2016 fitness goal REVIEWED

How did I do with my fitness goals. I couldn't remember what they were. So that's not a good start.

Looks like I accomplished 5 of my goals. I made progress. And my goals changed over the year.


Classes to try. (3/4 accomplished)
1. Try a class at Blast.  (Interval training with treadmills) I lost interest in this A LONG TIME AGO.
2. Take a yoga class. DONE. Took tons of yoga classes. Hooray.
3. Try a barre class at Ramsey. DONE. Took a few of these. Didn't like the teacher. Found classes I liked better.
4. Try a SUP yoga class.  DONE

Running goals. (1/2 accomplished)
5. Run a 5k. DONE. Ran a trail 5K in August.
6. 7 minute mile. I stopped doing speed work in the fall. Didn't get any faster this year :(

Tumbling goals. (Progress made.)
7. Connect fly springs. Getting there. Better than last year, but not quite.
8. Walk overs. Not there yet. Oh well.
9. Touch my feet to my head. Stopped working on this.
10. 10 second handstand. Maybe? Definitely can do 7 seconds.
11. Practice handstands at home. (Daily?) Haha. Didn't do this.

General goals
12. Conquer the Ninja course at Rush. I got to the third ring or so. And then they got a whole new ninja course.
13. Try another flying trapeze place. Bonus: Get my cutaway! Tried trapeze at two new rigs!
14. Get a body composition test done. Never had time.
15. Stay on budget with fitness clothes. (Spend less money at Lululemon). Haha. Not spending money on barre really helped me not spend as much money in general. So if I take cheaper classes I can buy more lulu.
16. Active wear brands to try: Goldsheep, Alala, Sweaty Betty, Heroine Sport, Michi, Koral Activewear, Albion Fit. Tried Sweaty Betty to mixed results.

New Brand: Sweaty Betty

I've heard a lot of great things about Sweaty Betty, a London-based activewear brand. It's know for quality and is really popular across the pond. Betty. Bloggers rave about it. I read about women in head to toe Sweaty Betty in books set in England ("Girl on the Train" for example.) I described it to a friend as the UK's Lululemon.

It's a brand I wanted to try. And then three things happened:

Navasana Reversible 3/4 Yoga Leggings

1) Sweaty Betty kept sending me emails for a GORGEOUS printed crop. That was reversible. I love printed crops but usually wear them once and never again. Because I prefer to wear black. This is the perfect solution. I needed these crops. The print was amazing and bumped it to the top of my want list.
2) Sweaty Betty has a 20% off sale.
3) It was my birthday so I used it as an excuse to buy more things for me.

I ordered these crops March 26th. They shipped March 29th from England. There was no tracking number. I got them April 8. So there's a timeline if you wonder how long they'll take to ship. (I think their website said expect 5-10 business days after you get the shipping email.)

I got these crops in the mail Friday. I opened the package. They sent me a Sweaty Betty shopper, which was nice. The crops were also in a nice grey bag (kind of like a shoe bag.) It was a nice touch.

I've already used the shopper. Since EVERYONE at the gym has adopted the Lulu shopper as their carryall (seriously it's so much more common than it used to be), I used my Sweaty Betty shopper for barre that Saturday.

First thoughts
1) The fabric on the crops was ridiculously luxe and soft. I loved it.
2) The colors were really pretty.

I went ahead and tried the crops on. They looked smaller than what I was expecting. But they stretched and fit perfectly. (I'm a 6 in lulu and a small in SB.)

Small in Sweaty Betty to a size 6 in Lululeemon Wunder Under.
The waist was about an inch smaller.

Overall a 6 in Lulu is about the same as a small in Sweaty Betty

The crops hit me at a nice length.

The pattern didn't line up in the back. But I didn't really care.

I showed them to a coworker, who made a face. I think she thought they were loud and not something she'd wear. But then she said she liked them for me. By the end of the day, she'd changed her mind and said they were amazing.

