Protein powder?

I've always thought protein powder is for roided up meat heads. I've worried about what's exactly in it and have heard from nutritionists that if you get enough protein in your diet (40 mg) that you don't actually need it.

I've seen the blender bottles at the gym and my gym friends all seem to be obsessed with it. They order from bodybuilder.com and are always chatting about the latest flavors.

Maybe they've worn me down? I've seen more and more healthy recipes calling for protein powder. And I know you're supposed to get a lot of protein early in the day and because of my lactose intolerance, breakfast for me seems to be protein oatmeal, eggs or turkey sausage in an English muffin. Protein powder could give me more breakfast options? I decided to look into it.

It turns out it was a good thing I never tried protein powder. Most of it is made with milk and I am severely lactose intolerant. It would have made me sick. But I've been hearing about vegan protein powders. So I started poking around protein powder. And it all came in huge containers. I just wanted a single serve container. To see what all the fuss was about.

I found a $6 container at Kroger. It was small and plant based protein.

I thought I'd put it in a morning smoothie. Sometimes I need food before a morning workout, but don't want something heavy like turkey bacon and eggs. So before my 9:45 a.m. barre class I made a smoothie with almond milk (for calcium), a banana, pineapple, margarin oranges and some crushed ice. I added the protein powder. (It says to add it to milk, but I like my idea better).

It tasted like a milk shake! And I have had a milkshake in over 20 years. It was delightful and wonderful and filled me up. I was so happy with it, I made it the next day. (Also God bless the Lewises who gave me a bullet blender system for my wedding in 2006. It's perfect).

The protein smoothie was absolutely perfect. Filling without sitting too heavy in my stomach.

Smoothies. I've wondered what the point is if there's no protein. It's just sugar.

For me, smoothies are a way to get calcium, since I don't really like the taste of almond milk.

I've made the smoothies several times since. I know the fruit adds a lot of sugar, but I always add ice, almond or soy milk and a banana. It's pretty tasty—and a good way for me to get protein and calcium.

Cheers!

Workout Review: Above Barre

Where's Waldo? You can barely see me in this photo.

With Pure Barre ever so popular, a second barre studio opened up in Athens. My interest was piqued. Would the classes be smaller? The  memberships less expensive?

Above Barre is located next to the Omni on Atlanta Highway. It opened in late December so it hasn't even been open a month. And they're offering your first class free so I decided to try them out. The plan was to go with my sister, who took ballet in college.

I get to the parking lot and text my sister "I'm here" in case she has trouble finding it. She's not coming. Her toddler threw up in the car. Groan. So perk of Above Barre: Childcare is provided.

I go into Above Bar solo. The reception area is pretty and well lit (not a lot of chairs or space to wait). The staffers are nice. I buy a pair of Sticky-Be socks. They say "Be Calm," something I struggle with. Maybe the socks will help?

There's one lady waiting for the next class. I worry that the class will be too small.

Then the class before mine lets out. It's Barre-lates. Barre meets pilates. A few college age girls show up for the next barre class and I enter the studio. It's nice. There are two barres.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. No one told me. I look and see that everyone has a black mat, black ball and weights. I see the teacher at front and ask her. She says to get all of those and the two--pound weights. She repeats herself several times as about half the class is new.

Even before class begins, I can see that the women who come her are almost exactly the same clientele as Pure Barre. It's mostly sorority type thin, beautiful girls, with a few older women. I'm the odd one out, a little too old for college, but not 40s.

The studio seems smaller too. Pure Barre maxes out at 29 in a class. My class had about 16 and I felt the barre was pretty full. There are two barres, possibly longer than Pure Barre, which has four bars. The space is a little longer.

And class begins with marching in place. There's some arm work with the ball. And then the instructor says to do something in first position.

First position? I have no idea what this is. I've never take a dance class.

She explains it briefly as heels together toes apart in a V. She says first position a lot in this class. And second position. Which I guess is like first but more turned out? And she also calls out releves, which means something on your tip toes, she also calls out some plies, which I know vaguely what it is but not what I'm supposed to do. What are my knees doing? What are we working?

I've taken a month of barre classes, but the terms were confusing to me. I don't know what they are. Not everyone has taken dance.

The class had an arm section, which I really liked. We used the stretchy bands to work biceps, and did some arms with lunges and curtsy (does anyone know how to curtsy these days?). There were sections on the barre—seat work, which I always hate, and some open hip, toes to ceiling thing where I had no idea what to do. If your hip is open your leg is to the side not ceiling. There was the usual ball behind your knee part, where everyone drops the ball. I wasn't that impressed with the ab section. It was ball between your thighs, and lower and up with straight legs, that type of thing.

