Photo Blogging Challenge – Two

The March Photo Blogging Theme is “Two” in honor of the 2nd anniversary of the challenge.

I’ve had fun with the theme this month!

I like the mixed-messages (2) from this sign on a door in my condo basement.

(One side was worried about pipes freezing in the cold & the other about adhering to fire code.)

2 frog statues buried in the snow – Boston tadpole playground – very close to the frog pond ice skating rink

Here are my 2 badges for PAX East 2015

A delicious Panera Bread “You Pick 2” dinner

Motivation & hydration from the Essentia Fitness event!

This monthly photo blogging challenge is facilitated by PJ of the Northeast Bloggers Network.

Thanks for inspiring me to take more photos!

Chaturanga Dude

Wednesday night I joined Sweetgreen at Healthworks Back Bay for a free evening vinyasa flow yoga class.

I spoke with my Dad on the drive over and when I told him I was heading to yoga he laughed and said “After climbing stairs this morning?! You’re a glutton for punishment!” It made me laugh but I disagreed with him.

I’m still new to yoga classes, so I didn’t know most of the moves. (I never did figure out what the Chaturanga pose was.) But, I found the class relaxing and the instructor was great!

Thank you to Rachel for putting the Boston Sweetgreen passport program together. It’s a great way for me to change up my work out routine and get out of my comfort zone a bit.

Sweetgreen Passport – Nutrition + Yoga workshop

It’s hard to believe it’s October in MA and I was able to take an outdoor yoga class on Tuesday night – wearing short sleeves & capri pants! There is a unseasonable warm snap happening this week which is awesome – and I’m making the most of it!

I’m on the left in the pink shirt

Julie Starr-Wood from JSW Nutrition lead us both in the yoga class and nutrition discussion post work out.

Both the workout & nutrition discussion felt really needed to me and the timing of this on the same week I’ve starting using Fitbit to track my food & activity was perfect. I joked with Julie that I’m a “recovering Weight Watchers member”. She mentioned limiting fruit as part of a healthy diet (due to the high sugar content) and that runs very counter to WW’s “free fresh fruit” mentality. Julie’s approach to nutrition and exercise seemed very reasonable to me. She’s anti the food fads of “Superfoods” and “Juice Cleanses”. She stressed trying to eat local food as much as possible and that eating “organic” doesn’t mean much so it’s not worth putting local farms out of business that can’t afford to get an “organic” seal for their product.

Here’s the whole group post dinner & nutrition discussion

Rev + Om at Sports Club LA – SweetGreen Passport

Last night, I had a wicked fun workout at Sports Club LA thanks to SweetGreen!

Rev + Om is a hybrid class of spin followed by yoga.

The spin studio had a giant TV screen behind the instructor – which played music videos. It was great! It felt like we were spinning while watching MTV (back when it still played music videos).

The class started with the inspiring quote below showing on the TV screen

I feel that way about November Project & I don’t mind at all friends calling me “obsessed”.

Unfortunately, my stomach was giving me a little trouble last night. After the spin class I skipped the yoga in favor of a rest room and then heading home.

I’m sure the yoga portion of the class was great too but I’ve learned that I need to listen to my body when it comes to what fitness activity is appropriate.

Thanks to Rachel at SweetGreen for organizing another great free fitness class!

Boston on a Budget – Feature Friday

A huge thank you to Kate from Boston on a Budget for featuring a post from me on Friday: Free Fitness Classes from Sweetgreen Passport

Check out the post at the link above.

Cardio Pilates Summer Bootcamp on the Rose Kennedy Greenway

Over 200 people showed up for Cardio Pilates Summer Bootcamp

On Monday, 6/23, I took a free Cardio Pilates class on the Rose Kennedy Greenway lead by “Move Sweat Love” Ali Baldassare. SweetGreen Passport program listed the class in it’s monthly round up and I signed up right away.

Ali’s a great instructor and I was looking forward to a fun class with her.

The problem with outdoor yoga type work outs though is that the creepers come out to take photos and video.

Tourists who are genuinely amused by us taking photos or the photo above taken by the event organizers – I don’t mind – but this wasn’t that.

It was men being creepy and treating the women working out as objects to be filmed.

I was working out on the side of the grass closest to the path the men were filming from. I thought about shouting “Yes all women” at them, but didn’t think they’d understand what that meant. I also thought of directly calling them out on being creepy – but I didn’t think they’d hear me over the music playing during the workout.

I did however angrily stare back at men who were taking photos and/or video. (If you’re filming during a legs spread apart in the air move or downward dog pose – you are creepy! End of story!)

