- Tobacco 21 — An Idea Whose Time Has Come
- The 80/20 Rule
- Why Personalizing Your Diet and Lifestyle Is the Key to Success
- Strength Training for Women: 7 Myths
- CrossFit: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly
Dustin
Certified Personal Trainer
NASM-CPT, EMT-B
Tag Archives: Fitness
Dustin’s Health & Fitness Articles of the Week – 3/9/14
Happy Sunday Everyone! As I mentioned last week my boyfriend Dustin is working towards becoming a personal trainer. Well on Friday he passed the NASM-CPT certification exam! This means my honey is now officially certified to personally train people, which I could not be more proud of him. So now starts the journey we all know and love of finding a new job.
Last Sunday I sent out a weekly article which was inspired by my boyfriend and the weekly health and fitness articles he has been sending out to a small group of our close friends and family. With that said we decided instead of continuing to send out his weekly articles to the small group it might be better served to share the articles in a place where more people would be able to read and enjoy. Every Sunday be on the look out for Dustin’s guest post on this.
As he outlined when he first started sending the article’s to our group “Not all of the articles will interest you, some you might disagree with, some you might already be familiar with, and some you won’t even read. But my goal is to simply provide awareness and if the information interests or benefits you then that’s a plus!”
Enjoy everyone!
- Dear Mark: Are Supplements Useless?
- 10 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight When You Think You’re Doing Everything Right
- The Bad Attitude That Kills Diet And Exercise Programs
- Why You Probably Don’t Need to Eat a Gluten Free Diet
- (A) Are You As Busy As You Think?
- (B) Why “I Don’t Have Time” is a Big Fat Lie
Dustin
Certified Personal Trainer
NASM-CPT, EMT-B
Pop Physique San Francisco- No longer a Pop Virgin
As I have said before and I will probably say a few hundred times more, I am obsessed with Barre workouts! I also happen to love finding a killer deal and trying something new. So when I saw Pop Physique had a special of $45 for 5 classes I was automatically in!
Pop Physique is an LA based company which is easy to identify after visiting their website. The site radiates an allure and sex appeal to it. A well defined ladies derriere is front and center upon logging on. The bursts of neon color’s, and the “Pop Virgin?” question start to take a hold of you just taunting you to join to see what this place is all about. In San Francisco I practice Barre weekly at the Dailey Method and Avant Barre, both two very different and amazing studios. I have also tried Cardio Barre along with Barre Classes at Studio Mix. I have found most studios in the city will let you try a class for free for the first time or at a great rate for a newbie. If you are not afraid to try new workouts or going to new places I highly recommend always taking advantage of the new client specials along with looking for deals on sites like Groupon or Living Social.
I purchased my Pop Physique deal back in January, but with the location not being as convenient to my apartment and with the popularity of the place I had a tough time getting a class booked. I finally ended up just deciding to book all of my classes a few weeks in advance so I could make sure and take advantage before the expiration in April.
This morning I took the 6:00 am Pop Sculpt class. Since the studio is about 20 minutes from my place so I had to get up around 5:25 am, which I have to admit was really early! I made my way across town and I found parking pretty easily, which I think was mainly due to the early hour.
Walking into the studio you immediately feel like you have walked into a place for the elite and cool. There were several girls sitting on the side and waiting anxiously in hopes of a space opening up. I stepped in line to check in and noticed all of the well dressed, attractive, and hip girls before me. I soon made my way to the main studio which was one of the most beautiful and zen spaces I have worked out in. The room was filled with dark hard wood flooring and giant windows in the back overlooking a garden space. Overhead were giant white light fixtures that were able to give a mellow, yet warm enough glow. I grabbed my pink ball, mat, and weights and the fun began!
Pop Physique was similar to The Dailey Method and Physique 57 in that all of these studios have you incorporate weights into the workout, which I personally love for resistance training. The workouts were fast paced and challenging, but also spread out in a way that you could still feel pushed without overly exhausted. Overall and I would rate this place a 3.8 out of 5 stars. The biggest pro for Pop Physique is really the workout itself, it was awesome and I definitely got my sweat on! The space is also amazing and unlike its competitors in the city, Pop Physique will offer fantastic deals throughout the year to all clients, not just new members. The biggest cons here are there is only one studio in the city, which if you do not live close to makes it less convenient. Classes book up really fast so you have to be a pre-planner in order to get in and parking is tough on any normal business hour. However it was a great first experience and I am excited for the next 4 classes ahead of me!
