SCW- Boston MANIA 2013 Recap {PT 1}

November 22, 2013November 22, 20133 Comments

As I’ve mentioned quite a few times at this point, I attended the Boston MANIA event held in Danvers last weekend. Since I was running the Fenway Spartan Sprint on Saturday, I could only attend the event on Friday and Sunday, but even with limited time there, I learned SO MUCH. As I was writing up my UXF Burn and SHRED workouts this week, I really struggled to figure out what I wanted to teach based on all of the new formats and exercises that I learned. I had to keep reminding myself that I didn’t have to include everything I learned in my classes this week… as long as I have them written down, I can always look back and quickly be reminded of everything new!

When I arrived at the hotel bright and early on Friday morning (literally early… 7am type of early), I breezed through check in and quickly bumped into Athena and Lauren. Athena and I did not talk to each other before signing up for our courses, yet we managed to sign up for all of the same courses… I guess we are really alike!

Sessions started at 7:30 and ended at 5:30. I can’t go into every detail from every class, but I give you a brief overview of my thoughts of them!

Kettle Weight Drenched

I’m always very intrigued by Kettlebells and KB workouts, so I figured it was a good time to get a better understanding of what KB’s are all about. The class wasn’t exactly what I was hoping it would be, but I did get a couple of moves from it (coincidentally, none of them involved using a KB… whoops!). One thing that I took away from the class was that only 19% of the American population works out, but, when you think about how hard working out can/should be, it’s not really surprising. We joked about how we are the crazy people who think everyone loves to work out, but that’s only because we usually surround ourselves with other crazy people who love to work out 😉 We did get to do a 45 minute KB focused workout (Tabata themed) and my plans of keeping my workouts lighter and low-impact for the day (since I was doing the Spartan race the next day and wanted fresh legs) went right out the window 2 minutes into the workout. What can I say? As soon as I start working out, I always want to give it my all… no wonder why I’ve been so sore this week!

R.I.P.P.E.D.: The One Stop Body Shock

I actually really liked this session. The instructors were SO energetic and got us up and moving really quickly. R.I.P.P.E.D stands for: Resistance (biceps, triceps, shoulders), Intervals (ramped up recovery), Power (Metabolic- chest, back, squats, legs- lots of compound movements), Endurance (Cardio- mostly kickboxing/martial arts related) and Diet and the class is set up to move from one to the next (except for the Diet part- you can access that online). Athena and I talked about how it was a little weird to start out with upper body exercises instead of legs (usually workouts start out with the bigger muscles: legs), but I actually didn’t mind it (I later found out that you don’t have to teach the class in that order… you can mix it up however you want). The class is choreographed to songs for each part of the workout, which has pros and cons: I could see myself getting bored when teaching it because you teach the same type of routines each week, but I can see how members would love it since they generally like consistency and like to know what’s coming next. I got lots of good moves from this class and had a blast jumping around. I think I would like to get a certification in R.I.P.P.E.D., but not to necessarily teach it every week because I think I’d get burned out, but to have it as another option/format to teach.

Sport Conditioning Goes Group!-

Sadly, I was not very impressed with this session. The instructor made it seem like we would be up and moving around a lot, but that didn’t prove to be the case. He showed us a video of the classes he has designed and I was hoping to learn more about that so I could take bits and pieces to add to my classes. We did do a few good core exercises (standing on a BOSU, hold a stability ball and have a partner push the stability ball around, thus causing you to tighten up your core in order to stay on the BOSU… and a neat stability ball roll out combination), but other than that I didn’t get many “take aways”.

Best of Boot Camp 2013-

This class was taught by Mindy Mylrea and after Athena told me how awesome Mindy was, I couldn’t wait for the session to begin. As soon as we walked in and Mindy got her mic on, I knew Athena was right- I was going to love Mindy. She was this little, petite lady with enough energy to fill the entire {big} room. I learned a lot about how boot camps should be set up (circuit style- no more than 60 seconds at each station, use numbers to identify the stations, use picture signs so people know what they should do and don’t have to ask you a million times) AND I was pretty much obsessed with each station that she had us do. In between stations, she had us work with partners for all sorts of various body weight exercises. I cannot wait (side note- when I re-read this post, I realized I wrote out “weight” instead of “wait”. #fitnessinstructorproblems) to do the same exact stations in my SHRED class in the next few weeks…if people thought I was crazy before, they haven’t seen anything yet 😉