I liked them so much I wanted to wear them immediately. Only the teal top I had for spinning didn't match. I wore them to barre instead the next day. (I needed to wear them ASAP.) I wore them with a black Lululemon Cool Racer Back. I'd really wanted to match the crops, but I couldn't find a purple that was the right color. And Sweaty Betty didn't have a matching tank on their website.

HARD TO MATCH PRINT? I'm going to try to see what other than black matches these crops. I tried the new Lululemon Cool Racerback in deep zinfandel. It's not an exact match but it matches okay.

Sweaty Betty has eight stores in the U.S. right now, in the NY/NJ area and L.A. So nowhere near me. Though I do want to go to NY this summer.

Might be my favorite new brand. The crops are more comfortable than Werkshop.

And Sweaty Betty prices are about the same as Lululemon. Maybe slightly more. These crops were, with discount, $100. Shipping was free. No sales tax. I did get charged a $3 foreign transaction fee on my credit card. Lulu Wunder Unders are $88, and might be more if they're reversible. So similar in price.

HOW THEY HELD UP
I wore these to HIIT Barre. Which is a barre class on caffeine and steroids. It's those hard barre moves with LOTS of jumping. I sweat so much in this class. My hair looks like I've been swimming. I just drip sweat. So I usually wear black crops to  this class. I thought since these were lined in black they'd fare okay. They were great. Soft throughout. They didn't show crotch sweat. They weren't terribly sweaty like some crops might be. I'd say they wick sweat well.

I've worn them twice. I love them. They're just so soft. The fabric is great. The colors are beautiful.
And I can't wait until my next Sweaty Betty purchase. LOVE.

Above Barre Groupon

I'm gymless for about two weeks in December, so I bought a steal of a Groupon to Above Barre.

I'd been eying it for awhile—and was waiting for am extra percentage off. Between the extra percentage off and knowing I'd need some fitness classes over the holidays (when everything including my usually gyms and studios are closed) I decided it was worth the money.

I knew I liked barre classes. They're low impact (which is great for all the over-use injuries I get from running.) And the deal averaged out to about $5 a class. Awesome.

A few days before Christmas I went to redeem my Groupon.

There was a pretty hard sell to get me to a one-month contract. Which honestly, didn't make sense to me. I just stared at the girl. I bought 10 classes to use over the holidays. Why would a one-month plan be any better? I don't need an Omni membership. I don't plan on taking unlimited barre in January.

I explained to the girl that I was looking for a once-a-week option, that I had other classes I regularly took. She told me about their $59 once a week plan. So I'd change my $50 10-class Groupon for a 4-class Groupon? I continued staring at the girl—and said I was sure they'd have New Year's deals when I was done with my Groupon.

After that unpleasantness, the class was good. The instructor had a kind, fun energy. It was much better than the class I took back in January of last year. There were less ballet terms. There was more equipment and variety in the exercises. The clientele had also changed (in part to the college students going home for break) and it was more moms, grandmas, and grad school aged women. There were less co-eds. And there are also more class times, including more evening times when I can make it. (So good changes from my last visit.)

I had told the teacher it was my first class there—and she was pretty impressed with my form. (Thanks Pure Barre).

I went back a few more times. (I haven't used all 10 visits yet. Because the weather's been nice enough to run outside on a few days and I've picked up some free classes here and there.) And I've enjoyed the classes. There's less work on pointe, less barre holds (which I don't really like).

The class works your core. There's an abs series they do, that involves scissors and bicycles. There's arm work. They have weights and they use bands for exercises at the barre (Almost like Pure Barre's velcro band classes). I've done curls, back flies, pullups and more with the bands. There's the usual leg work—on pointe, lots of calf, hip flexor work. And the class ends with stretching and some yoga poses.

Above Barre also offers more variety in classes.

They have a Core Express class, which focuses more on abs and is 45 minutes. I really liked this class and hope to go again.

There's also a HIIT class, which is barre with more cardio and harder options. Really liked this class too.

