Category Archives: Bootcamp

Finally Trying Uplift & The Awesomeness of the Classivity Passport

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This last month, I have gotten the chance to play with the awesome Classtivity Passport. The Passport, gives you the option to book 10 classes within the month for $49 – that is just nuts, especially with studios like As One, Revolve, Uplift, Sacred Sounds and so many more as options. This month has been slightly crazy and I haven’t remotely gotten to as many classes as I had hoped to, but I flat out love the idea of the Passport!  Uplift Studio

One of my favorite things about the Passport is that it finally got me to go to Uplift – a studio that has been lingering on my list of places to try for far to long. In general, I don’t like the idea of “women’s only” fitness studios – I think a great class should be for everyone and so I just kept putting off going. However, last week, I really wanted to use a Passport class and Uplift happened to be the one that fit in my schedule. Since no one ever said: “Uplift is almost directly across the street from Eatly” – I assumed it was much further down on 23rd street and ended up practically running to the studio after I figured it out.  Seriously, people.  How did no one ever mention the proximity to the ridiculously awesome Italian food superstore??

Uplift is a beautiful studio – really, just flat out pretty but not remotely “girly”, which was what I was expecting. Clean & open with a small glassed-in studio on one side and a personal training area on the opposite side, with a few comfy chairs and a library that you can actually borrow books from.  Leanne, one of the owners, was manning the front desk when I walked in and gave me the layout of the studio and pointed me in the direction of the locker room. I snagged one of the super soft hand towels on the counter and ran off to get ready for class. I tossed my stuff into a locker and went to join the rest of the class, who’d gotten there in a much less harried way!

liz-barnetIn Uplift’s new class format there are two class versions – Strength and Cardio.  I took Strength with Liz Barnet. It was a fun, solid class that had a bootcamp style pace to it with weight work, focusing on one body part at a time, followed by a 4 minute Tabata-style cardio bursts in between each section. It was a fun class that went by really fast -Liz was great, with solid cueing and the ability to keep the class fun, even when we were dripping with sweat. I was also legitimately sore the next day – which surprised me a little!

After class, I made my way back to the locker room and was sorry I didn’t have time to take advantage of the luxe space – which was seemingly filled with everything you could possibly ever want for getting ready to venture out again into the world.  I grabbed my stuff and realized I just wanted to hang out at Uplift all day… apparently, I was totally wrong about how awesome a women’s only studio could be.

Mostly I think you are wonderfulPicture of Uplift Studio from their Facebook page, photo of Liz from the Uplift website and bottom image just a little bit of internet goodness.

Ready To Work: Exceed Physical Culture With Ed Cashin

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This week I finally made it up to Exceed Physical Culture to take a class. I have been hearing about how great the UES studio is for ages, so even though the “full body” description was a little vague, I knew I would be in good hands with one of the founders, Ed Cashin.

Exceed2 Ed has 25-years of personal training experience where he specializes in TRX, Russian Kettlebell and sport-specific training. Exceed Physical Culture was started because of his belief that “clients should have a facility that allows them to vary their workouts in an atmosphere that inspires results.” I don’t know why but I was shocked when I made it to Exceed and found the stunning street level studio. The main space is large with a glassed-off space in the back where the group classes are held – the space even includes Monkey Bars! The rest of the space that includes another downstairs studio, is used for personal training.  When I got there on Monday morning, the studio was filled to the brim with people working hard – always an inspiring sight to walk into!  I hurried downstairs to the changing room, stashed my stuff and made my way back up to class. I was ready to work.

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I met Ed and he gave me a brief overview of how the class would go before it started. We were going to be doing 4 stations per round – rowing/jump rope, TRX, Bosu Ball and a Kettlebell station with a pushup “break” in between each round.

After a brief dynamic warm-up session, we were broken into groups of four and did each exercise for time. The change up in this class was that the time at each station was based on whatever group was doing rowing. Each time, the rowers were given a distance in meters to hit and everyone else went at their station until the rowers covered that distance!