I got only one correction in arms. I needed to move my arms out with the band. So not so bad. The lady next to me seemed to be a new mom and she was really struggling with the workout. Really. She had Pure Barre 100 club socks on and I later heard her say she'd done a year at Pure Barre.

The class ended with some yoga style stretching. She called out some yoga style poses that I wasn't familiar with. She did call out Happy Baby, which I've heard of but don't quite know how to do.

Then class was over. I perused he boutique, which was nice, and ended up buying a top. (If I get a free class I usually feel compelled to buy something.) They were out of Sticky-B socks. I bought their last pair. I was really looking forward to those.

I wasn't completely wiped after the class. I ran errands for two hours, went home and walked my dog and then ran to stretch my legs out.

Pros: 
• Good arm section
•  Cute boutique
• Nice staff
• Childcare provided
•  Lots of parking (though you might have to hike)

Cons:
• I generally felt like more explanations were needed, but it's new and I've seen this happen with a lot of new instructors. (It's a new boutique. This will get worked out in time)
• I was hoping for it to be cheaper than Pure Barre, since that would be a big draw.
•  Above Barre also offers far fewer classes, 4 classes a day on most weekdays, 2 or 1 class a day on weekends, or about 20 classes a week. (Pure Barre offers 8 classes on weekdays, 2-3 on weekends, for a total of 43 classes a week).
Want a class before work? At lunch? Later than 5:30 p.m. so you don't have to rush like mad out of work and then get stuck in tragic? Above Barre doesn't have those offerings.

The instructor should explain things more. If she wants to appeal to dancers, the ballet terminology is great. If she wants a broader appeal, she should drop the ballet terminology. I wasn't that lost in the class—but I take a ton of classes. And I feel like she was teaching to someone even more hardcore than me. I'd be worried about novices.

Price comparison: Above Barre's pricing is almost identical to Pure Barre.
(Above listed first then compared to Pure Barre)

Single Class: $19 vs $21.
One month new client special, $99 vs $100.
Above Barre is currently extending this to six weeks unlimited to celebrate their grand opening. Pure Barre is doing 5 weeks for January.
Contracts: Pure Barre will occasionally offer 10% off their contracts

Three month contract:  $165 a month vs $170 a month

Six month contract: $160 a month for both
12 month contract, $150 a month for both
20 classes, $340 vs $320
10 classes, $180 for both

My Pure Barre membership is up Monday, so it would make a lot of sense to try this place out for six weeks. It would save me $75 or so. Maybe it's loyalty, but I just like Pure Barre better. They take you aside before class to make sure you know how to tuck, they tell you great job! when you leave. They try to learn your name. They explain more, which I'm realizing the importance of now. They tell you what body part you're working, explain the movement and give clarifications (don't move your knee across your chest, keep your head straight etc.) Also, I have more class options at Pure Barre.  If I did sign up for an AB membership, my only options would be 5:30 p.m. (which would be super stressful to get over there on time) or weekends.

Verdict: Great arms section. I could see myself going once a week for conditioning in addition to my running, climbing and tumbling and various other pursuits. But there's no real deal in going once a week. If I ever get tired of Pure Barre, I'd consider this.

There's definitely room for two barre studios in Athens. Pure Barre classes are always jam packed.

Bringing a GoPro to Tumbling

I got a GoPro for Christmas. I am beyond excited.

I thought I'd play with it this week and take it to Wednesday night tumbling.

I took it out of the box (which was actually super complicated and I had my husband do for me). And here are a few things about a GoPro

1) No viewfinder! You can't see what you're shooting. No one told me this!
2) You can synch it to an iPhone or iPad to control it or show you what you're shooting.
3) It's super tiny, but tough.
4) Accessories. You will spend a fortune on it.

I got a $30 pack of accessories from Amazon including a chest harness and head mount. I got the chest harness out for tumbling. Here's me doing a flip with the GoPro on my chest. I actually do two flips. I think it's super cool how I can see my feet and the camera must know I'm going to make the landing.

Here's a video of my front tuck. It's not the best because I'm still learning the GoPro. And the coach is right, my flips are low! Seeing it helps so much.

The downside of playing with the camera is that I wasn't very focused on working on my back handspring. I was a mess. Next time, I should work on what I want to work on and just get the camera out for 10 or so minutes. Then I won't be such a mess.

Next time, I want to try cartwheels and flips with the camera on my head. Or maybe put it on one of the girls who can really flip!

What else should I do with the GoPro? Any ideas?

Hopefully you'll see more (and better) videos later this year.

10 things I've learned after 10 classes of Pure Barre

1) Grippy socks are important. Wear them.