And some of the instructors teach harder classes than others. I feel like I need to take another one of Hillary's classes. I remember really liking the toughness of her class.

 I've liked all of the teachers and all of the classes. I haven't had a bad experience.

The classes were smaller—in part because it was holiday break.

The difference between this and Pure Barre?
1. Not as much Lululemon at Above Barre. Girls were wearing Under Armour, Fila and regular—not luxe activewear.
2. There's a larger variety in equipment. More bands etc at Above Barre.
3. The classes all vary as do Pure Barre. A class with one of AB's veteran instructors is going to be similar to a class with a veteran Pure Barre teacher. There's a set formula of warmup, barre work, arms, abs, cool down etc for classes at each studio—with slightly different variations depending on the instructor and day.
4. Pure Barre keeps their studio slightly warmer.
5. Pure Barre's classes are more crowded (and have a younger, Greeker clientele.) PB has a larger studio and can accommodate 29-34 people.
—In January, most of Pure Barre's classes are waitlisted. I've never had that problem at Above Barre. This might only be a problem for January and Platform classes.
6. The Pure Barre instructors look like they hopped out of magazine. AB has normal looking instructors—beauties, moms, fitness enthusiasts.

Both are barre workouts. I'm not sure who has the edge, really. I like classes at both places. Classes at Above Barre have improved a lot since my last visit. Pure Barre is an established chain. And Above Barre is a barre method studio—they're popping up everywhere.

If you want a membership to a big gym (Omni) or childcare, Above Barre probably has the advantage.

Pure Barre was the first barre studio in Athens—and now there are also classes at UGA (on my list to try) and I did try a mini barre class at Above Body studio. I should do a full class and give you a review.

But taking any fitness class is a step in the right direction.

Happy tucking!

(Update: I liked their HIIT barre class so much I purchased a 5 pack of classes. It burns the same amount of calories as Pure Barre Platform, without Platforms choreography that I suck at, and without two week wait lists.)

Review: Splits59

How I wore it: Black and white crops + neon

Splits59 is a brand I first heard about in barre class. It's one of the brands the teachers wear and the studio sells.

I've been drooling over these black and white crops in a numbers print since the summer. (1. Love black and white. 2. Love mesh cutouts.  3. Love numbers. I obsessively count things.) I didn't want to pay $116 for them so I waited for a sale. And waited, and waited. I think I waited four months for these crops.

Finally, I gave in and ordered them with 10% off and free shipping from Splits59. (Not a deal. I did find them 15% off with shipping elsewhere and I don't like to pay shipping so I went with the Splits59 retail store.) And the crops took 10 days to get here. My plan was to get them before the Black Friday sales so I would know what size to order when there were sales. Unfortunately for me, the crops arrived the Tuesday after cyber Monday. (Seriously, clothes I bought Saturday from California with free shipping got to me faster.)

When the crops finally got here—I didn't really want them any more because it took so long. And they were too small.

Splits59 Sizing

I'm 5'5, 130 pounds with an athletic build. I don't have a narrow waist. I'm kind of boy shaped—straight up and down, but have narrow hips for my build.

I'm pretty solidly a size small (Victoria's Secret, Under Armour, Fabletics.) I wear a 6 in Lululemon bottoms. (Have fit into a 4 before.)

I had no idea how Splits59 sizing ran. I went by their size guide that said 27" waist and 37" hips is a small. (My hips fall in the XS range.)

But overall, they run WAY SMALL. In fact, I wear a medium in Werkshop, but their website does explicitly state to order a size up. Splits doesn't do this. Their website even says true to size. I say their sizing is a full size small. (Lululemon size 6 = Splits59 medium.)

Size small shown over a Lululemon size 6.
The small is much smaller than a 6 through the whole leg. 

Small above, medium below. 

An inch smaller in the waist.

Splits59 medium has the exact same waist
as a 6 in Lululemon. 

I did email customer service about sizing and got a response 3 days later with a link to their sizing guide (that I'd already looked at.) By then, I'd already ordered. In this instant world, that's too long.

