Tag Archives: Brick Workout

FBS’s top 5 classes for 2011

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Closing out this year, I am sick, which means that I have far too much time to reflect on all of the amazing experiences I have gotten to have this year.  I have done a lot of workouts, done a huge variety of classes, and written about a lot of them here.  When I think about my top 5 experiences, it becomes a challenge…because I write about the things I love.  So, narrowing it down to a top five was a little daunting, but it turns out that there ARE a top 5 that really stand out for me when reflecting on 2011:

  1. Jesse Alexander’s 1 Year Anniversary Ride: At that point, I had just taken a handful of classes with Jesse but it fully cemented him as one of my absolute favorites. It was one of those perfect classes, where everyone there was completely, raucously invested in the ride AND the instructor was completely in the zone. At the beginning of class, no one knew why this one was so special, but there was this moment of awareness when the place erupted with love – it was awesome to witness and changed my love of Flywheel to a flat out love of the community that has been built there.

  1. Holly Rilinger’s Training Camp:  Holly is awesome. Plain and simple.  In fact, one of her Flywheel classes was the reason I finally started my blog. It was the very first thing I posted about. She just has that sort of effect on you. However, it isn’t the class that I think of anymore when I think of Holly. In September, I was chosen by Health Warrior to participate in one of her Training camps.  It was 4 weeks of getting to workout with one of the best trainers in the city, in a small group setting. It was easily a highlight of my year. It says a lot that this night owl woke up voluntarily at 4:30 a.m. to attend – and never missed a class or was late – and that by the end, I really believed in my inner athlete.

  1. AS 1 – I didn’t know what to expect, really, when I got there but the one thing I didn’t expect was to love this workout. It is one of my absolute favorite classes I tried this year, hands down. As 1 is definitely going to be in the mix in the New Year. It was hard, exhausting AND made me feel like a bad ass. I love the minimal space, the exacting coaching and the functional based training – PLUS whacking those big ropes against the ground rocks. I left tired and invigorated – the sign for me of the greatest kind of class.

  1. Brick Workout v. 2 – This year I did two Brick workouts, sponsored by the Lululemon 66th Street and Flywheel. I loved the idea of indoor cycling and running back-to-back, and it was just as hard as I thought it would be. The first one was on a perfect, beautiful, crisp fall day and was great challenging fun. The second one though, is the one I loved, since it was during the season’s freak snowstorm in October. The indoor cycling portion with Aleah Stander (Flywheel rockstar instructor) was packed, but only 4 of us made it over to the park for the 3 mile run in a snowy Central Park with Abby Bales, the run coach who amazingly motivated me to keep going in the snow AND made it seem like fun. It was a workout that made me feel like both a bad ass and an athlete. It also made me think that maybe in the new year I should try and get some more running coach time in – it made a huge difference that day!

  1. Soul Cycle with Danny Kopel: A friend of mine invited me to my second Soul Cycle class (I had really enjoyed my first with Jenny Gaither, too) and it was ridiculously fun. It felt more like being at a concert and it made it easy to see why Danny has groupies – but it was also a just a good sweaty workout too. Of the handful of Soul Cycle classes I have taken, this one was the most fun and was the one that made me know I’ll be back at some point next year.

 

Images: 1. Internet goodness 2. Flywheel’s Flatiron location for one of my many visits 3. Our first Training Camp session from Holly’s Facebook page with our Health Warrior goodie boxes 4. The As 1 space from their website 5. Another bit of internet goodness 6.  Union Square Soul Cycle studio from their website

“Brick” workout: The workout that made me feel like I was hit by a brick…

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On Saturday afternoon, I got the chance to try a “Brick” workout. A “Brick” is when you do a cycling/running back to back, two of the legs of a Triathalon – and the name apparently comes from the fact that it makes your legs feel like they are made out of bricks. It is one of those things I have wanted to try for awhile but just never have, since really, after a spin class, the last thing I have the motivation to do on my own is run! So, when I heard that Flywheel and Lululemon were teaming up to do one, I signed up right away.  Seriously, any chance to take a Flywheel class I take and to get to try something new? I’m in!

Even though MTA seemed like they were actively trying to make me miss the class, I made it up there in plenty of time to get all signed in, pick my bike and get my shoes. It seems like the UES Flywheel is a million miles away but every time I go to the studio, I am amazed by how quick it is to get there – plus the UES location is really starting to grow on me. Aleah Stander, who I have heard such great things about and who I have wanted to try for ages, taught the class.  It was such a great group of people who made it to try their hand at a Brick workout! They were so happy to be there and energetic about our unified adventure.  It made for a great time. That sort of packed, energized crowd always makes for an amazing ride. Aleah is awesome, positive, supportive and rallying – just as great as I had heard she was. Not only that but I got to ride next to Danielle, another fabulous Flywheel instructor, which totally upped my game for the ride. Did I mention I loved the group who assembled for this workout? The ride was just that: a straight spin class with no arms section, which made a few people grumble but which I loved. I mean really, we were doing a Brick, and there is no arm break in a Triathlon! As always, the ride inspired me to go all out and by the end my legs were quivering, so the idea that there was a run following that awesome class was hard to imagine.

We all gathered our stuff at the end and headed over a few blocks to the Lululemon store to get sorted into groups for our run.  I am pretty sure we lost some folks in the transition but 20 or so of us made it there. Abby Bales was the leader of the run portion of the Brick and she set about quick work of describing the route (bless her for choosing a route that ended with a downhill) and sorting us into pace groups. My group was the 10’ers and included both Aleah and Danielle. It was a 3.3 mile route but my legs really did feel like bricks so it was a really challenging 3 miles! Having the group support was awesome though and kept me going. Abby kept meeting the groups and cheering us on – which was so great! Having Abby on the trail rooting for us all was amazing. It was the first time I had ever run with a run group leader and really, I can see why people love it!

Word has it that there is going to be another “Brick” Workout again at the end of the month, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

(Photo: Abby Bales via Facebook of the Brick group at the end of our run. Our fearless leaders are in the center and that is me hiding up in the top row!)