BollyX at Boston GreenFest

On Saturday afternoon, I was part of a free BollyX fitness class, sponsored by Be Active Together, at Boston Greenfest.

It’s been way too long since I’ve taken a BollyX class and I missed it!

BollyX is a dance based fitness class with Bollywood inspired music and movement.

I have such a great time in class, even when I’m off beat, like I am in the video below.

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A post shared by Fen Tung (@wayofthefen)

I’m in the green November Project shirt

My husband joined me for an afternoon in Boston, so he took the pictures below:

After the class, we walked around Boston going to Boston Public Market, Faneuil Hall, The North End, and the Greenway, before hoping on the T home at South Station.

On the ride home, we realized my FitBit had died. I checked at home and it died at 2 PM, an hour before the BollyX class. I’ve logged the class and walk in my FitBit dashboard, but I’m a little annoyed that my FitBit friends list won’t include my 10,000+ step day.

BollyX on Newbury Street

What were you doing during the first snow storm of the season in MA (Sunday)?

If you weren’t at Athleta on Newbury Street in Boston taking a BollyX class, you missed an awesome morning workout!

We fogged the windows of the store with our hot dance moves so we ignored the crazy wet snow outside.

(I was annoyed with the snow though for forcing me to have to park in a garage instead of the free meter parking on Newbury Street on Sundays.)

Here’s a photo of all of us post class:

Between the dance class and working that evening at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation/The Joey Fund Film Premiere fundraiser, I got in 11,982 steps for the day – about 5.02 miles of walking!

I’ll share more photos from the class when they’re posted online.

BosFit

Sadly, I think I’m through with attending BostInno events for a while.

This is the 2nd event I’ve attended that they’ve hosted – that I’ve paid an admission fee for but felt it wasn’t worth it. (The other was BostonFest back in August.) My friend who asked me to join her at BostonFest said, “They market events so well that we assume they’ll be great – but then are disappointed.”

The 1st strike against BosFit was when I pulled up to the garage that they told us to park at and it was closed. The check in for BosFit started at 9 AM but the garage didn’t open till 10 AM. I put my car at a meter and dumped in quarters for the max 2 hours allowed. Now, in addition to the $24 to attend – I was out another $2 in quarters. $26 dollars for two 30 minute fitness classes just wasn’t worth it. A 1 hour BollyX class is $12.

The BollyX sessions lead by Fen & David were wonderful!

Here’s a photo from the 2nd session:

After BollyX, I attempted to try the Core Fusion Barre class.

I’m in the gray tee shirt just in front of the instructor

I’m on the ropes farthest away from the camera

The instructor for the barre class decided to stick her foot under mine and push up to move my foot higher. (Actually it was probably seconds after the picture above on the ropes was taken.) My brain channeled Mythbusters Grant Imahara and internally shouted “Something just touched me!” I was so upset that I jumped over the ropes, put my sneakers back on, and joined the BollyX session already in progress. I wouldn’t have minded if the instructor asked permission to touch me or verbally corrected my form but what she did instead bothered me.

The second BollyX session was so fun (and intense) that my glasses slid right off my face from all the sweating. I think it scared the instructor (David) more than me. The glasses were fine so I just laughed it off and put them right back on my face.

After the 2nd session, my time at the meter was up, so I decided to go home instead of moving to the garage.

BollyX and Bravo

Monday was a very stressful day.

It started when my morning commute took 3.5 hours because of flash flooding on route 9. (I made it OK but was worried I was going to stall my car out driving through water on the roads.)

Then around noon, I heard that at tornado had hit Revere, MA. I have 8 extended family members who live in Revere and thankfully everyone is safe. I called my Grandmother on my lunch break to check in with her and she told me how the sky had turned pitch black before the wind came.

Finally, just 5 minutes before closing time for my job, I discovered that my boss had accidentally deleted a report I’d spent weeks working on. She told me I’d done a great job with the report and it was very detailed. It just needed some minor changes. When I went to open the report to make the edits, a blank spreadsheet was there instead of the report. (Don’t worry – I had a back up so I’ve been able to replicate the report this morning.)

So, as the day ended I thought “I either need to go home and get some wine or go join my friends for a BollyX fitness class”.

You can probably guess from the title of this post which choice I made. (The BollyX class was fun. I got to see Andrea and Nandanie rocking their dance moves in the front row.)

This is a big behavior change for me, and in Weight Watchers, they hand out “bravo” stickers to celebrate behavior changes.

I’m glad I made the healthier for me choice and I’m hoping the extra activity in the week will lead to weight loss when I weigh in today.

 

BollyX & A Beach Walk

Nandaine, me, and Andrea

On Sunday morning, I drove to Boston for a BollyX (dance fitness) class at Athleta.

