Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cleveland Yoga

This past weekend I was headed to our annual family party in Cleveland. My cousin suggested that while the guys were golfing we could hit up a yoga class. My cousins go to Cleveland Yoga regularly and really like their hot yoga (not Bikram) classes. But, I haven't really been practicing yoga that much lately and my other cousin (Tiffany) wanted to take a beginner class. I was game! We both signed up as a drop-in ($15- which is also the price of a 1 week unlimited for new clients).

We signed up for the 8:30 basic yoga class on Saturday. We got there a bit early and were the first ones in the room. There were cubbies (not lockers, though) at the front. You also were responsible for bringing your own mat and towel (I've gotten really spoiled by free mats and towels at Fit Girl). We signed a waiver and headed into the studio.

We were the first ones in the class and noticed the guide lines on the floor. I've never seen that before! We took a spot in the back and sat on our mats. Right when class was about to start- BAM- the room was PACKED! We even had to move our mats over to make room for people.

The instructor started in the front of the room with some basic moves. The start of the class (15-20 minutes) was all introduction and learning basic moves. At that point, I thought it was going to be super boring, to be honest. After the start, we went through a flow and I was in a familiar spot. The instructor did a nice job of circling the room and giving verbal corrections but no hands-on adjustments.

The only downfall? We hadn't signed up for a hot class but we happened to look over at the air and it was at 89 degrees. We were all DRIPPING sweat! The instructor even announced, "Well- it's hotter in here than in the hot studio today!" I forgot my towel and I was really wishing I had it after about 20 minutes!

I enjoyed the class and if I lived in Cleveland I would probably do some drop-in classes. Thanks Seth for introducing us to a new studio!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

OhhmmmmM! I went with the flow

I've been at Fit Girl since the fall but somehow I had never taken Yoga Flow...until last night! I have had a very wonky schedule lately and haven't been able to get to many classes. I typically prefer to go to morning or early evening class (early evening are out during the summer due to working) instead of late class. I got to the studio a little bit early and grabbed a mat and block. Andrea was all smiles and excited that I was finally trying her class!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've taken Spin Flow, Sculpt Fusion Yoga and Restorative Yoga but...generally speaking...I've never found yoga to be "my thing." But, after signing up for a yoga class (at Cleveland Yoga) with my cousins this weekend I figured I should take a class here first.

I LOVED IT! Class started with a group "Ohmm" and moved into some stretching. I was actually very comfortable with many of the postures and even had a lot of experience with most of them from my other classes. The flow section was familiar because of Sculpt Fusion Yoga (with Lindsey).

I even attempted a posture that I had never heard of before and seemed very hard:
Flip Dog starts off in downward dog. Then, you lift a leg straight back and into the air. Next, you bend the knee isnt a tabletop/shelf position and gently release you body around to "flip" and rest the other leg onto the floor. 

I had a super embarrassing moment (although no one flinched and no one made me feel bad)- we were all against the wall doing stretches up the wall and then had the option to go into a back bend/leg lift. I was able to do it and hold it until I fatigued. When I got fatigued I took a break and started it again. The second time, when I came down, I didn't straighten my legs. Instead, I came into a tuck position which made me slam my heels into the wall and make a loud BOOM! Oops! Andrea asked if I was okay and assured me, "The wall isn't going anywhere." Whew! I was so embarrassed!



At any rate, Thanks Andrea for helping me give yoga another shot! I'll be back on my mat soon ;)

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Paleo Pancakes





Okay,Okay! I'm posting my (not-so-SECRET) recipe for PALEO PANCAKES!

These delish treats are protein packed, sweet (almost like crepes to me) and the BEST weekend breakfast EVER!

Ingredients:
  • 1 banaana
  • 2 eggs
  • optional: sprinkle of cinnamon, blueberries, apples, coconut, strawberries, chocolate chips, etc


Directions:
  1. Crack 2 eggs, whisk 
  2. mash up 1 banana into mixture
  3. Add cinnamon
  4. Heat up butter or coconut oil in a pan
  5. Cook pancakes on medium/high heat (smaller usually come out best) until the edges bubble a bit and seem brown
  6. ENJOY!








Spin Shred did it again!

Spin Shred...oh how I love to love you!

I took Spin Shred with Liz yesterday and my legs are on fire today. Now, you'd think it would be my arms because of the crazy arm circuit...but as of yet they're feeling okay!

My legs are a different story. Maybe it was the heel-click squats, or the squat into side kicks.Oh, or maybe it was just the 40 minutes of spin included in class. Oy!

At the start of class, I was chatting with a friend (don't worry it before BEFORE class started) and then Liz starts her welcome chat. She tells us that we've got a great class with great music and a killer arm series that's sure to burn... a fellow fit girl and I locked eyes and started laughing. Liz looked at us and had a huge grin. She wasn't lying!Our arm series was killer and had many people dropping to their lightest weights or no weights at all. The very last series we ALL did without weights and it was STILL a killer! Sometimes I wish that we could have our macho guy-friends, boyfriends and husbands come in and attempt to do our workouts with "little weights" and see how they feel haha. I am SURE they couldn't keep up!

Well played Spin Shred...I'm sore. You did it again!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Carrot,Apple & Sweet Potato Mash

I had  TON of carrots that I needed to use up and wasn't sure what to make with them. I finally decided to just go steam them but as I looked in the fridge I remembered that I had a few sweet potatoes also. I have a terribly habit of letting produce spoil (although, I've gotten much better about this).

I LOVE making sweet potato mash all sweetened up for Thanksgiving and that's where I got this idea from. It's uber sweet, all natural and hit the spot! You can alter this to fit your needs. My measurements are estimates, because I didn't intend on writing the recipe to share :) BUT, once I tried it I knew I had to share with my fellow Fit Girls.

If you try it, let me know! ENJOY!


Ingredients:
2 cups of diced carrots
2 apples, diced (skin off)
2 sweet potatoes, cubed (skin off)
1/2 cup pineapple, cubed
2 tablespoons of raisins (optional)
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of grassfed butter (optional)

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to boil
Add carrots, potatoes and apples and let boil for 20-25 minutes or until the carrots are tender
Drain and place in a large bowl
Use a potato masher to mash all together
Add 1 tbsp of butter
Add pineapple and raisins
Blend in 1 tbsp of cinnamon
ENJOY!