Pure Barre Platform Review

Today I survived Pure Barre Platform. I did not fall on my face.

Verdict: This class torches a ton of calories. This is what I need to take after going on a cupcake binge.

It really wasn't like traditional Pure Barre classes at all. Where Pure Barre is about small movements—this class is about big movements. And there's a definite adjustment needed.

I took a Wednesday night class. It was a small class of 7, including an instructor who was taking. There was another lady's her first Platform class.

I felt like a little lost sheep in the class. Like in my first class—when I just didn't know what to expect at all. I was looking around to see what others were doing a lot. And there weren't that many people to look at. I was more lost in this class than I've been trying new classes in awhile. That said, I think I'd do better next time.

The class starts with a step on and off the platform warm-up. I was the worst at this. I was also bad at the Pure Barre warmup. So this is expected. I'm so bad at choreography.

There were similar sections to Pure Barre: Warmup, obliques, leg work at barre, ab work, and cool down. And the floor work toward the end definite felt like Pure Barre so I wasn't as lost. There were lunges with pulses, familiar weight work, bring your knee to your chest, seat work. It's a full body workout.

Highlights:
• Pushups with toes on the platform. At some point over the years, I started liking pushups. (And vainly how my arms look in the Pure Barre mirror.) These were great.

• The flying leaps that are in all the ads. These are fun. (I struggled with them in general, and could do the left side better than the right, but I'll get it.)
• All the big kicking—bringing your leg from the floor to several feet up in the air. This is fun!

Low points
•  At some points it was hard to see the instructor and what I was supposed to do.
• How long we worked the right and left thighs. Way too long. Dying. I thought I'd done a leg twice by accident.
• The motions do look really crazy. This could be amusing to watch. I also don't have those fast twitch muscles you must need for this. Not sure I work at that speed.
• And ha ha. I did fall off the platform once. But not on my face. Just during leaps I missed my footing. No big.

Sweat was dripping down my arms for the whole class. I did bring a towel. And sipped on my water a lot. At the end of class, I just chucked my wet tank in my bag and put on a long sleeve shirt for outside over my sports bra. That shirt was too gross to wear home.

The class was surprisingly low impact. There wasn't too much jumping. I was worried about box jumps—like in the Body Shred class I went to. But no the leaps off the box are controlled (lock out those arms on the barre.)

I got a few corrections. I won't beat myself over this. It was really different from Pure Barre. And I think I will go again a few more times to see if I like it. Or just if I overeat and need to burn 500+ calories.

Seriously, the calorie burn was the best part of this class. My Apple Watch is super stingy with calories burned. It gives me 100 calories for a pilates class. Maybe 280-300 for a barre class, and a little less than a 100 calories per mile for a run. I burned a ton of calories in this class. (More than an hour of trampoline fitness.) And I'm confident I'd do a better job next time.

If you go:
1) You will sweat. I wouldn't recommend a cotton shirt. Wear something sweat wicking. I wished I had worn crops—but couldn't remember if you were supposed to wear full length leggings for this class.
2) Don't worry about looking stupid. I was too busy watching my feet and trying not to fall off the platform to worry about what anyone else looked like.
2) Just when you think you can't do another rep—it's time for stretching. (I love stretching breaks!)

White Trail 2: Sara 0

The white trail wins again.

Today was a running day. I couldn't run my usual trails because there was a Brad Paisley concert there. (College town. Go figure.) So I went to the botanical garden and decided to try my nemesis, the white trail, again.

I tried the white trail last month. And almost got lost and died. It was excruciating.

I'm in better running shape now, so I figured this would be easy-peasy.

The first two minutes of my run I felt great. I looked at my watch at 6:40 in and thought this was going to be bad. I was breathing hard and ready to use my asthma as an excuse.

The trail is all hills. My iPhone said the run was the equivalent of 40 flights of stairs. 40. It was a hard trail with lots of roots and rocks. There was even a piece of red mud trail grooved into the ground. It was very narrow and steep. They should rename it break-your-ankle trail. It was hills and more hills and more hills. And seemingly all uphill. No downhills. (Should I run it in reverse next time?)

