Lulu in the office: Super comfy work pants

I'm always on the lookout for workout clothes that I can covertly wear to the office. At Lululemon, I eyed a pair of Jet Crop Slims that looked like I could wear to work. I took them into the fitting room and couldn't not buy them.

They were so comfy. I wore them to work the next day with heels and a long top. It worked great. I'm 5'5 and these pants are the perfect ankle length on me. (Note: Inseam on a size 6 is 27 inches not the 23 in the product description).

Cons: To wear to the office, wear a long shirt, the top with the pleats looks too athletic. And the pants do sag a little. I tried rolling the pants over once. But it wasn't too bad.

The pants fit true to size. I'm consistent a 6 in lululemon bottoms. I could not have sized down as some of the reviews say. They fit me perfectly in the thighs—I have very muscular quads.

I almost bought a second pair, but decided to save my money. I might if they go on markdown.

Wahoo for Lululemon in the office.

Handstands on the beach

After driving 6.5 hours to the beach, I really needed to stretch my legs and my back. My sister lives a mile from the beach so we went and walked on the beach at sunset. It was really nice. And by the end my calves were killing me, so a good workout too.

I wanted to do some handstands—in part to stretch out my back some, but sand is hard to do handstands in. I couldn't get my balance on the soft sand. I could get my balance better on the hard wet sand by the waves, but the ground was a tad uneven, so that made balancing a little more challenging. We'll see if I can get a handstand split while I'm here.

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.

Adventures in Flying Trapeze: Split Catch

Oh how I love flying trapeze. I took a Friday night class with my friend Martha. And we happened to pick a very fun night when all of my favorite people were there.

We started reviewing whip. After a month, I mostly remembered it. I went to final too soon and opened with my legs, not arms. Oh well.

On to split catch. It took me a few times to understand the body position, but once I did I felt pretty confident in this one.

For split catch, you bring your legs up almost like a flamingo—but upside-down, since you're hanging on to the bar. One leg goes straight up to the sky with your toes pointed and with the bar on your thigh. The other leg is bent at the knee, with the foot pressing the bar into your thigh. This is tricky on the low practice trapeze. (And the next day I have bruises on my thigh where the bar goes.) And your hands have a pretty tight grip on the bar on the outside of your thighs, holding you in, but not so tight, it restricts your movement.

After a few seconds in the flamingo pose, you go to your split. This was the tricky part for me. You bring your bent knee down and kind of arch your back into a split. The key is how far you bring your butt through. It's further than you'd think and really close to the bar. You could hang upside down in a split, but the key is to bring your butt through so that the bar is on your thigh. For me, it was my left thigh.

We reviewed this really fast and then it was my turn. I figured I'd try it. I did. It was clear I needed more time on the practice bar. I did. And it clicked what I was supposed to do. From then on it was mostly smooth sailing. I felt like I got it.

On my first run through on catches, I totally had it.

Kaz said hep, and it took me a second to realize that meant go, so I missed the catch. Oh for my brain. I got it the second time.

I've watched the video too many time. My split looks good. It looks easy. It's not wonky like my off-balance whip catch.  (I totally need white tights to wear for my next class.)

The class was just a great way to spend a Friday night. A lot of my favorite people were there: my gymnastics coach, her boyfriend (who caught me at  my first class), Juli who teaches handstands, Laura from Aerofit. I knew just about everyone there: Julie who used to come to tumbling, Dave and his fun dog Huck. It was an awesome Friday night.

Be back soon, Leap!

Calluses and blisters.

Bruises.

$60 T-shirt? Thanks Lulu

I've officially become one of those people who buy $60 T-shirts. What is wrong with me?

My mother, who raised me on thrift store skirts and yard sale T-shirts, would be horrified. With that money, I could buy a week's worth of groceries, pay a doctor's bill—do lots of necessary and less frivolous things that don't make me a yuppy (one of my dad's derogatory words of choice.)

Yes, the T-shirt is too expensive. But did you try it on? Does it make you look like you just rolled out of fashion magazine?

The T-shirt, of course, is Lululemon, which I'm obsessed with. I love wearing their clothes. I look forward to 5 p.m. rolling around so I can put on my High Times tights with mesh inserts, and go to Pure Barre. I'll get compliments on the tights. And I just feel good wearing their clothes. They make the best workout clothes period. I love wearing my Wunder Under crops because they're super soft, opaque and just awesome to wear. The clothes fit me well, are well made and give me some magic boost of happiness and self confidence. I'm a pretty self loathing girl, so it's worth it to wear something that makes me feel like I can do anything.

The T-shirt is a black crew neck. Dark deans and black T-shirts are my weekend uniform. And at $60, the T-shirt is equivalent to 3 or more of the black cheap T-shirts that I already have. To me it's worth it to have something that well made that will be worn every weekend. It pays for itself. Of my sale T-shirts, there's one that's neck is too small, one that's pilling, several that are covered in permanent dog fur and few that stay perpetually wrinkled. I don't need more shirts like that. That truly would be a waste of money. And I do need to get rid of these T-shirts I won't wear anymore.

I've always spent too much on clothes. I've tried to stop buying clothes I'll never wear. I'll return dresses that aren't flattering. I don't need anymore. I want to focus more on buying quality pieces. I have some dress pants that have been with me since my college days and Calvin Klein dresses that are older than my house, but still look great.