XCD1Exceed7There were 18 people in the class – which seemed huge for the small group space but once the class started, it never seemed crowded at all. I started out on the Bosu ball.  Ed described the first move, a push up with one hand on the Bosu ball with a belly slap with the other hand when I came up.  I knew I was in for a fun, ass-kicking session if that was the starter move!  Next station, I was on the jump rope and got a chance to scope out the room.  It was a fit crew and each station had some fun, challenging move – at TRX there was a one legged squat with leg lift, Kettlebells started out with a squat with press up. For the following rounds, each station had a new move that Ed would explain during our pushup “break.” I was so impressed with his ability to mix in so many creative and challenging moves using so few props!

Exceed4This class kicked my ass and I loved every single minute of it. In each round there were moves I had never tried before –and I loved the competitive cardio on the rower thrown into the mix. Knowing that the whole class was counting on me to get those meters done so they could move on made me haul ass. It was so fun to have all of these challenging new moves and really see what I could do. At each station, for every round, I was impressed with Ed’s ability to always be there, checking everyone’s form constantly – that kind of attention and focus on form is what makes a challenging class absolutely amazing.  I can’t wait to go back… and I really want to try out those monkey bars!

 

Photos and awesome video by Eric Stafford, Stafford Sports Media

The Stoked Trilogy: Kira Stokes’ Primal, Abs & 360 at Reebok Sports Club/NY

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It’s been almost a year since I first caught a glimpse of Kira Stokes‘ “Stoked Primal” class and somehow in all of the recent talk about Primal, I had forgotten how HARD I thought it looked. So on Monday night, when I arranged to finally go check it out, when Kira said “Come, but really, you want to do all three right?” – my immediate response was “Of course!”

KIra Stokes Primal PantherThe Stoked Monday Trilogy at the awesome Reebok Sports Club on the UWS starts at 5:30pm with the 30 minute Primal. Described as “an intense 30-minute conditioning class utilizing your own body weight.  Glide, crawl, jump, push and pull your way to a more powerful, agile and toned body.” Based on animal movements, you spend the majority of the class on all fours going back and forth across the room. There were lots of moving variation planks with pushups and low crouching squat jumps onto all fours. As Kira demonstrated each of the successive moves she always looked amazing, strong and graceful. I did not. However, I had a lot of fun trying! It is a class where you really just have to get over how you look while trying out the fun and challenging Primal moves, because for the most part, I never looked once like Kira’s inspiring demonstration! I was ok at Gorilla, Bullfrog, Bear and Monkey, basically any of the least plank-like moves, but anything that resembled a low plank/pushup combo I was terrible at. Apparently, I also lack any sort of cat-like grace since my Panther was a lumbering, gimpy beast! I always think that 30 minute classes aren’t challenging enough to be a class on their own but Primal thoroughly kicked my ass. I do think that some of the moves could benefit from making the class 45 minutes – just so that there was more time to break down the moves into pieces. A little time with some of the set-ups would be helpful, although I doubt even that would have helped my sad panther! The “Primal” moves though, in that quick 30 minutes session, hit every single inch – 15 minutes into the class my legs, core and arms were quivering, I was dripping in sweat and having a ridiculously good time!  Of course by the end, I wondered how I was going to make it through the next two classes….