Myofascial Compression Techniques: Trigger Point Performance Therapy

I originally signed up for Cardiopump Fusion, but by 4pm, after having taught Wednesday and a double Thursday and working out in all the other classes, I was absolutely beat and decided it was better to skip out on more cardio. There was a lot of scientific/muscle type of talk that mostly went over my head, but I thought the class was really interesting (and I kind of developed a crush on the instructor… whoops!). A few summers ago I had to go to physical therapy for a knee injury and I remember finding the whole background behind why injuries happen and what affects what to be SO interesting. Here are some of the most interesting points I took away:

It’s important to stay hydrated: when you’re dehydrated, your body starts to grow together (internally… I think he dumbed the process down for us when explaining it…) and adhesions start. Hence why we tend to be “achy” and sore when we first wake up. Ever notice that before? And then do you notice how everything loosens up once you start moving and drinking water? That’s because you’re getting hydrated again!
Most of our stress lies in our shoulders, but the tension lies in our legs/Achilles. Removing tension there will help relax your shoulders.
You should always foam roll before you workout: it acts like a warm up in that it helps to get the blood flowing
Hamstrings are stabilizers and in order to loosen up tight hamstrings, you need to release the quad.
Fascia is connected tissue throughout the body and it wraps around everything. Muscle is inseparable from fascia. Fascia responds to everything and adapts to help us do what we want to do (running, lifting, squatting, etc.). When we are seated or sedentary for a long time, our fascia adapts to that, so when we start to workout (after not doing it for a while), we are generally not prepared (because we are used to being sedentary) and therefore get injured.

Phew! How’s that?? We used these fun toys and worked through our entire right side of the body and wow could I feel a difference between my left and right side after that. It was incredible! If only I had someone to walk me through that painful, painful process every day… I’d feel amazing!

I was going to recap Sunday’s classes in this post, too, but this post is getting quite lengthy so I’ll save those for next week as part of my “This Week” post.

I think you can tell, though, that MANIA was quite the awesome event… especially for fitness enthusiasts like myself! I was in heaven being surrounded by so many passionate instructors- it really made me want to be a better instructor and I felt myself using a lot of what I learned this week. And not just with the new exercises I taught, but HOW I taught them. I have a long way to go to be the instructor I know I can and want to be, but I am getting there! Already looking forward to next year 🙂

Questions for you: Instructor friends- have you ever been to a fitness conference like MANIA before? Anyone ever been to a R.I.P.P.E.D. class?

Chicago: Part 2 {The Bean, Navy Pier, Boat Tour, Brewery}

November 15, 2013November 14, 20133 Comments

TGIF! While I am spending the day at the Boston MANIA event (literally, ALL day), I wanted to share my second day of Chicago adventures with you. If you missed the start of my trip or Part 1, check them out here:

I woke up on Saturday feeling like, well, I had partied the night before. Luckily, after a bagel-filled breakfast and a Vitamin Water, I felt pretty good. Danielle and I met up with JP and walked around the “Loop” part of the city.

This was the bridge we walked over to get from our hotel (on the left) to the part of the city where JP lived.

Chicago has about a million parks (I forget the real number, but I think it was in the 500’s), and this one was especially cool since it had an amphitheater where they have bands and orchestra’s play during the summer. They also play movies.

One of the things I was most excited to see in Chicago was the Bean! Clearly, I wasn’t the only one; it was so crowded!

It was built so that you could see the city skyline from any view as everything always reflects off of the bean.

(can you see us?!)

After I got my Bean fill in, we walked to Navy Pier… which was quite the hike! We lucked out and had great weather considering the fact we were in Chicago in November.

After walking around a bit, we got lunch at Riva Restaurant on Navy Pier, which was delicious!

After lunch, we took a Skyline boat tour. They were offering a deal where you could save $12 if you bought the Skyline tour and the Architecture tour, so we did that!

Did you know that Chicago is called the “Second City” since it completely burned down in the late 1800’s and therefore had to be entirely rebuilt? So many of the buildings we saw were built in the late 1900’s, which I think is absolutely amazing. They were also able to hire some of the best architects in the world, which is why the skyline is so interesting to look at.

From the tour, we headed to the outskirts of the city and went to the Revolution Brewing Company with the plans of doing a brewery tour. Unfortunately, the tours were booked for the next 2 hours, but we were able to hang out and have beers in the awesome bar that they have in the brewery. And when I say “we”, I mean Danielle and JP had beers. My stomach felt awful at that point so I just drank water. Womp.

Dinner was at Tavern At The Park and luckily, after a nap, I was feeling better at that point. We got wine and I had French Onion Soup and a pizza topped with meatballs and caramelized balsamic onions… omg. SO good. I was in foodie heaven!