And I had to walk. Ultimate fail. I had to walk a few steps here and there. I was dying. My calves were on fire. I frequently felt like I was going to barf. I haven't had a run this bad in a while. I did, however, show a group of high school runners how to power up a steep incline of stairs. #beastmode. They were staring at it like it was going to bite them. I didn't want to lose momentum so I just ran up it. They seemed to be just staring and not wanting to go.

The white trail is 3.22 miles and the botanical garden's hardest trail. I finished it in 24 minutes.

However, I finished where I started and not where the trail ended. My iPhone also said it was just over 2.5 miles at that point. So I don't know what I did there, but I didn't get officially lost. I didn't double back on purpose, but I must have gotten on another trail and then gone back to the white trail. So I finished the last part of my run with the orange trail, which was flat to down hill and I liked it so much more than miserable trail. I felt good on that trail. I guess the white trail is something to work up to. You're seriously tough if you can run this trail without walking. Forget spartan races—just try this trail.

I am so dead right now. Everything hurts. My calves, my abs. My wrist hurts from gymnastics yesterday. It's 9 p.m. and I want to go to bed already.  I haven't been so dead after a workout in a long time. Will I be able to walk tomorrow? Will I ever beat this trail? We'll see.

Other running notes:
Where do all of my headphones go? I keep losing my headphones. I had to use some crappy iPod headphones from 8 or so years ago when I couldn't find my good ones today. I did later find my new iPhone headphones in the pants I ran in on Monday (before I put them in the wash). But there's still another pair of headphones out there somewhere.

How to climb a rope - Nerdy girl style

The rope climb is a one of the stereotypical enemies of nerds in gym classes everywhere. Rope climb is for jocks. Not stringy, pale people in glasses.

Ppp-shhaaw I say to that.

We have a climbing rope in our gym. It took me months to learn to climb it. Well, kind of. We'd do pull-ups on the rope and I couldn't strong-arm my way up the ropes like the guys can. I tried and tried to climb the rope, and could get a few feet up. In frustration I googled "how to climb a rope" and it was all over. The next time I went to the gym, I climbed 3/4 of the way up. And shortly after that, all the way up. (This is the video I found most helpful. I watched it several times: http://youtu.be/uKGy8EsN0VI)

The key is a foot wrapping technique. 

1) Jump up on the rope. If there's a knot you can base your feet on, use that. Grab as high up on the rope as you can and then stand up.

2) Wrap your foot (I use my right) around the rope.(With the rope on the inside of your leg, wrap your leg outside and then tuck your foot back inside the rope. So part of the rope will be on your leg. It will go across your ankle or top of your foot and then under your foot again.)

3) Step on the wrapped foot with your other foot and pull yourself up.

4) Repeat. Keep wrapping and rewrapping. (Watch the video. She explains so much better then me.) 

5) And then come down from the climb. Just watch out for rope burn! (And the knot at the bottom. That can hurt if you come down too fast and hit the rope with your crotch.) 

This way you use your legs AND your arms to get up. The foot wrapping technique gets easier with practice. The first few times I tried it, I had to really think about it, and concentrate on rewrapping my foot. (I miss my footing once in the video.) 

Don't worry, you still get an arm workout. (It really burns my arms out. I can climb 1 time to the top max.) 

This is one of my tricks that I'm proud of—because climbing a rope is awesome. And you do have to be strong to do it. Maybe it looks impressive? #Beastmode.

With Youtube, maybe there's not an excuse not to be able to climb a rope? Except for maybe rope burn….On your thighs. That totally sucks.

Staycation Adventures: Climbing in Atlanta

Today the hubby and I went climbing at Adrenaline in Atlanta. We had a Groupon.

This shelf was NOT easy to get over.

I think it's my favorite place to climb. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The space is a tad small, but not too busy. There are lots of paths to climb—and it's very beginner friendly. So if you've never been climbing before, you can find paths to climb and have fun. Want something harder? They have paths along the roof, under a boulder. So something for everyone. They use an auto-belay, so it's easy to learn and they'll give you an intro before you start. Or you can opt out and pass their belay test—which they're super chill about.

We climbed a little, but mostly bouldered. I think I did all of the red (very beginner) bouldering paths. I found those challenging enough.

Beast Mode muscles.

Another shelf that gave me a challenge.

Matt bouldering in his Aerofit shirt.