Next up was Stoked Abs, another short class, this one only 15 minutes. Kira is ripped and this class is filled with her signature Ab moves. For a brief moment I was really excited that we got to lay down for a little while, but I swear, Kira gets even harder when she knows she only has you for a few minutes and we immediately launched into a tough ab routine that killed me. Filled with so many crunch variations, constant unique moves to hit each section of your abs and ending with pike-ups with your feet on gliders.  It was an intense quick workout!

believe you can and you are halfway there

The third and final class of the Monday night Stoked series is Stoked 360. It is a 75 minute, “All-encompassing total body workout. This class combines elements of traditional and functional conditioning, with high intensity cardiovascular intervals and body weight exercises.”  I’ve written about this great class before, here, but once again I thought it was awesome. Kira does every set in this challenging class 3 times – “Once to learn it. Once to know it. Once to exhaustion.” A stickler on form, Kira’s constant attention to what everyone is doing and making sure all class members are doing each move correctly is always awesome to see. Each set has 3 moves, strength, plyo and a stretching/balance version and in each set all the moves are planned so that they flow easily from one into the next. While she demonstrates what the next set will be, everyone jumps rope to keep up their heart rate, which is always my least favorite part since it is hard for me to really focus on what she is showing us without just continually whacking myself in the legs. It is, of course, a meticulously planned class, as all of Kira’s classes always are, and every single muscle is targeted from head to toe.

Each class was fun, challenging and intense and I was ridiculously proud that I made it through all three but I’m really going to have to practice some of those Stoked Primal moves before I go back! My Gimpy Panther just isn’t cool….

 

Top photo Kira Stokes demonstrating how the Panther is supposed to look from her Facebook page. Quote just a little bit of internet goodness.

Training For Warriors at Body Space Fitness With Kelvin Gary & The Fierce Fitness Crew

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Body Space Fitness1 Recently, I got the chance to check out Body Space Fitness when they offered a few free trial classes for their upcoming “Training for Warriors” program.  This training gym, which offers a few weekly small group classes but is mostly used for personal training, is one of the coolest gyms I’ve seen. It includes a couple of my favorite fun gym tools – the Prowler and battling ropes, but the coolest thing is the fact that half the space is covered in Astroturf, which is just awesome and practical.

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“Training for Warriors” is a training system developed by expert sports coach Martin Rooney “from his numerous years of experience working with combat and team sports athletes.” It is a system designed to take you through metabolic challenges and strength work to teach athletes cutting edge techniques to keep them at their best. Body Space Fitness is getting ready to start an intensive, 8-week small group program for TFW that will meet 3 times per week.

The first class trial I went to, taught by founder of Body Space Fitness Kelvin Gary, I dragged Julia from FitJourney with me. We had such a ridiculously good time that we arranged to bring a fierce fitness crew to check out BSF the following weekend. It was just too good not to share. So on Saturday, we went there with Holly Rilinger, SinWorkouts and Jolene, which made for a ridiculously kickass group. Kelvin had us all start out with foam rollers since we had all come from other workouts, while he told us about the TFW workout.

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We started out with some dynamic stretching and a brief warm-up before moving into the workout. This class was slightly different from the first one and included 6 stations that we rotated through three times. It included the Prowler- which I always love to push around, battling ropes, TRX back rows, an agility speed work ladder, and this awesome but ridiculously hard plank move with sandbag pull-through. We did 40 seconds of work, with 30 seconds to rest/rotate to the next session. It was one of those awesome crews were everyone is really focused but also super supportive so there was a lot of hooting, hollering and high-fives. Does it get better than that when you are getting your ass kicked? For the final section we finished with a round of sprints on the treadmill, medicine ball twists and bicep curl/shoulder presses. The class FLEW by and by the end I was wiped out but seriously happy to have gotten to workout with such a fierce crew.

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Kelvin was awesome, just like in my first class with him, motivating everyone and keeping an eagle eye on form at each station.  His passion about training and about making sure that people are getting the most out of their session with him is always evident. Body Space Fitness is his vision and he is dedicated to keeping the classes small so that people get that kind of personal attention in any class that happens there. In a training group where you are being challenged like in TFW, that is huge. I can’t even imagine the amazing results people are going to get from 8 weeks of the Training for Warriors challenge…but I can’t wait to see!