After dinner, we met up with some of JP’s friends and went to a few bars. We started at Declan’s Irish Pub and ended at filini. I wasn’t really in the drinking mood, but it was fun to see the nightlife in Chicago! It was also fun to see Danielle dance… always a good time 😉

And there you have it: Day 2 in Chicago! We had a super busy day, but since we were not in Chicago for very long, we wanted to maximize our time there. I think we succeeded in that! Check back soon for my final recap:)

Questions for you: If you’ve been to Chicago, did you do any of the things we did? How do you handle hangovers?

Guest Post: Starting Over At 27

November 8, 2013November 5, 20134 Comments

While I am in Chicago, I thought it would be fun to have a guest post for you guys! My friend, Meredith, blogs over at What Meredith Makes and is one of my most favorite people. Seriously, you cannot get a much sweeter, kinder, more genuine person. Meredith has always been one of those friends that makes me feel so much better, regardless of what I am going through. We spent many summers and many, many, many hours working together at Shaw’s Ridge Farm and I couldn’t have been happier when she moved to Boston because that meant we got to hang out more! There was one summer where I literally went out every Thursday with her and her work friends after work. Looking back, I have no idea how we did that, Mere, and then went to work on Friday… I definitely cannot manage that anymore!

Anyway, I think you’re going to love this post from Meredith. She has made some huge life changes over the past year and I couldn’t be more proud of her for them! It takes incredible strength to completely change your life, not to mention move across the world. With that said, I’m happy to have you back on the east cost in the US, Mere!

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Starting Over at 27
Hi there! I’m Meredith and I blog over at What Meredith Makes. A few fun facts: I’m a twin, I just moved back to the USA after a 9-month stint in Australia, and I love all-things dessert. Monique is one of my closest friends from home, so I was ecstatic when she started her blog, and especially honored that she asked me to guest post!

One of the things I’ve always admired about Monique is her work ethic. I mean just reading about her weekly adventures makes me tired sometimes! Balancing a full-time job in the city, plus teaching multiple classes per week and making time for her own daily work-outs, plus having a social life…that’s a lot on her plate. However, she’s doing what she loves, and loving what she’s doing, which is something I think a lot of us struggle with as we enter adulthood. I know I do. Anyway, I wanted to share why I started over at 27 and some tips about how I did it in order to pursue what I love. Whether you’re 27 or 47, I hope these help!

It seems natural as a 20-something and in the current economy to take a job out of college simply because we have to. Whether it’s because we need the money immediately, or we’re simply settling for now, we all have our reasons. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do for a career when I graduated. My degree was a BS in Business Administration, concentrating in Accounting and Literary Studies, neither of which were things I was sure I wanted to do.

Anyway, I ended up accepting a position at a financial services company in Boston and ended up working there for 4.5 years. While I loved my co-workers, I just wasn’t happy in my job. That’s not to say I didn’t try. In fact, I held four different positions over the course of those four years, trying sales, product marketing, and editorial marketing, anything I could to get more experience and find my ‘nitch’. All the while, I was researching ways to go back to school and earn a master’s degree for my true passion, nutrition. I quickly learned that a financial services company wasn’t going to reimburse me for going back for a master’s of nutrition, and they certainly didn’t support me leaving work early to do that either. I thought I was stuck, but I wasn’t. An opportunity to move abroad and begin studying overseas was what ultimately prompted my decision to ‘start over’ in my career, but here’s a few other things I did along the way:

1) I asked for help
Everyone’s situation is different, but for me, my parents knew I was unhappy at work. They just didn’t know how to help me. While it was intimidating to ask, I’m so happy I did and forever grateful. For example, when my apartment lease was up I asked my grandparents for a place to live and they took me in for two months. This helped reduce my living and car expenses greatly. Plus, my sister and parents loaned me money for a school enrollment deposit that I couldn’t have made without them, and my old boss hired me for part-time work during school breaks to supplement my income stream.

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2) I did my research
Going back to school can be very pricey. If you’re considering it, I suggest doing your research. I have a daunting list of undergrad science classes I need to complete in order to even apply for my desired Master’s program this spring, and I wanted to achieve this in the most affordable way possible. Community Colleges are the way to go in my opinion. I did price comparisons, researched the classes offered, worked with admissions, toured a few facilities, and within days I was registered for classes. Doing your research pays off, I promise!

3) I stopped comparing and instead I focus on the now, not the unknown
So your sibling gets 5 weeks off paid vacation time this year, or your friend is making x$ amount this quarter…don’t compare yourself to them. Be happy for them, and then re-focus on your goal and where you are now. At 27 years of age, I couldn’t be happier to be a student again. Having a specific goal of graduate school in the near future helps me focus, and it is also very invigorating to study a subject you love. Although it’s terrifying to not know what program I’ll be in or where I’ll be living at this time next year, worrying about that right now isn’t going to get me anywhere!