Pros
Splits59 does ship in a pretty box.

The print is cool and has a sexy mesh insert.

Cons
Their return policy is you have 7 days to make a return and you can't return sale items of 30% off or more. I ordered with 10% off so I could return.

And you have to email from an RMA, which didn’t take that long. It was relatively painless, but not as easy as an Athleta return.

Meh
Also, I do like the look of the crops, but they're very cottony. For that much money I was expecting super technical racing fabric, not something that felt slightly more like sweat pants than cotton Wunder Unders. Seriously, they look like they have a sheen online.

Verdict:
I do actually love these crops. The print is amazing. They're fun to wear :)

I ended up buying a Medium from ShopBop during their Black Friday sale for $30 cheaper than what I paid from Splits. And Shopbop has a better return policy.

I'm not sure I'm in love with this brand. I bought an overpriced Splits 59 tank this summer and wore it once and hated it. I didn't like how low it draped in the front. I know I would wear a sports bra under it, but the back was so narrow, it looks tacky to wear even a racer back. I think on sale the tank ended up being $64, which was too much money, but I think I just handed my card blindly over thinking the tank couldn't have been more than $40 on sale and didn't realize the price until I was out of state.

If I order a Splits59 product again, it will be from another online retailer. They're sold at ShopBop, Revolve, Bandier, Nordstrom, Carbon38 and more.

(Note: They clearanced this style on black Friday and I think it's sold out. Bandier still has a few pairs of the full length legging with just a numbers print at the bottom.)

Really loved this outfit. Black and white + neon. I thought white would have been too obvious a choice and my hot pink tank was dirty. Loved the neon green. I paired it with a pink Athleta half zip. I think any super saturated color would go with these crops. I can't wait to match them with something else.  

New brand for activewear: Werkshop

Mastering the awkward picture. 

Dragon crops. OMG. I'm in love.

I really like to have workout clothes that standout and when I saw these Wekshop dragon crops I knew I had to have them. They are so bad ass. And dragons! I love dragons. 

I got these in the mail and immediately wanted to wear them. But I decided the girls in my barre class weren't bad ass enough to appreciate them, so I wore them to flying trapeze, which seems like the most appropriate place to wear dragon crops. Hello flying?

Blooper real from flying trapeze. Keep your feet together and don't ball up your fists. Maybe I just felt like Super Man? 

I tried them on and my first thought was SQUISH. They are very compressive. But not too compressive to move in. They were fine for flying trapeze—a lot of piking and balling your body up. I had no issues.

These are a light colored and I had no issues with opacity, because the detailing around the butt is dark. I had black underwear on and it didn't show through and didn't show lines. The inside of the pant is white. 

And I really liked the detailing on the butt—the horns. I thought it made my butt look cute, but dangerous ;) 

And apparently, you can wear these with a swimsuit for SUP yoga. (SUP yoga classes were sold out when I tried to sign up recently.) 

Fit: Runs small. I'm a 6 in Lulu and ordered a medium in these. They fit quite snugly. I've never worn a large in my life, but I might try one on to see how it fit. That said, the medium is the right size.

My husband said he wanted a pair. An XL would probably be too small for him. The owner of trapeze said he wanted a pair too. I think he needs a pair.

Verdict: I love these crops. On my budget, I can almost afford a new pair a month ($88 plus $5 shipping). I want the panther ones, and the octopus one. Who am I kidding? I want them all. Werkshop does a great job of making appealing prints: Hearts for Valentines Day, butterflies, fruits, kale—all sorts of themes. 

Fingers crossed for a Labor Day sale. 

Review: Rese Activewear

I first heard of Rese Activewear from a girl at my barre class. She had on the cutest yellow tank with petal detail on it. I loved it. She said Rese. I looked them up online and loved their mesh inset crops and some of their tuxedo crops.

Then, my barre studio started carrying Rese leggings with the cool mesh detail. And I had to have them. I found myself eyeing the mesh crops online again.