Working Out in Color
After spending a week in New York city it was interesting to me just how different working out there was. In NYC you see a sea of black coats layered over muted workout attire and everyone bundled from head to toe in order to avoid the bitter cold. Packs of people march into elevators carrying garment bags and they all just blend into one another. To me it seemed the morning workout was just part of the routine, no need to stand out.
It is a completely different vibe than what you find in San Francisco. In San Francisco gyms are filled with bright, vibrant colors and bold, standout prints. People in San Francisco use working out as a way of self expression while attempting to do a downward dog in neon pink shorts and a vintage torn up t-shirt. Today I decided to embrace being back in the city and put on my bold Alo yoga pants with my bright neon custom made Nike minimalist shoes. Best bridesmaid gift ever! It feels good to be back home!
If you like the pants can be buy them here, Alo Women’s Airbrushed Legging
They have a lot of colors and patterns. Also I should mention they really hold up in a lot of different activities and are super comfy. They have turned into one of my new favorites. Enjoy!
New York City Gym and Studio Re-Cap
Physique 57
One of my favorite workouts to do in San Francisco is Barre. For those who are not familiar with Barre it is a workout that combines Pilates, yoga, and ballet moves to help make sculpted and lean muscles. It really centers on using small movements and helps to work on muscles you do not typically focus on in other types of workouts. I started practicing Barre about 6 months ago after a back injury and have become obsessed!
Physique 57 is a barre studio I had wanted to check out for a little while now. I had first learned about it this past December when I was looking for a Barre DVD to bring home with me to Colorado Springs over the holidays so I did not have to venture out in the snow every morning. After reading a lot of various reviews online Physique 57 kept coming up as one of the top choices. I ended up getting the DVD and boy was it good! I felt really worked after doing the 55 minute session. I could only imagine what the actual class was like! There currently are no locations in the Bay Area so I knew that I would have to make it a priority when I came out to NYC.
When booking my class they had a deal for new clients of buy one class and get one free, which I very much appreciated when classes were $36 each. The first class I checked out was the mixed level class on Monday from 7:00-8:00am at the 57th street location. The second class I did was the intermediate class on Thursday from 11:30-12:30. The 57th street location was not too bad at about 0.7 miles from my hotel or a pretty quick 10-15 minute walk.
I really enjoyed both of the classes and I like how Physique 57 uses weights in the class so you really feel like you are working your muscles more than if you were solely focused on body resistance. Both days had very energetic and charismatic teachers which for the 7:00am class I really needed in order to fully wake up. The studio was really clean and the amenities were great, it made getting ready before work a snap.
Overall I would give Physique 57 4 out of 5 stars. With really the one down side being the price per class and only having 3 locations in the city.
Equinox Gym
The one nice thing about staying at the Night Hotel was even though they did not have a gym themselves they were affiliated with the Rockefeller Equinox Gym, so I was able to use that facility for free. It was only 0.4 miles away or a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel and I ended up going to this gym both Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Unfortunately I was not able to take any of the classes, but the facility was large, spacious, and had a ton of machines and weights to use without being overly crowded. I also liked that they had complimentary sweat pants and t-shirts for people to use if needed.
Overall I would give Equinox 4 out of 5 stars. My friend Dana who lives in the city and uses Equinox says on average it costs about $200 a month to be a member, but the classes are great and there are so many locations it makes it easy to find something close to home or work. My feeling is if I lived in the city this would end up being my gym of choice.
Flywheel Sports
I am obsessed with Flywheel Sports! I tried it for the first time last year when I came out to NYC. They had a new member program at the time where you could try one Flywheel Spin Class and one Fly Barre class for free. Of course I tried both since it was a $32 value for each class. After my first time going I now make it a priority every time I come out to NYC. This time I ended up doing the spin class on Thursday morning from 9:30-10:15 at the Flatiron location, which was about a 1.2 mile walk from the hotel. Luckily this was my first day not working so I was able to enjoy the 30 minute walk.
The Spin class is done in a dark room with a TV screen up top so participants can opt to have their bike and stats posted throughout the class. For someone who really is driven by competing this really helps to push and motivate you. I also like how the bikes show both torque and RPM. What I find in typical spin classes it is hard to gauge how much resistance you should really have on the bike when instructors tell you what number to be at. With the Flywheel bikes it takes all of the guessing out of it. The instructor will inform you step by step where you need to be, for example between a 25-30 torque and above 80 rpm. The music is energetic and you do get to use weights in one of the song sequences which I love because then you are getting some resistance training in there as well.