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4) I’ve made my schedule flexible
Unsure of when to take your classes? I opted to take all night classes so that I could have my weekdays and weekends free. Plus, night classes are generally full of students my age or older, which I appreciate in terms of maturity levels. In addition, taking night classes leaves an ample amount of study time for me during the day and it offers any employer a flexible schedule to work-around. I love working back in the hospitality industry after being at a desk job for almost 5 years. Change can be so refreshing! Plus, I appreciate that my schedule isn’t “set” every day. I can sleep-in a few days a week, and wearing athletic clothes all day is a plus, too. That surely didn’t happen in corporate America!

Thanks again to Monique for asking me to guest-post today. I hope you’ll head on over to my blog every now and then, too!

Thanks again, Mere, for such a great guest post topic! B2B readers- I hope you enjoyed this!

Questions for you: Have you ever made a life changing decision or move? Do you struggle with doing what makes you happy and not comparing yourself to others?

Fall Into Fitness Challenge- Recap

November 7, 2013November 6, 20137 Comments

As most of you are probably aware, throughout the month of October I participated in Athena’s Fall Into Fitness Challenge. I had previously participated in her April Arms Challenge, but only after coaxing myself into it. If you remember, when I recapped that experience, I told you I was hesitant to join the challenge since I did not want to add any more to my already busy workout schedule. Well, I am so glad I did because that challenge was what really started to get me interested in adding more lifting to my workout schedule. Since then, I have made a conscious effort to incorporate more lifting into my schedule and I’ve learned to really LOVE strength training and I look forward to my strength-only workouts. Because of this shift from cardio junkie to a more balanced approach to working out, I have noticed amazing results with regards to my arm muscle definition, ab definition and overall strength capabilities. Strictly cardio is NOT going to get you the body you dream of having; it’s a balance between cardio and strength training (and what you put into your body… that’s huge!)… trust me, I’ve been working out for years and have not seen the results I have seen recently until I got off the “cardio only” workout bus.

With that said, it should come as no surprise that when Athena started throwing around the idea of another challenge to me, I was very encouraging of her idea, and absolutely all on board to join whatever challenge it was that she was going to do. Athena and I often bounce workout ideas (formats and exercise moves) off of each other, so I knew that anything she put together would be well thought out and different from the regular ol’ boring/basic exercises we may resort to when we go to the gym.

What I loved most about the Fall Into Fitness challenge was that rather than dedicating a whole month to a certain muscle group (abs, arms, etc.), the goal was just to complete a single exercise each day for the whole month. The exercises ranged from lower body to upper body to core to cardio and everything in between! In addition, the challenge was not set up to stand as a whole workout for you, but rather just an extra move to supplement your current workout for that day. This was PERFECT for me since the last thing I really need is another 10-20 minute workout to add to my schedule. I need something that can take the place of a different exercise I was planning to do in a workout I already created… and this is exactly what I did with the “move of the day” each week.

I wasn’t the only one benefiting from “new to me” or “hey I totally forgot about that exercise!” exercises Athena had us doing throughout the challenge- my members did, too! As a fitness instructor, being introduced to new moves or reminded about old moves I hadn’t done in a while was awesome because it helped give me some new moves to incorporate into the classes that I teach each week.

It was also great motivation to do SOMETHING even on my rest days (not that I need that- if anything I need more rest, but you get the idea… it’s good to move and do something light once a day, every day in my opinion). Friday’s tended to be glute days and even though I usually rest on Friday’s, a little extra glute work is never a bad idea 😉 There was one Friday where I almost copped out on the bridge and crunch exercise because of a bad and busy day, but I sucked it up and did it and was happy I did. I may have been in jeans and drinking wine while I did the exercise, but that’s ok in my book 😉

Lastly, I loved the community aspect of the challenge. We were all encouraged to share photos of ourselves doing the various daily exercises and since I follow a number of the people participating in the challenge, I loved seeing them doing the exercises, too! It was like a virtual cheering section and showed you that EVERYONE could participate in the challenge. It didn’t matter your age, your schedule or your fitness ability because Athena offered various levels for each exercise. All that mattered was you getting out there and trying something new! That right there should serve as enough motivation to join her next challenge (rumor has it there will be one in December! 😉 )!

Thanks for such a fun way to make fitness fun, Athena! Looking forward to the next one!

Questions for you: Did you participate in Athena’s Fall Into Fitness challenge? If so, what was your favorite move? Are you motivated by challenges?