Photos and video by Eric Stafford, Stafford Sports Media

Lacey Stone’s Extreme Bootcamp! App Launch Celebration

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Whenever there is a chance to workout with Lacey Stone, I will pretty much drop everything and be there. So when I got the invite from Well & Good about attending the launch party for Lacey’s “Extreme Bootcamp!” app recently, there was never any question that I would go.

The event to celebrate her app was held at the Appcession Studios. Twenty of us showed up at the beautiful open studio to get our workout on with Lacey before the party portion of the night! One of the cool portions of the evening was that while we were there, we could download the workouts for free. I managed to download all of them but one! Sweet! I’ve been dying to try out her workouts when in a pinch and looking for a workout that I can do when I am not in NYC!

LS 10 FBS Awesomely, one of my favorite workout partners in crime, SinWorkouts, was there too, so we made our way to the front and got ready to sweat it out with Lacey. The workout was based on the new app, which is a combination of her extremely popular “Booty Camp” and the “Big Game” class she developed while at Equinox. For that evening’s workout, Lacey was dividing it into 4 quarters, just like in a game. Her inner basketball player was out in full force. On the app, every move is broken down into stages from beginner to extreme – and for the launch we did each level.

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Of course Sin and I were having a wildly good time up in the front having our asses handed to us by Lacey, sweat pouring off of us and huge grins plastered on our faces. There wasn’t anywhere else I would have wanted to be.  After what seemed like endless rounds, when we finally got to the move I’d seen in previews and just shook my head at the extreme version of the “star jump” – I did actually for a brief moment think oh HELL no…. but it turned out to be an actually fun move. It is basically a squat jump where at the top of the move, you slap your thighs when you are off the ground – I truly thought it was a move that was just not going to happen but I actually managed it ok and even liked the damn thing!

LS 4 FBSIn the third quarter, we had a push-up contest, where Lacey warned us she would tap us out if our form sagged and that knees weren’t allowed. I lasted till almost the end, and didn’t get tapped out (which I was proud of) but really, at a certain point, I knew Sin and Neda from Fitist were going to win so I bowed out before my arms gave out and I face planted! That last quarter was a blur because I was so tired. It was one of those workouts were you are so whipped that you are practically giddy.  To me, that is the sign of a great instructor. Someone who can kick your ass and still leave you smiling.  After the team circle at the end that ended on a cheer of “TOGETHER!”, Lacey popped a bottle of champagne and we started the party….

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Photos by Eric Stafford, Stafford Sports Media

Training at Niketown: Holly Rilinger and the Nike Training Club

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NTC Holly RilingerOn Sunday morning, I woke up ridiculously early to make it to the final Nike Training Club Session with Nike Master Trainer, Holly Rilinger,  a series of 3 special NTC classes held inside Niketown on 57th Street.  I was bound and determined to make it to at least one.  The NTC sessions are held inside the sports mecca before it opens and getting to go into this fitness addict’s version of FAO Schwartz while it was empty really was amazing.

Making my way up to the 3rd floor where the shoe department had been cleared out to make way for the class, I started to get really excited about what Holly had planned for us. Out of the 20 or so people there, I only knew a handful but they quickly gave me the lowdown on what to expect.  Holly’s NTC sessions where obviously based on the Nike Women’s fitness app but also on her own popular bootcamps where she gives a joyful, high-spirited team take on the minute intervals.

Agility Drill with Holly Rilinger

Holly kicked off the workout with everyone in a circle pounding on the ground with a “GO team” yell to get everyone out of their sleepy Sunday morning state and kicked up the energy of the room. It certainly woke me up! Then the large group was split into two, with Holly planted in the middle and everyone facing into her.  We quickly launched into a dynamic movement warmup – lots of fast feet (our go to between any exercise), high knees, butt kicks and a move she called the “backup dancer”, which I hadn’t had nearly enough coffee to actually perform. It’s funny, I normally feel like store classes are easy versions of any workout, but this one wasn’t even a tiny bit easy from the moment it started. We did minute intervals of burpees, squats, jumping lunges, v-ups, Frogs (these moves that were just an evil variation of a burpee), jumping jacks, pushups, speed skaters and situps. Holly, of course, included some agility drills too– which I was terrible at but loved. Those drills and all the classic bootcamp moves, combined with Holly’s infectious joy and determination, made for a really hard but wildly fun workout.