Pure Barre sells $12 black socks with colored grips on the bottom (pink, grew, purple, yellow, turquoise, blue)

It's hard to hold plank on carpet in normal socks. Wear the grippy socks and you've got a better chance of staying up.  Also, you can tell the new people by who wears their own socks. All the pros will be in black pure barre socks.

2) Everyone wears LuluLemon.
Pure Barre's unofficial sponsor of overpriced barre classes. Seriously, everyone wears Lulu. I see a girl in a super cute girl in a top that fits her perfectly and sure enough I see the little horseshoe. It's great advertising and the clothes are ridiculously cute.

3) Chair position while holding on to the barre is the worst. 
Okay, everything on the barre is the worst. The mirror might be there so you can see your grimace of pain.

4) Calf cramps are real. 
This is normal after your first few classes.
(Trick: You can roll out your calves with the red Pure Barre ball. Sit on the floor, weight on your hands, and place the ball under your calves and roll on it.)

5) Get to class early if you want a specific spot, in the back or in a corner. Usually the front has a spot or two, but the classes are full or close to it.

6) Seat means butt or ass.
The instructors won't say that a movement should come from your ass, she'll say seat. It's more zen that way, I guess.

7) They really want you to have fun with the hip thrusting at the end of class. And it gets really dark in the evening classes when the turn the lights out.

8) Pure Barre is full of pretty young things. The girls are (mostly) all 20-something, perfectly put together and beautiful. The instructors are all former dancers or cheerleaders and are drop dead gorgeous.  I don't know why more guys don't go just to ogle the girls in lululemon yoga pants.

9) It's a 10 count, not 8 count for a lot of the exercises. And I have never been so glad to get to 10 in my life.

10) It's OKAY if you get a correction from a teacher. That way you can do it better next time. It is not the end of the world. You want to get corrections so you do the exercise right and work what it was intended to work. 

Pure Barre Socks—best socks ever

The first time I went to Pure Barre I was pretty turned off by the socks. Ugh! I prefer to work out barefoot. It was also summer.

Now it's winter and I hate being cold. I'm starting to see the appeal of working out in socks.

I bought a pair of Pure Barre socks. It was kind of the lemming effect. Everyone in the class wears them and I didn't want to stick out. AND they were black and pink. My favorite color combination. So I spent $12.84 and worked out in Pure Barre socks.

They are pretty much the best socks ever. They are soft and warm. And if I work out in the morning I wear them all day. I quickly bought a second pair (in black and turquoise.) And then I wondered how many socks should I have to do Pure Barre?  Do people that go 5 times a week have 5 pairs so they only have to wash them once a week? I have some other grippy socks for other classes and I've been thinking about getting a few more pairs. I'd like the black in green, black and purple or black and white.

But I haven't been the only one mildly addicted. The stock of socks have been really low. A few days ago, there was just bright blue and yellow left. Last night when I went there were no socks left at all. The performance socks, which are $15, had been replenished, but I haven't actually asked what the difference in those socks are.

I do tend to slip on the socks when holding plank, so if they're stickier I might consider.

And apparently the socks are really a thing. You can tell the older members because they have colors not available anymore. Also, apparently when you finish 100 classes you get socks with red grips. You have to earn the red socks.

Also, the socks are so thick they take extra time to dry. Seriously, I had them in a load of laundry and everything was dry but my socks. I had to take all the laundry out of the dryer and just stick the socks in so they'd be dry enough in time for class.

The other downside: toe lint. These socks are so fluffy there's always lint on my toes afterwards.

New Year's Resolutions

I'd say 2014 was a fairly successful year fitness-wise. I learned how to flip! I got my front bounder (like a handspring but you jump two-footed into it instead of lunge jump), my right and center split, can climb a rope all the way to the top. Heck I even got the hang of battle ropes.  I started taking Matt to go climbing. I started going to tumbling. I took a few acro and handstand classes and tried a lot of new classes. I definitely want to carry that momentum into 2015.

I'm not great at making quantifiable goals. I'm not making a goal to get down to 125 pounds or run a 7 minute mile. But I'm decent at making To Do lists, so here are some of my goals and aspirations for the coming year:

1) Get my left split
2) Front tuck on the floor (with a spring board is acceptable)
3) Climb once a month
4) Keep trying new classes (once a month if I can find something new)
5) Take a class at Leap Flying Trapeze school
6) Try the 6 a.m. Pure Barre class
7) The the vertical pole class at Canopy
8) Hold a handstand for at least 5 or 10 second
9) Buy something from Lululemon. (Maybe a cute top for my birthday)
10) Keep working on 6-pack abs. (One day!)