Happy Friday!
My favourite thing about summer? Half day Fridays at my office! It’s so nice to start the weekend early every week.
As of today, Josh and I have survived our first full week of home ownership. A group of raccoons decided to celebrate the occasion by breaking into our garbage cans and spreading trash all over our front lawn. Thanks guys!
Other than that, things have been running smoothly around here. Our house is finally starting to look like an actual house and not just a storage locker full of cardboard boxes. Here are the rooms that currently look presentable:
Thanks to my mom and my sister for all of the hand-me-down furniture. We still have a bit to do – paint touch ups, a bit of unpacking, hanging pictures, etc. but I’m really loving it so far. Our house gets tons of sunlight so it always feels bright and cheerful – I’m so glad we snapped this place up when we did!
In fitness news, I went back to The Clarity Centre last night to try Yoga Spin. The class is made up of a 45-minute spin workout followed by 15 minutes of yoga.
First things first, I loved the music. For me, spinning is only enjoyable if the music is good so a fun playlist is key. We also did different drills in every track (for example, doing a standing climb with our hands behind our backs to work the core and tricep push ups using the bike handles), which kept things interesting and provided a nice change up from my usual spin workout (RPM).
Another difference was that the instructor was not on her own bike, but rather standing in front of us and calling out cues. The advantage to this is that she was able to keep an eye on everyone’s form and make adjustments as needed.
The only drawback was that I had trouble getting a feel for the resistance knob on the bike but I think that’s a learning curve any rider will experience when trying out a new bike for the first time.
I kept my resistance fairly low since I wasn’t looking to go balls out (which is one of the reasons I love spin – you can make it as hard or as easy as you like so it can either be a recovery workout or the type of workout that has you ready to take a nap immediately afterwards). I chose to make it more of a recovery workout to flush out my legs, which were a little sore from the previous night’s BodyPump class (although I still feel like I got a good cardio workout).
As you can imagine, then, I really liked doing 15 minutes of yoga at the end. In most of my fitness classes, the stretches aren’t nearly long enough. I know I could go home and resume stretching on my own but, realistically, once my workout’s over with, I just want to get on with my day. So to be led through a series of poses to open up the hips and stretch out the hamstrings felt really nice.
Still on my bucket list at The Clarity Centre:
- Barre
- Aerial
- Pilates
- Ropewall
- More kettlebells (don’t think I’ll be able to make this Saturday’s class unfortunately)
- 20/20/20 (a combo of spin, resistance training and core)
- An actual yoga class (it is a yoga studio after all)
Maybe that’s a little too ambitious (my pass expires in September and I still have Groupons for kickboxing and another yoga studio that I need to use up) but we’ll see.
Have a fantastic weekend!
What are your fitness goals for summer?
![IMG_0110[1]](http://burningitoff.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/img_01101.jpg?w=150)
i love trying out new classes, i need to more of it. it gets the workout juices flowing.
Wow, half days on Fridays?! That’s awesome
The house pictures look great! Trying out new classes is always a fun thing to do, I bet an aerial class would be awesome (yet hard!).
Interesting you say about the instructor not spinning along with the class – I’ve stopped spinning at Clarity for just that reason – the instructor just stands there and shouts and it doesn’t inspire me! Everyone loves to have a “visual” in front of them to watch and follow if you are unsure. Cant imagine any of their yoga instructors leading a class without doing the poses!
So I have been searching for something better – and found an absolutely awesome instructor called Marnie who teaches a spin class on Sunday mornings at Goodlife in Hopedale Mall – honestly her enthusiasm, teaching skills and music tracks are incredible. But you have to get there early because the word is out and all 20 bikes are taken 10 minutes before class starts!!
That’s so funny, I actually went to that class this morning (I think you were on the bike behind me – I recognize your name from when she was trying to learn everyone’s names)! I’ve been going to Marnie’s class for over a year now (not every week but I try to go a couple times a month) and she is my favourite RPM instructor by far. Even when I’m tired or not really feeling like a workout, I always end up enjoying her class. Her enthusiasm is definitely contagious. Good recommendation there!!
Thanks for stopping by… (maybe I’ll see you in RPM one of these Sundays!)