Someone once told me “If you stop when there is less then a minute left, it is your mind that gave up, not your body” – so minute interval based workouts destroy me, since I kill myself to keep going. Of course, Holly is also so ridiculously motivating that I can’t ever imagine quitting on anything she asks me to do in a workout. By the time we gathered for our final team circle, I was wiped out and blissfully happy. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

I am so glad I made it to the final one of 2012!  I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Holly’s Nike Training Club sessions in 2013….

Photos and Video by Eric Stafford, Stafford Sports Media

Lacey Stone & The Epic Launch

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“Free for a workout with celeb trainer, Lacey Stone?” – the answer to that question is always going to be an immediate “yes!”. So, before I even opened the email with that heading, I knew I was 100% in for whatever the workout entailed. Turns out, Lacey was going to be in NYC for a special workout for the launch of Epic’s new state-of-the-art treadmill at Dick’s Sporting Goods. The workout would give us all a chance to both try the new machine and to get our butts kicked by Lacey in one of her famously fun bootcamps. 

The event started with an overview of the machine by Lacey and one of Epic’s technical team and they went through some of the cool features, like automatic adjustable height and storing miles logged for each user, a super cushioned belt, WiFi and full internet capabilities. It seemed like an awesome treadmill for someone else but I didn’t really get the point of having the WiFi on it because really, I think you should focus on running while on the treadmill, not surfing the internet. That said, the thing about having the internet access is that the treadmill has the capacity to link up to Google maps, allowing you to run simulated routes anywhere in the world using all of the data that Gmaps has collected. It would be awesome for race training, allowing you to practice on what the terrain would really be like. For the demo, we ran a route in Scotland and the machine automatically adjusted to the various inclines (and declines too!) of the route and all the while, you got to watch the street view of where you were running. The techno geek in me LOVED it and it made running on the treadmill SO much more fun. Really, there are actually a lot of useful things about the treadmills having the WiFi feature for data collection and tracking progress – but really, that running through the streets of far away places is just freaking rad.

The workout was divided into 4 rounds of 10 minute sections, which meant that you got one round on the treadmill for “a mile for time race” and 3 bootcamp rounds on the floor. The way we were broken up, my treadmill section was the first round. It was fun to immediately get to play with the fancy machine but I wish I had been a little warmed up before starting out – my time was not so pretty. Of course, there wasn’t a chance in hell I would have come close to winning when the top three logged sub-8 minute miles – the people in that room were a fierce group! For me, the next 30 minutes were spent on the floor, where we had two simple props, a step and a 6-pound medicine ball. The rounds on the floor – filled with lots of lunges, squats and creative medicine ball moves -were ridiculously fun, as every class I have ever taken with Lacey always is. That woman knows how to bring the fun while kicking your ass. It is such a gift – which is why at every opportunity, I’ll drop everything and go to one of her classes if given the chance.

At the end of the workout, along with the top 3 runners’ winner gift certificates to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lacey also drew a name out of a jar for someone to win one of the awesome Epic treadmills we had just gotten to play with! I SO wanted it but the lady who did win it, was also the fastest runner there and was so giddy about winning it that I was glad she won! I do covet it though….

 

Photos and video by Eric Stafford.

Sweaty Saturday at Peak Performance With Joe Dowdell: A Prowler, Sled, and Battling Ropes… Oh My!