Rese will send you a 20% coupon to use on the first order. Note: You have to use it within the first 48 hours.

Add caption

I bought the Natalie crop in Imperial Violet. I have enough black crops and wanted another dark color. I bought it because I just love the color. I didn't spend $100 so I ended up paying $8 in shipping. I did get the crops in two days though. (Note: I was never sent a tracking number, which I thought was odd.)

I really love the color on these crops. It's a rich dark purple. I wore them to barre crop the day after I got them. (I was that excited to get them.) They did not show sweat, which I was really worried about. (Also, everyone always wears black bottoms to barre class. I was the only one in purple. Yippee!)

The crops were comfy, hit my calves at a good length! (without cutting into my legs likes some brands do). They were pretty classic crops: a solid color.

Downside: The fabric wrinkles easily and does show underwear lines, like some of my thinner crops.

No bells and whistles on these babies, though. I was looking for a credit card pocket like so many crops have. These have no pockets. Which, if you're going to be similar in price to Wunder Unders (These were $68 before the coupon, and Lulu is $72) then I expect a similar quality.

I think these were a little pricey for what they were.

That said, if I could get a 30% off sale I'd try some of their other crops. I really wanted their Mia Capri, but have a few other mesh inset crops and couldn't justify buying them. I still have my eye on them and a few others.

Sizing: Runs true to size.

I got a small. I'm 5'5, 130. I wear a 6 in Lulu and small in Fabletics, Under Armour, Nike, most other brands. These small fit and were identical when held against a pair of Victoria Secret crops in small.

I also bought a white tank. I've been on a hunt for a white tank lately. I do flying trapeze and you get chalk all over you. I figured a white tank A) wouldn't show chalk and 2) might show up in pictures better for night classes.

The problem is I hate white clothing. I tend to spill a lot and cannot keep it clean. Also, I've tried on a ton of white tank tops. They are all see through. Can't someone make a nice think white tank?

I was perusing the Rese page and decided to take a chance on a white tank in their sale section.

Bonus: The 20% coupon does work on their sale.

The Stacey tank was on sale for $21 (from $70.) That minus 20% and I figured it was worth a shot.

I like the tank more than I thought I would. It's a nice thick material. It does have a shelf bra—but I'd still have to wear a padded bra under it so my headlights wouldn't be on display (A yoga bra wasn't cutting it.). And it does show my abs through the fabric.

The tank is indeed long. I'd probably tuck 1-2 inches under. But this is great if you're tall or have a long torso. It's definitely on the nicer side of tanks and a pretty good quality. The small fit as expected and similar to other brands. Also, it did not make me look lumpy. Lulu CRB's aren't cut right for boy-shaped girls like me (my waist isn't waspy) and I thought it looked flattering from behind.

The downside was there weren't preview colors of all the tanks on the website. So this really was a blind leap. I'll chalk that up to Rese being a relatively new company.

Overall, I'm happy with my purchases. If I come across another sale or coupon code, I'd buy from them again. (Pockets would be a nice addition though.)

Rush Fitness

A little over two years ago (two years and a week) I started my fitness journey with a fitness class at Aerofit. I was hooked.  So today I took one of the first Rush fitness classes. (Rush is the expanded version of Aerofit.)

Picture of Rush from their FB page

There were 6 people in the class, one of which was an employee, and three teachers.

The class started with some stretching, then it was in four parts.
1. Cardio on the trampoline.
2. Intervals on the ninja course
3. Handstands on the dodgeball course/ tricep dips/ pushups on the benches
4. Abs back on the trampolines where we started.

Cardio consisted of jumping high, jumping jacks, some of Alex's favorite bring your knees up and slap your knees. Each exercise was about two minutes each.This was good cardio. I got tired fast and babied my overused knee. (I wore a brace and numbed it with voltarin gel before class.) I would have preferred more variety of exercises for 60-90 second bursts. I get bored fast.