BollyX is always a great time, and this class was no exception!

I’m starting to remember some of the moves, so that makes me feel good.

The class was packed and we had a great workout!

My friends Nandaine & Andrea both took a test to become BollyX instructors later in the day.

I told Andrea that during the class I was watching her instead of the instructor to try to figure out what to do. I’m very hopeful that she and Nandaine will get good news when their test results are in. I’d totally take classes they lead!

Here’s a photo of everyone post class

After class, I met up with my husband and we both headed to Revere Beach to check out the Sand Sculpture Festival. The sculptures were very impressive and I got a good walk in to see them all and check out the vendors as well.

By the end of the day I’d earned 6 Weight Watchers activity points. Not to shabby!

BollyX

On Saturday, I joined my friends Andrea & Nandanie for a free BollyX dance class in Brookline.

Per usual, it was a blast! (But I guess I was unintentionally hiding in the back row because I’m not in any of the photos from the class. That’s OK with me though.)

I earned 3 Weight Watchers activity points from the class.

My muscles were a little sore (from New Balance Girls Night Out earlier in the week working muscles I don’t usually work) so I went light on some of the dance moves, but it was still a great workout and wicked fun class.

Back Up Plan Time – Which Workouts Do You Recommend?

I’m a little disappointed to announce that Social Boston Sports canceled it’s summer “Fit League” (boot camp) program due to low registration.

I was registered for Tuesday & Thursday night sessions that would have started tonight and run until early August.

I’ve participated in two other sessions of SBS Fit League – in 2012 & 2013. In fact – that’s where I met Jess L. – who’s turned into a great friend and fitness coach.

So, I’m trying to look at this cancellation as an opportunity to try new workouts in my new found free time.

What workouts do you recommend I try?
The only requirement for me is that sessions be available post my work day. I can get to sessions in Boston by 6:30 PM – but anything earlier than that could be a problem. (Darn rush hour traffic vortex & working till 5:30 PM in Natick, MA.)

I’m definitely looking at the schedule of Ultimate Bootcamp to see if that’s possible for me to attend now, and I’ll be heading to more Bolly X dance classes with my Bolly X obsessed friends. (I’m wicked happy to see friends that I brought to their 1st Bolly X class love it so much that they’re now training to be instructors!)

Return to BollyX

On Wednesday night, I went to a BollyX fitness (dance) class with 2 friends.

I had a wonderful time and I earned 6 Weight Watchers activity points for the day.

I love BollyX classes because they’re a great, fun, workout – even if like me you don’t get every dance move right.

I definitely needed a return to fitness classes. I haven’t been able to fit them in during the last few weeks with my crazy work schedule but I was so glad I worked it in last night.

I’m still grieving over the death of my Weight Watchers leader, Karen. I think Karen would find my going to a fitness class to work through grief instead of eating my feelings a fine tribute to her teaching at Weight Watchers. I’d like to think she was watching me and smiling. (I talked about BollyX and other fun ways I got activity in at Weight Watchers meetings, and Karen was usually amused.)

Does This Make Me Internet Famous?

One of my friends just discovered video from the BollyX class Yelp Boston hosted on March 10th.

The BollyX portion of the video starts at 3:17.

Now, you’re free to laugh at how off I was movement wise, but I was definitely having fun. In my defense, this video was taken the day I ran a 5K a few minutes before class.

Fighting Daylight Savings Time with 2 Work Outs on Monday Night

Last night, I decided to be a little nutty, and run 3 miles as part of the Cambridge 5K fun run, then head to a Yelp Boston sponsored class at BollyX. It was pretty fun, and I ended up earning 10 Weight Watchers activity points for the night. (Now that’s living life active!)

I ran with Jess & Alan. The course was nice, taking us by some pretty views in the park near the Museum of Science. (The last time I was there was for photos before my friends Marina & Mike’s wedding.) I’m looking forward to the Cambridge 5K Craicfest race on Sunday.

Here’s a photo Alan took during the run:

It’s great to live near such pretty running/walking paths. I love the Zakim bridge and it’s pretty design. It’s the bridge I drive over to get from Boston to my home in Quincy.

After the run, I had 2 glasses of water, and headed to Central Square for BollyX. I timed it perfectly, and was able to change into a short sleeve shirt before the class. (I forgot to change from my running sweatpants to the capri work out pants I brought, but oh well.)

It was a fun class with some great Boston Yelp reviewers! The instructors remembered me from my class with Just Us Gals and told me they noticed improvement in my moves. (I still can’t dance, but I wasn’t as badly off on the moves as I was in the 1st class.) Hopefully pictures don’t show me moving right when I should have been moving left or something. Regardless, I still had fun.