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This weekend, as part of the “Sweaty Saturday” event, Peak Performance opened their private training facility to put on 3 very special classes.  The one I took was led by none other than Joe Dowdell.  Seriously, if Joe, the founder of Peak, celebrity trainer and go-to fitness authority for magazines like Men’s Health, Shape, Women’s Health and Fitness (to name a few), is teaching a rare class for the masses, I am goin to be there!  That said, I really didn’t have any idea what a metabolic training class would actually consist of when I signed up…

It was my second class of the day and when I made it up to the amazing Peak Performance, I was heavily in one of those moods where I just wanted to bag everything and call it a day. However, the minute the elevator doors opened on the awesome, loft-like space of Peak and I see the smiling face of Kindra, Peak’s General Manager, I snapped out of my funk. This was going to be fun – no matter what the class was really going to be! The group that had gathered for the rare treat of a Peak class was a solid group of 14 fellow fitness fiends who knew what a treat this was and came to work. We paired up and then got around to working out.  The first few minutes were a dynamic warm up section before Joe got around to explaining the class. The class was a basic HIIT class, 30 seconds on, 30 off, but ramped up with all of Peak’s killer toys. There were 8 stations and we were set to go for 3 rounds. As Joe went through the stations I got more and more excited. After he was done with the quick run through, we were all sent off to pick a station to start with – I ended up at the battling ropes as the lead-off station. My partner, who had run to the lockers and saw where we were starting, sort of looked at me like she wanted to kick me but quickly rallied. We cheered and clapped for each other for the entire class, it was surprisingly awesome to have a partner because it meant that you had someone rooting for you all the way through!

Our circuit was:

1. The battling ropes

2. Treadmill sprints with the machine in dynamic mode (which is when you have to move the belt with your own power)

3. A 10 lb medicine ball slam and catch station

4. The Prowler

5. A weighted sled rope pull

6. TRX squat

7. Powermax 360 (a push-pull machine often used for fight training, that I did not love)

8. A low box shuffle-squat

Of the stations, I found almost all of them both ridiculously challenging and freaking awesome. There is something so satisfying about pushing yourself that hard. I also loved that there were other trainers on the floor checking on our form every second. During the weighted sled pull, there was a trainer pulling the rope out from under us, so that the minute that the sled hit our feet, we ran to the end of the rope to start again. The whole time though, our form was being coached – “chest up! Squat deeper!” – I love that kind of attention to detail. During the medicine ball throw, Joe would yell to really get our arms above our heads and “slam it like you mean it!”.

Midway through the 2nd round I wondered how I could possibly make it through another round. That 3rd round was brutal but at each station, when I knew it was the last time I would face it, I pushed harder. As I told my partner – if I sit down, I am not sure I’ll get up – I have to keep going. It was awesome. It was a challenging hour and I haven’t worked that hard in ages.

I loved every second of it.

Top photo and headshot of Joe Dowdell from the Peak Performance Facebook page, bottom quote a little internet goodness….

#MakeTheRules & Trust Your Magic: A Celebration of Title IX with Lacey Stone

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When I originally heard that Lacey Stone would be returning to NYC to host a Nike event, my immediate reaction was I have to go. I mean seriously? How could it not be amazing? The event was part of a series that Nike was doing all over the country to celebrate the passage of Title IX and the effect it had on women in sports. As a former Division 1 player, a celebrated trainer who brings an infectious joy to every workout, it is no wonder that Nike asked Lacey Stone to return to her passionate New York fan base and lead that day’s event. The fact that Holly Rilinger, who is always joyous and inspiring herself, was going to be a support trainer as part of Lacey’s Nike event, made it seem seriously like a NYC Dream Team. I didn’t know the third trainer, Chelsey Pagana, but I was pretty sure if she was part of that team, she is someone who I should be keeping an eye out for.