This winter I purchased one Lululemon sweater and two pullovers. It was all I wore on the weekends. It was my weekend uniform. And there's something beautiful in the simplicity. I knew what I was wearing. Off to a gymnastics meet, dinner with the husband, lunch with the inlaw, I'd wear the herringbone or the grey pullover. And it was soft and warm enough and looked great on me. The sweater I could wear to work. Heck the herringbone pullover looks fancy enough for work. It's just made so well made that it looked like a dressy shirt.

Can I afford it? Not really. I set myself a strict $100 a month budget for clothes, and then spend way more than that every month. This month it's been:

$58, Lululemon tracker shorts. Hands down the most comfortable run shorts I have ever tried on. The fabric is silky and light. There's a fun key pocket too.
$39, Lululemon crossback tank. I wear these for handstands and flying trapeze. They're form-fitting, down fly up and have a mesh panel on the back to keep you cool. I have one in purple and I wear it once a week. I needed another one and this one was on sale.
$58, Lululemon T-shirt
$69 Lululemon Easy Breazy pant. I've been wanting a pair of Lulu pants I could wear to the office. These went on markdown for $30 off and I snagged the last pair in my size. Lulu to the office? Yes please.

So that's $224 that I shouldn't have spent. I'd like a fitness tracker, so many other things but I do try to be semi conscious of my spending.

But yes dad,maybe I'm officially a yuppie. I drive a Subaru, have put my dog in doggie daycare where I can watch him on a web cam, I've eaten $14 salads at lunch. I'm not frugal with my money, and sometimes it's really fun.

Joining the Pure Barre 100 club

We had sparkling grape juice for my 100. Thanks Rachelle! 

I've joined the Pure Barre 100 club. In a little over 5 months I took 100 Pure Barre classes.

In a large studio, it's nice to have the recognition and something to work towards. And free socks! I like that they do this. And I like the social media posts. It helps me learn the other regular's names.

And it's been a long journey.

Officially, I took 100 classes in a year and a week. I took my first Pure Barre class May 30 last year. It was free friend Friday. I met one of the instructors at the local trampoline gym. She invited me to try a class and was surprised when I actually showed up.

I liked my first Pure Barre class. It was challenging and well organized. But I wasn't sold, frankly because Pure Barre is expensive. And it's not as fun or adrenaline pumping as some of the other fitness classes I've tried.

I took another free class that fall. It was hard. And Pure Barre was filed away in my list of workouts to try when I get tired of my current gym/when my contract runs out.

And in December my gym closed to move to a bigger facility. Their lease ran out and there was some gap time. So I went to Pure Barre. (Also, it was one of the only fitnesses places open over Christmas break in my college town.) I took a class. Decided I'd give it a whirl and bought the one-month new client special.

At $100 for a month, it was the most I've ever paid for a gym membership.

I went to the classes. My metabolism reved up and I was hungry all the time. My calves were cramping. And finally my body got used to the new workout routine.

Did Pure Barre transform my body or make me lose weight? I'm not one of those people

Two years ago I started working out. I'd lose weight and gain muscle. Eventually, I dropped one pant size, settled at a few pounds less than my pre-workout weight and I've plataeued there. I'm happy with being an athletic size 4. Sure, I'd like to drop 10 pounds, but think I'd have to diet miserably for months to get there. I'm at a happy, healthy weight. I'm lean and toned, but was before I started going to Pure Barre.

But instead of workout out two hours a day, I only have to do 55 minutes at Pure Barre. I've tried to go crazy and run on Pure Barre days, but I don't think it's good for me.

I'm currently battling an overuse injury in my knee from trying to balance running, Pure Barre and everything else I want to do. My knee definitely limits what I can do.

I try to take 4 pure Barre classes a week, do two alternate workouts and take one day off.  I miss climbing ropes.

Will I join the 250 club? I'm not sure yet.

Running hiatus

This year I decided I was going to run more. Since I got a member to the university gym in January, I've run faithfully once a week or more. I finally got my 5k time under 25 minutes. I was planning on adding more miles and runs during the week. But my knee has other plans.

It's been painful for about a week now. I tried doing some stretches for when my left knee hurt last year, but I'm not sure it's helping. Thursday I tried to go running and I got about 7 minutes in before I started feeling awful stabbing pains in my knee. I tried to push through it. If I ran softly it didn't seem to hurt, but I gave up. I couldn't. The pain was still there. So I count Thursday as my off day.

I went to Pure Barre yesterday and my knee was the worst it's been. If I bend my knee and put weight on it, it hurt.

I need to see a physical therapist. But to do that I have to see a sports medicine doctor, which would take few days for an appointment, and then another week to see the physical therapist, and I want my knee to be back to normal in 2 weeks.

There's a girl in Pure Barre who told me she worked as a physical therapist. I went up to her after class and asked her about my knee. I'm sure she hates when people do that. I hate asking, but it's easier than waiting 2 weeks for an appointment.

She was so nice and helpful. So much more so than I expected. It made my day.

She thought it was my IT band and that I needed to stretch it. She showed me some stretches and indeed it did feel tight. She might be right. And saves me a bunch of time.

I went home and stretched and iced. And this morning I didn't run. So I broke my run once a week rule. (I did try to run Thursday). So sorry goals, I need to get my knee better.