Then it was over to the ninja wall. The circuit was 10 pushups, climb across the rope net, wall sit, swim across the foam pit, lunge back to the starting point, and repeat four or so times. This was super tiring. People were complaining. (The day after and my shoulders and killing me for doing too many pushups.)

We did some tricep dips on the benches. Well the instructor and I did. Everyone else had that glazed look in their eyes. Then it was incline pushups for 2 minutes. (More pushups!) We did some handstands against the barriers on the dodgeball course. I got a few good holds. Then some bearwalks.

Then it was back over to the trampolines for abs. We started with buttdrops, did some scissors and popcorn jumps and that was it.

I stayed around and did some bounders and played on the trampolines into the foam pit for a bit and headed out right at 10 a.m.

Verdict: A relatively new class that I'll be interested to see how it's polished up in coming months. I love trampolines and want to incorporate them into my fitness routine. We'll see if this class—or open jump makes the cut.

Pros: I was tired afterward. The variety of the trampolines, the ninja course and the dodgeball course was nice. All of the exercises were very doable. No need for super skills. The instructors were right there with the tired participants.

Cons: There was lots of down time that could have been better used. It seemed a tad unorganized with all of direction changes. Also, I would have liked to use more of the ninja course. Can we run across the spinning log? Climb across the rock wall. Will you show me how to do the spiderman climb? Also, they didn't use the vertical trampolines. A cardio warmup of just running laps might have been more interesting than 5 minutes of jumping in place. There were also too many pushups. We did a few different kinds and it was too repetitive when we could have done different exercises and worked on different areas.

I didn't love the class. It didn't have that same magic Aerofit classes had, but I'll give it time, but honestly I probably won't be back for a while for the class. I think I could do a better workout on my own.

Fabletics: cancel my membership

It's been a year and I'm canceling my Fabletics membership.

Top reasons
1. I don't like their new rewards program.
I was THIS close to getting a new free outfit—anything I wanted. And then they changed the rewards program so now I'm THIS close to getting free crappy sale stuff that isn't selling. Seriously, there is nothing in the rewards section that tempts me. It's cheap tanks and sports bras with no support. I contacted customer service about how this new program screwed me over and the canned email suggested I buy a new outfit to look fabulous this weekend. ?? Really?

2. I don't actually wear most of the Fabletics clothes I've purchased.
• The sports bras offer no support.
• The capri's cut into my calves and don't hold up well after washing.
• And the tanks are just cheap and make me look like I have lumps when I don't. (I've tried up a size, it doesn't help.)
• I wear my stuff from other brands more. I don't need more stuff I won't wear.

3. I don't like their outfits concepts. I have a lot of athletic clothes. I might want a pair of capris or a top. But never is everything I want in the same outfit. It's cheaper to buy an outfit when crops are $40 and you have to pay $8 shipping, but shipping is free when you spend $50. So I end up buying outfits and then returning them. And it takes forever for the returns to process. I'd rather buy a top or a pair of shorts, not get a top I'll never wear because it's as cheap as shopping.

4. I'd rather save my money and buy Lululemon.

My overall impression of Fabletics: It was fun for a little while. I had fun ordering outfits, but I just don't wear the clothes I bought from them.

Should you try it? You might like it.

There are some other subscription boxes I'd like to try.

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.

Fabletics Women's Sportswear: my review

Sample outfits on Fabletics.

I am always on the hunt for cute workout clothes—preferably on sale.

I kept getting Pandora pop-up ads for Fabletics. They were on my radar for cute workout wear, but I could never find the cute capris in the ads actually in stock.

By chance I happened to click on Fabletics on the first of the month when they release new products. And I found some capris that I had to have. I bought them immediately.

I went ahead and signed up for the VIP membership. They're an online subscription retailer where you can buy an outfit every month. If you sign up for the VIP membership, you can get better prices, but  the catch is you have to remember to login the first of every month to buy or decline the month. I could live with that, I thought (though I do have huge doubts.)