How do you handle bad days?

November 1, 2013October 30, 20136 Comments

Bad days. We all have them, right? Sometimes a “bad day” can be as simple as waking up to a rainy day (and, for those of us who take public transportation into work, this can be the cause for a bad start to the day at least!) or it can be as bad as… well, no need to go there. We’ve all had those bad days.

I had a bad day on Monday, which got me to thinking about how I handle bad days. Some days, I succumb to the bad day and let my mood totally ride on it. Granted, this doesn’t really make me feel better (wallowing in self pity and being just a generally grumpy person), but sometimes it’s hard to realize that the world is not ending because of a bad day.

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Other days, though, like Monday, for instance, I try to see the “silver lining” in my bad day. So I broke the heat in my apartment and have to pay almost $900 to get it fixed (yikes. Writing that out certainly doesn’t make it any easier to swallow)… big deal, right? Money comes and money goes and in the grand scheme of things, breaking my heat is a much better “bad day” than others I could think of. No one got hurt, no one got in trouble, no one lost anything (well, besides my money). Things could be a lot worse. I’m not going to say I didn’t dwell on this and cry (ok, I cried a lot), but I tried to accept my mistake, look at the big picture and move on.

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As I did this, I got to thinking about ways I try to make myself feel better when I’m having a bad day. I thought I’d share them with you in case you’re having a bad day and could use a reminder that things will get better!

1. Get my sweat on! Without fail, when I am having a bad day, a good sweat sesh will always make me feel better. Even if it’s just during the workout, I’ll take it! Working out helps me clear my mind and sometimes push all of my negative thoughts to the back for a bit. Endorphins released during working out are a wonderful, wonderful thing.

2. Call my mom, dad or sister (sometimes all 3). Pending on what is bothering me determines who I call. Heat issues? Sorry mom, dad was way better at making me feel better. Stress/schedule issues? Yup, mom is the person I call because she ‘gets’ it. Boy issues or any other type of issue I might be having? My sister. Sometimes it’s nice to just vent and cry and let it all out and know that the listening ear on the other end isn’t judging and isn’t thinking that I’m a crazy person.

3. Grab drinks with friends/significant other (if he/she is not the cause for your bad day! 😉 ). As I said earlier, it’s often times easier to succumb to a bad day and wallow in self pity and avoid interactions with other people, but if you can force yourself to get out, you’ll be glad you did! Not only does it help get your mind off of whatever is bothering you, friends/significant others can generally relate to your problem and help make you feel better.

4. Participate in “retail therapy”… aka, go shopping. Even if you don’t buy anything, again, going shopping gets you out of the house and that right there helps to increase your chances of getting out of your bad mood. On the other hand, buying yourself a little something to pick up your spirits is never a bad idea 🙂

5. Treat yourself to a manicure and/or pedicure or a massage. I love when I get to treat myself to one, both or all of these because it’s the one time where I am force to sit, relax and read trashy magazines… or, do nothing at all. It’s also a good time to reflect on the situation at hand that has put you in a bad mood and figure out how to get OUT of that bad mood; to accept the situation for what it is and move on with a more positive attitude.

6. Dance. Crank up your favorite jam and dance! In your underwear if you want to… no one is judging you and I can guarantee it will make you feel so much better. I was talking to my mom earlier this week and she was talking about her favorite dance class and she said that she is so happy as soon as she steps into that class and she always leaves feeling great.

It’s funny because just re-reading through those “get happy” suggestions makes me feel better. I hope I remember to come back to this post next time I have a bad day.

Bottom line, it’s important to try and take a bad day for what it is, accept it and move on. It takes so much more energy to be angry/grump/upset then it does to be happy, so next time you have a bad day, I challenge you to turn your attitude towards that bad day around and try to focus on something GOOD about your day. Mmm, k?

Questions for you: Do you wallow in self pity when you have a bad day and act as if the world is ending? Or, do you try to look at the positive and make the situation better? What is your “go to” when it comes to making you feel better when you have a bad day?

What’s going on this weekend? I am working then babysitting today, teaching tomorrow, quick day trip to Maine and then coming back to MA for a gym friend party. I hope to get prepped for my upcoming Dallas and Chicago trip on Sunday. Have a great one, friends!

Burpees to Bubbly

Because good workouts deserve bubbly rewards!

Category: Uncategorized

SCW- Boston MANIA 2013 Recap {PT 1}

Chicago: Part 2 {The Bean, Navy Pier, Boat Tour, Brewery}

Guest Post: Starting Over At 27

Fall Into Fitness Challenge- Recap

How do you handle bad days?

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