It really upset me. Why should my workout be ruined because technology is available to be extra creepy & film?!

If I go to a future workout on the Greenway – I’ll try to arrive earlier so I can get my mat closer to the center of the grass – so at least I won’t be able to see if people are taking photos.

 

Soulcycle

On Saturday, I got to try out the new Soulcycle location in Chestnut Hill thanks to Sweet Green Passport program.

I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t think that style of spin class is for me.

For starters – I arrived at class just when it started. (Darn GPS taking me a round about way from my house. I’d left an hour before a trip google maps said would take 20 minutes and still needed the full hour.) The room where the class is is very dark, so even though I was being lead in by a staffer, I wasn’t comfortable. My bike seat ended up being way too high for me.

The class has a lot of standing and pedaling, which is OK, but not my favorite spin move.

Then, the instructor got a little crazy and started spraying water from her bottle on people taking the class. I wear glasses so I worried water would get on them. It did & I tried to wipe it off with a towel.

I understand why others would be addicted to a class combining spin, yoga, dance moves, and weights – but I wasn’t a huge fan.

 

Cardio Dance Fusion 4/3

Thanks again to the Sweet Green Passport program, the evening on 4/3 brought me to Equinox in Boston for a Cardio Dance Fusion class lead by Ali.

I had a great time and a fun work out!

I’m uncoordinated but I still was able to mostly follow along for the 1/2 hour dance portion of the class. I especially enjoyed jumping to “Jump Around”! (Working out can and should be fun!)

The 2nd half of the class was pilates though. I’ve never done pilates before, so I was hopelessly lost – but still trying. We were on mats but when you’re lying down you can’t see the instructor at the front of the room to see what to do. Oh well though! I moved as best I could to finish a workout.

The instructor, Ali, was super motivating so I hope I have an opportunity to attend some future work outs lead by her.

I earned 2 Weight Watchers activity points from the class. (And I skipped the campaign that was offered after class – since I didn’t want to drink and replace the calories I’d just burned.)

I’ll share photos from the night when they’re posted.

Here’s a photo montage Ali shared on her Facebook page from the class:

Healthworks Cardio Sport Class 3/6

On Thursday night, I joined the Healthworks Back Bay Boston Cardio Sport class as part of the Sweet Green Passport program.

It was an intense work out – running, jumping jacks, bear crawls, squats, soccer ball stuff, and high stepping through cones.

The instructors were upbeat and helpful.

I had a cold though, so the congestion in my head combined with lots of quick up down head movement made me a bit dizzy. I ended up leaving the class a little early, but still earned 1 Weight Watchers activity point for my 1/2 hour work out.

I don’t think this is a class I’d try again because I have a horible time being a visual mimic, so something that is simple for others (like going around cones in a certain way) takes me way too long to figure out. (It’s a spacial relations thing. I also am not the person you ever want helping you try to pack a car. Tetris like problem solving makes me physically ill.)

But, I’m happy I tried the class, and it was great to see Rachel from Sweet Green again, and my friend Jessie too!

Intro to Box-Fit with George Foreman III

On Saturday, I took a free “Intro to Box-Fit with George Foreman III” class thanks to Sweet Green Passport program. It took place at his new gym in South Boston, The Club.

The gym was nice, with a beautiful locker room and plenty of room for different types of activities for working out.

Our Intro to Box-Fit class was mostly circuit training. We started with some stretches and then jumped right in. I began at the speed bag (picture below). Then, I moved to doing squats with ropes. (That felt like being on the Biggest Loser.) Following that, I moved to suspension, hanging my body weight backwards by 1 arm on a band hanging from the ceiling. (I wasn’t a fan of that one, because I was very afraid my sweaty hand would slip and I’d fall.) Then, it was lots of strength training with weighted bars and kettle bells. Followed by rowing machines, mats to do crunches where your whole body folded in half (crazy!), and then spin bikes were we had to stand and spin. (My legs were still sore from spin class on Thursday, so that was painful.) Finally, I was back at the boxing area, taking on the heavy bags.

Don’t worry, I did raise my arms when I actually punched the bag.

I enjoy boxing on Wii Fit, so I’m glad I got out and tried a real boxing work out. I think I’d really enjoy it (on a day when my muscles were fresh).

Here’s a picture of the whole SweetGreen group after the work out:

A huge “Thank You!” to SweetGreen for hosting another fun free work out, and to Rachel (front row, center in the picture) for managing the SweetGreen passport program in Boston!