They also have a new member signup deal where your first outfit is $25. The catch is you have 48 hours from signing up to redeem that deal. So only sign up for their service if you want to buy immediately. I'd signed up a few months ago for their service (not the VIP membership), so I couldn't get the $25 deal. And I didn't really want any outfits. (I have a ton of workout clothes). I just wanted the capris (cute capris that aren't black are hard to find.)

For my first time ordering, I got 20% off the capris. It took a while to get a shipping confirmation, but after that they came in shortly. And they were the wrong size. I'me between a small and an extra-small in workout pants. I opted for the xs, because that's what they said a size 4 was. I'm a 4. I couldn't even fit my thigh in those pants.

I exchanged them. And exchanges are easy enough. You exchange them online. And when you put the return pair in the mail, they'll send out the new pair. (During this time, I was worried that they would sell out of the smalls.) Finally, my capris came in the mail. The smalls fit. They seemed to be a good quality. The exchange was free and I was happy about that.

First capri I ordered from Fabletics.

The next month, I wanted a pair of printed capris and it took forever to find an outfit I liked. (The site sells workout wear in terms on outfits. See image at top.)I like the bottoms and the tops, but never in the combinations they pick out. And when an outfit is $50 and the pants are $40 it makes sense to go ahead and buy the outfit. I found two outfits with the tops and bottoms I liked—and when I went to order that night, a lot of the styles that were there that morning were already sold out. I picked an outfit, added a top in the sale section and they offered me another top for $10 so I added that for my August outfit.

The outfit came in the mail. The capris (now that I know what size I am) are adorable and I wore them right away. The sale top was a lot cheaper than it looked online, but was okay. The top that came with the outfit and the $10 add-on tops were extremely cheap. I took one look at them and knew they were going back. They were also huge. I went ahead and ordered a small—after having to order up in the capris, but the small was way too big.

This top was cheaper than it looked, but for $20 it was okay.
TjMaxx has the same kind of stuff for the same price, and you can try their clothes on.

This top runs big, is super cheap and I had to call to return it.

I tried to send these tops back online, like I did last month. Only I couldn't. It said I had to call their 800 number and talk to someone weekdays between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. It was 8:50 p.m. when they sent me this message so I called them the next day. I was only hold for about 4 minutes before getting a girl who called herself O'Hara (what Indian girl calls themself O'Hara? And clearly she was at an overseas call center. Very thick accent.) It took five minutes for her to understand that I wanted to exchange two tops for a pair of capris. And then she returned one top for the capris and gave me a refund for the other top. It took her a while to figure out that I wanted the RIO RUN CAPRI IN BLUE LAVA. I said that like 10 times. Why I had to talk to her to do this, I don't know. It was annoying. I'd rather do this online. But no language barrier.

But a least she let me return the items. I was worried, I was going to have to dispute the charge on my credit card and/or cancel my Fab membership. I was fully prepared for this conversation.

Then, the return label she promised me took forever to get to me. I expected it to be in my inbox when I hung up the phone—that's the speed of email. But after our 9:30 a.m. conversation I got the return label at 6 p.m. After the post office closed. So much for having that taken care of that day.

Verdict: Would I recommend this service? Maybe.

I HATE that you have to buy in outfits. I never like two of the pieces that come together. I like some of the tops and some of the bottoms, but not in the combinations they choose. I just have a lot of workout tanks and don't need their tanks.

Their tops are EXTREMELY CHEAP. I might never buy another tank from them again. I like dry-fit performance tanks—not cheap see-through cotton.

That said, they do have a good variety of workout wear, that other ladies at the gym probably won't be wearing.

Sizing: I think their pants run small and their tops run big.

Annoyances: Their wish list feature currently isn't working. Their search is also not user-friendly. You can search by products by name (desio, flourish, but can't search for "blue tank" or "pink lava capri".

VIP membership. I'm very way of this. I don't mind checking in on the first of the month. That's easy enough to remember, but I worry it will be a pain in the ass to cancel in a few months when I'm tired of this service (when my husband yells at me for having too many workout clothes. It's probably deserved. It's an addiction.)