t your thing, Thursdays I’ll be leading a fighters conditioning bootcamp- always a fun option!

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And that does it for me! Lots of fun things to share today- I hope you enjoyed reading about them 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend- we will chat next week!

Questions for you: How has your week been? Were you able to get outside and enjoy the nice weather? What do you have planned this weekend? Pumpkin flavor- yes or no?

“Do heavyset women take those classes?”

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Considering my teaching schedule this week, I figured it was a good time to address a question I received last week during one of the classes I subbed. When I finished promoting the Seaport Sweat classes for November and December, one female came up to me after class for additional details. After I finished giving her the information, she asked me the following question “Do heavyset women take those classes?”, which, I’ll admit, kind of threw me off guard. And made me feel a little sad.

If she’s asking me a questions like this, it made me wonder how many others might have similar feelings or question, yet are not in a situation where they can ask the question, or worse, are too afraid to ask the question. How many others are avoiding group exercise classes- or even the gym all together- because they’re afraid of what others are going to think about them? Or the looks they may get. Or because they don’t know where anything is. Or because they don’t know what they’re doing or what to expect.

And the thing is, I get it! I get that the gym can be a scary place- whether it’s because you don’t know where things are, don’t know what to expect, or don’t know where to start once you do get there. Even as a fitness instructor, a former avid class goer and someone who goes to the gym all the time, when I’m placed in a new environment I, too, get those feelings. I don’t like not knowing where the equipment is or where the locker room is or what to expect out of the other members. But, sometimes you just have to give it a try because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that no one else is looking at you as much as you think they might be. They don’t care about your size or how much you can lift or whether or not you know how to work a machine. They’re usually too busy checking themselves out  😉

So, my response to this girl wasn’t “of course they are!”, because that would suggest that I was agreeing with the label she gave herself. Instead, I told her that everyone is welcomed and encouraged to come to the classes and that no matter your shape, size, age, fitness ability, etc., you can make the class work for you and leave the class feeling proud of all you’ve done. No jumping? No worries- we can take the plyometric piece of the exercise out. Lunges hurt your knees? We can do glute bridges or something else that doesn’t hurt you. Afraid of using a step (this used to be me!), ditch it- just do the exercises without it. There are always ways around things that don’t work or feel good for you and as fitness instructors, it’s our job to show you this. To make you feel comfortable, included and proud of yourself for all you accomplish, rather than worried about your size.

I hope next time you find yourself making up excuses for why you “can’t” do something or “can’t” attend a class, I urge you to think about why you’re feeling this way. And once you do that, try and think of a few things you can do to make yourself feel better and like you CAN do something or CAN go to a class. Here are some of my suggestions for this:

  1. Talk to a friend who goes to the gym or classes often and ask them for tips on what to expect, where to find the equipment you’ll need, where the locker room is, etc.
  2. Buy a new workout top or pants- this always helps make me feel better!
  3. Find something that really interests YOU, rather than something that you think you should do. In other words, if you hate spinning, don’t go to a spin class! If you don’t like cardio, maybe pick a weights-focused class instead of a cardio-focused class. If cross-fit intimidates you, choose something else! You get the idea….
  4. Go to the gym and peek in on a class that you’d like to try so you can see what it looks like.
  5. Talk to the instructor, explain that you’re new and let him or her know about your current fitness abilities so they know when to offer variations for you.

If you want to read more tips on how what to expect for your first group exercise class, I suggest checking out this post I wrote a few years ago: 10 tips for your first group exercise class. And more than anything- know that you should never let your shape, size, age, fitness abilities, etc. deter you from trying out something that sounds interesting to you!

Questions for you: Have you ever let something about your physical abilities stop you from trying something new? Have you ever felt nervous going to the gym or to a new class? What do you do to help make yourself try new things?