My friend, SINworkouts, set about corralling a huge group of us to get together and attend the event. Everyone’s immediate answer was “Oh HELL yes, I’ll be there” and it turned out we were a rowdy, raucous group of women. The event itself was an all day thing but the crew I was with really came for Lacey’s workout, the one that was wrapping up the event. A few of the group made it to the workout before but I didn’t, since really, except for special exceptions, if it doesn’t relate to training for the Tri, it just isn’t happening right now. Because I was ridiculously excited about this event, I got there over an hour before Lacey and Holly were supposed to take the stage. I registered and was handed a #MakeTheRules tank top, which was awesome because I didn’t have any Nike gear on and at a Nike event, that just seemed wrong! I slipped on my rocking new tank and made my way into the event, which was taking place on Pier 46, a cool Astroturf workout space on the West Side Highway. The field was outfitted for the day with a huge stage and the event was filled with all sorts of kick-ass, fit people who had come to celebrate women in sports. Since I wasn’t remotely the only one who had showed up early, the hour flew by hanging out with the rowdy crew.

When it was finally time to head out to the field, our crew was first out and we made our way over to where Holly was and promptly formed a pre-game huddle around her. Holly was fully reveling in the magnitude of the Nike Women event and led us in a dancing, clapping celebration of the moment. People started flooding the field around us and the wave of joy had spread out like a wildfire.

Lacey was introduced and the crowd erupted and moved forward towards the stage. She talked about the idea of #MakeThe Rules and not letting anyone dictate what you are capable of and in total Lacey style, summarized it as “trust your magic” – which really is a pretty perfect statement (You can watch the video of that moment on her blog).   As Lacey took in the crowd, she also noticed how the crowd was now ahead of the platforms that Holly and Chelsea, her two teammates for the event, were stationed on and just wasn’t having it. Lacey, who easily could have kept that big Nike stage and spotlight for herself, yelled at them to get up there with her so everyone could see them. I imagine it never occurred to her that to do anything else. It was the right thing to do. However, when it boils down to it, the star player often forgets that and what she did in a split second was act as a TEAMMATE and during an event celebrating women’s sports, it was a beautiful thing to witness.

I have taken only a handful of classes with Lacey and while I have loved them all, she truly shined at this one. The workout was based on the Nike Training Club app and the images of famous athletes doing the same moves would flash on the side screens. But really, there was no way to take your eyes off the dynamos in front of us. I will say that for a 1/2 hour workout, it was REALLY hard! (I obviously will have to actually start using my NTC app because geeze, who knew it was really that good?). The fact that she made following along to a computer monitor workout feel like her own is such a crazy, impressive skill. It is hard enough to be challenging, fun and engaging with a crowd that large – which she is brilliant at – but to do it with an extra disconnecting step of following something else is stunning. Lacey made the workout fun and had fun with it. Holly and Chelsea, who were un-miked behind her, did the moves with a fierce energy and commitment, occasionally jumping out into the crowd to spur people on, which was awesome. It was hard to take your eyes off the three of them up there on that stage. They seriously killed it. As a crowd, we cheered almost continuously, even through the pushups and squats. It was just one of those days when the energy of the moment and the people assembled is just so special, you could practically see it vibrating. At the end of the workout, the electric energy had settled over everyone and we all knew that we had gotten the chance to participate in something that was truly epic.

All photos taken by Eric C Stafford for the FBS blog

Live Young, Get Fit Event with Jackie Warner & evian water

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On Saturday, evian water sponsored an event as part of their “Live Young, Get Fit” campaign that brought Jackie Warner to NYC as part of a multi-city tour. From the moment I heard she was going to be in town leading a workout, I knew I had to go. What can I say? I loved her show on Bravo “Workout” and had seen her kick a lot of people’s asses in the gym and wanted to experience it first hand.

I was so excited about getting the chance to ask Jackie a few questions before the main event so I left really early to get there in time to meet with her before everyone else started to show up.  I arrived at South Street Seaport with plenty of time, settled onto one of the decks and just took in the amazing view of Brooklyn across the river. I never get down there so getting the chance to chill, to just marvel in the view before the hustle of being at the event, was a treat.

