Tag Archives: brooklyn bridge boot camp

Conquering Fall and fantastic Birthday adventures…

Posted on by

It really was the perfect birthday day.

It is the recent birthday tradition with the fella that he gets me a class of something I love: a class with one of my favorite teachers who inspire me.  Last year, it was Sadie Nardini, the amazing yoga teacher that I love, and this year it was Holly Rilinger at Flywheel. Holly was the perfect choice.  As she began to really get into the class, she started yelling at us to “conquer the Fall”, to see what you want and get it, know what you want and go. I was in the zone, all “hell, yeah” this is it. I am going to make it happen this year! Ok, admittedly at first I thought she was yelling to get the ball. To focus on what you want when entering a new season and GET IT. Knowing Holly was a former pro-ball player, I was like ok, I can get behind this analogy but after a little bit I was like…. oh FALL…. of course that makes much more sense with what she was talking about. Either way, really, it was perfect for me on the morning of my birthday.  Last year was about being myself, but THIS year is about doing.  I love when a choice for inspiration really is the right one. Holly’s class was the perfect thing on the morning of my birthday – it was not just about being a great workout (come on, it IS Flywheel and Holly, it is always going to be an awesome workout) but for me, it was also an inspiring workout. It was funny though, I ran into a friend of mine at Lululemon, who was stunned I worked out on my birthday. STUNNED. It really never occurred to me NOT to workout on my birthday. It really was more of what great class will I treat myself too??

After my amazing workout, I went home to meet up with the fella, who had also taken the day off. He made us a big brunch before we headed off to wander around Brooklyn. It was a beautiful day and we didn’t plan anything other than a good, solid walking around before heading to BK Boulders.  It is so nice to be back climbing, even if really I am not remotely where I was a few months ago skill-wise. It was still a blast. A few hours later we headed out to go to our favorite bar before Happy Hour ended… ahh, one of the unsung joys of working out lots:  a few drinks without any of the guilt!

After a late night birthday plea, because I had forgotten to sign up for my Brooklyn Bridge Bootcamp class, I woke up the next morning early and headed to the bridge. I got there in plenty of time for a beautiful morning on the bridge. It wasn’t super crowded, it wasn’t super hot and was just all in all perfect.

24 hours of perfection. Great workouts, good people, and a beautiful city to start out my new year. Does it get better than that?

(Top photo: random goodness from the internet, bottom photo: Sipping iced coffee on the Brooklyn streets on the sunny, beautiful day that was my Birthday)

The perfect weekend morning

Posted on by

When people ask me what my favorite workout in NYC is, I almost always say the Brooklyn Bridge Boot Camp with Ariane Hundt. I love starting my weekend on the Brooklyn Bridge with that class on Saturday mornings; it is such a perfect start to the weekend. Although waking up at 7:30am on the weekend is always a challenge for me, Saturday morning I managed to get myself up, made a lovely iced coffee and protein shake and left the house remarkably on time.

This summer I haven’t made it to many of the Brooklyn Bridge Boot Camp classes – either the weather has been too hot (I am a wuss when it comes to 90 + degree days) or I have been too sore from other things to go. Ariane really enjoys kicking your ass and is GOOD at it. Her classes are hard and I have known her for so long she won’t let me get away with anything. Of course, that is one of the reasons why I love her class, and really will only take her – if there is another teacher I cancel to save that class for an Ariane butt kicking. Saturday though, was such a perfect morning, sunny but not crazy hot, Ariane teaching and 15 of us – a group of first timers and veterans. Ariane is so good at gearing the class for the group level, while still making it hard for everyone individually. The class runs from the Manhattan side of the bridge to Brooklyn then back again. Filled with stops for pushups and step-ups at the benches along the way, squat and lunge stops and resistance band work, it is an intense, full body workout all while you get to really look at the amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan. Inevitably, in every class, I have that moment when I am I think: “What an gorgeous city – I can’t believe I get to live here!”.  Every time – even after all of these years. That view is such a great distraction from the hard workout at hand that you almost forget you are getting your ass handed to you.

After class, instead of taking the subway up to my favorite Greenmarket in Union Square, I decided to make use of the cool “NYC Summer Streets” to get there. I love that every year in August NYC shuts down a major street to cars from lower Manhattan to Central Park for bikers, runner, and walkers to have a huge stretch of road to play on. There were stops along the way for bike tune-ups, free bike rentals, exercise classes, free snacks and fitness magazines. Lord knows I love freebees! It was a nice 2 mile extra run, filled with great people watching and enjoying the rare opportunity to play on a huge, open, car-less street in New York.

When I got to Union Square, I stopped at Joe’s Coffee for some more iced coffee. Then it was off to the Greenmarket and a quick tool around Lululemon before heading back to Brooklyn to wander around with the fella. It really was the absolute perfect morning!

A morning doesn’t get more perfect than that.

(Top photo credit: Ariane Hundt via Facebook)