Overall I would give Flywheel a 4.5 out of 5. The studio is a little small and crowded, so getting ready there on a daily basis would be hard. However it does offer free bottles of water, fresh fruit, and free shoe rentals. I just wish there was one in San Francisco!
Soul Cycle
Soul Cycle was my last class of the week on Friday morning. I did the 9:30-10:15 class in Soho, which was 0.3 miles or 5 minutes from the house I was staying at with my friend Katie. I have done Soul Cycle once before in Los Angeles so I was curious to see how the New York classes compares. The space was cool with the studio upstairs and the locker rooms downstairs.
The class took place in the typical soul cycle fashion of a pitch black room with a few candles to help guide your way. The premise of Soul Cycle is to have all of your rides to the beat of the music, which I have to say when you are in the class the music does completely over take you. I loved how the teacher kept us constantly stimulated with trying new and different moves. We would be standing, sitting, leaning back, using our arms, doing crunches, busting out weights, and anything else you could imagine doing on a bike. I left the class feeling completely worked!
Overall I would give Soul Cycle a 3.9 star out of 5 with the big reason being the cost. 1 class is $34 and you have to pay an additional $3 to rent shoes. They offer no free water or other amenities which makes doing this on a consistent basis hard. However the workout is amazing. They just opened a location in San Francisco which I plan on checking out soon.
A Week of Fitness in New York City
Traveling and exercise is not always easy. I travel quite a bit for work and in the beginning I used to get completely stressed out on how I was going to balance getting my usual sweat sessions in with the big time changes, early morning meetings, and just being in a new place where nothing is familiar. Through time I have learned you can make anything work as long as you make it a priority for yourself. I also try to look at it as a personal challenge as a way to get out and try something new that I may not do back home. In the past I was the type of person who would get really intimidated by trying a new workout or going to a new gym by myself for the first time. However the more and more I did it the easier it become and now I find it fun and exciting. It is all about building your confidence.
This past week I had the pleasure of going to New York City for work and I was able to tack on a few extra days to spend with friends, which then made it a partial vacation. Typically on business trips I stay in hotel that has a gym which makes keeping up with my routine pretty easy. However this trip my team decided to stay in a more boutique hotel which did not have that option. Prior to departing I started to get a little panicked because the weather was cold and snowy so running outside which is my typical go to work out when I find myself without a gym was not going to be an option. So I was going to have to brainstorm a plan. I got online and started googleing and yelping my way through various gyms and studios in the Big Apple. I decided to take this as an opportunity to try some new workout studios I had wanted to try along with going back to some of my favorite NYC places. Below is a quick daily log of my various workouts throughout the week. I plan on giving more detailed re-caps on the studios and gyms in the upcoming days, so stay tuned!
Sunday: 6 mile Treadmill Run at the local YMCA in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn.
Monday: 1 hour Mixed Level Barre class at Physique 57 off of 57th Street
Tuesday: 5 Mile Treadmill Run at the Rockefeller Equinox Gym
Wednesday: 7 Mile Treadmill Run at the Rockefeller Equinox Gym
Thursday: 45 minute Spin Class at Flywheel Sports in the Flatiron District followed by a 1 hour Intermediate Barre Class at Physique 57 off of 57th Street
Friday: 45 minute Spin Class at Soul Cycle in the Soho District
Weekend in Big Sur
Happy Sunday! This weekend I had the pleasure of going down to Big Sur California for my best friend Melissa’s engagement! It was a small group of her closest friends and family arranged by her now fiance as a surprise for her after he got down on one knee and popped the question.
The proposal happened around dusk last night outside the Restaurant at Ventana and was followed by great food, good wine, laughter, and games. The group shared a bunch of the delicious starters with my favorite being the truffle risotto and the tuna tartar. For my main course I ordered the Wild King Salmon, which I have to say it was some of the best Salmon I have had in a really long time. I also had to make sure and try Melissa’s pork loin wrapped in bacon with a fig jam. So good! Of course this was not the end of it. After dinner we shared pretty much every dessert on the menu and I was almost literally licked all of the plates clean. However my motto is you only have your best friend get engaged once so you need to enjoy!
This morning I awoke to a slight stomach ache from the over abundance of sugar and alcohol from the night before. So I decided the only cure was to go for a run in the beautiful Pheiffer National Park and explore. After my 6 mile run I stumbled onto a beautiful hiking trail and decided to climb up and see what it was all about. The scenery was amazing and well worth the extra effort! The trip ended up being pretty quick, but now after just having a taste of Big Sur I feel another trip is soon on the horizon
The Kale Diaries 