It was really interesting to get a chance to talk to Jackie Warner one on one about her 15 years of experience and the process of putting together the home based workouts that she teaches in her books and in her online platform Jackiewarner.com. Apparently, over the years, she has compiled a notebook of over a 1000 different exercise to pull from, which makes it easy for her to put together her effective home programs. I have to say, I would LOVE to see that masterlog of exercises that she has collect over her time working with different trainers and owning two separate gyms! Since classes are really my focus though, I asked Jackie about what kind of classes she recommends for people.

Jackie: “ No doubt about it, Barry’s Bootcamp – because Barry’s Bootcamp involves high intensity interval training with resistance training. If someone likes classes and they really want to lose weight, want to do it quickly, I ALWAYS put them on Barry’s Bootcamp. I believe it is a very sound program.”

Before I let her go though, I had to find out why she is so anti the modified pushup because after watching the first of the evian water events stream, that was the one thing I was really curious about. Her answer was pretty straightforward.  The pushup is about core strength and she would rather you do 5 regular ones than 20 modified ones to gain strength in your core. Interestingly, you are supposed to round your back slightly so that your core engages. Pretty sure I never do that normally but I certainly tried to when I finally got out the workout!

After my quick chat with Jackie, I join everyone else who had begun to show up for the day’s awesome event. It was such a kickass crew of people who where there and it was so fun to catch up with so many fitness friends. I swear, NYC has such an inspiring group of workout fanatics! The outdoor event was held in the sand at the beer garden and I had assumed that there would be mats on top of that. So I  was sort of surprised that there weren’t any mats out when I arrived but really, it hardly even mattered.  We were there to workout with Jackie. A little sand never killed anyone. Jackie, on the other hand, once she took the stage, was a little more blunt about it “Wait, there are no mats for them? Oh, you are going to get so dirty and you are going to HATE me. The first set called “The 300″, is 10 push ups, 20 situps and 10 squats, NOW GO!!” It was after that first set that we all knew just exactly how dirty were where going to get and we just had to go with it and have fun – at least that is what SINworkouts and I tried to do. We were distinctly the rowdy girls of the group, hooting and hollering and just having fun.

The workout was basically sets comprised of two different but complimenting movements, done twice. Jackie would explain & demonstrate the movement, then watch us as we did it – which made for a stop and go feeling in the class. SIN and I had way too much fun trying to sync our movements, though, and more than a few times, Jackie shot us a comical look. I don’t think she knew what to do with two people who were having so much fun while still doing the exercises. I think she is used to people looking like she is trying to kill them! Jackie’s style of instructing is very serious and really, there is a portion of the workout that felt more like a group personal training session than a group class – which isn’t a bad thing at all,  just different.

The workout was, at its core, a bootcamp style workout, which I always like. Working out in the sand was HARD though and it made a lot of the exercises and combos feel much harder than they should have. I seriously felt that workout the next day!  By the end, we were all really sweaty and the sand was plastered to our backs, arms and legs – we were also starting to dig little trenches around ourselves, turning up weird things in the sand – drinking straws, bottle caps, even a lemon at one point – but by the time that happened, it all just seemed funny. It was a great, challenging workout and I loved getting to finally workout with Jackie Warner, even if it was more than a little dirty!

After the workout, there was a Q&A with Jackie where she answered the audience questions about working out, food choices and supplements. A  couple of interesting facts came up – if you drink 3 liters of water a day, you burn 33% more calories a day (good to know!) and Jackie works out 6 times a week with one day of active rest. I wasn’t taking notes, though, because at that point, I was just sitting in the sand basking in the sun that had finally come out and had just completed a great workout!  Although, I do know no one asked my final question in the one on one: “what is your drink of choice?” Jackie’s answer, by the way, is a “Grey Goose Dirty Martini”.  So, if you see her out, you now know what to order! You can’t be healthy ALL of the time…

Photos taken by Eric C Stafford for the FBS blog.