Category: Bodypump

FitYaf's 1 Year Blogiversary

6/20/2014

Tomorrow marks the first day of summer, which is also my 1-year Blogiversary (check out my first blog post ever)! Although my blogging has been a little sporadic lately, I thought I'd update you all on how things are going over here at FitYaf! I first started this blog after running a "100 days till summer" Challenge Group. There were so many great things that came out of the challenge - I wanted a place to share it beyond my group.

What has my fitness been like lately?

When 2014 rolled around, I set myself some fitness goals for the year. I was very happy with everything I achieved in 2013, and was looking forward to what 2014 had in store. I also had some personal (non fitness related goals), and if you follow be on Instagram or Twitter, you might already know that my husband and I are expecting our first child in October of this year! While I planned to be (and to this day still am) very active throughout my whole pregnancy, I quickly decided that maybe this year was not the year for these goals. After talking to my doctor, I got the go ahead to continue exercising (and teaching fitness classes), but as far as pushing myself beyond my current fitness level - I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. I did manage to hit one of those goals about a week before I got pregnant, so I can check off "run a 5k in under 25 minutes".

Once I found out I was pregnant, I was a little scared to keep up with my workouts, specifically running. My running workouts were typically completed in the early hours of the morning, and while I was very lucky in the "morning sickness" department, I still didn't feel great in the mornings. At first I did try to keep up with my "1000 miles in 2014" goal, running 91 miles in January, 84 miles in February and 74 miles in March, but tracking the miles was putting a lot of pressure on me, so I decided to save this goal for 2015. As it turns out, at around 14 weeks, I developed some pelvic pain that has pretty much stopped all running for the time being. I was able to run the Philly Love Run in March, and although I didn't train to hit my "under 1 hour and 50 minutes" goal, I finished the race (came in at about 2 hours and 10 minutes) and felt AMAZING!

Not running has given me more time to try out other workouts, or spend more time doing the workouts I was already doing. I'm spending more time with Insanity (about 2 times/week) and Melissa Bender workouts (about once/week). I've also been able to continue teaching 3 classes/week (boot camp, Bodypump and step aerobics). Sometimes it takes a little extra creativity to motivate the class when my own energy is dragging, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm also BEYOND excited to start Chalene Johnson's BRAND NEW AT HOME PiYo workout program. I just ordered mine yesterday, and I think it's going to be a great way to add some variety to my fitness. PiYo is an amazing workout that previously was only available in select gyms, but now you can order your own at a HUGE discount (while supplies last). This program is a mix between Pilates and Yoga and helps build lean muscle! Think - fast hot yoga but with the air conditioning on and awesome music playing!

So for now, I'm still working out about 6 times/week and loving this whole pregnancy journey. I'm taking it day by day without any expectations. I'm trying my best not to worry about every workout or every pound gained, and I look forward to revisiting my 2014 goals next year!

What have I been blogging about?

Over the past year, my blog posts have covered topics from recipes to healthy habits to workouts and more! Below are my top 5 blog posts:

My readers come from all over the world, but here are the top 5 cities where people love FitYaf:

Philadelphia
New York
Chicago
Minneapolis
Los Angeles

And finally, here are the top 5 blog posts that people find through searching on Google:

What is coming in the future?

In the immediate future, I have two Challenge Groups starting soon: a Shaun T boot camp and a PiYo boot camp. You can email me if you have any questions or if you're interested in joining on of these.

I do have some exciting product reviews, giveaways and recipes, coming your way this summer, and I'm going to be posting some more Fitness Friday Workouts. I'm not signed up for any races, and I don't plan to race again until next year. I look forward to the second half of my pregnancy and of course meeting my baby fitness guru in October!

What do you want to see more of on FitYaf.com? Have you had experience working out through a pregnancy?

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What I love about group fitness

2/27/2014

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Recently, I was teaching a Bodypump class, and as I scan the room, checking people's form, I realized that a few people were flat out just not doing the workout the rest of the class was doing. Now sometimes in group fitness, a participant will come up to me in the beginning of class to let me know about an injury and ask for modifications, which I appreciate, but this wasn't the case in this particular class. At the end of the day, it's the participants' workout, but first and foremost is our participants' safety while engaging in group exercise, so I can't help but take it personally when participants come to my class, stand up front even, and then do their own thing. It makes me wonder why they are even coming to my class in the first place. There is so much I love about group fitness that I wouldn't get out of the experience if I was just chugging along doing my own thing. But everyone is different - and maybe you're taking a group fitness class for a completely different reason!

Which brings me to...

I feel like I'm a rockstar

Imagine you're running a race, and you all start and end at exactly the same time. Your feet hit the ground together with every foot strike. Pretty amazing, right? That's what every group fitness class is like for me. It's one thing to complete an awesome workout, but it's a completely different feeling when you're doing it with 30 other people.

It holds me accountable

Group fitness classes are at a specific time each day. Often times, you have your favorite classes and you create a schedule for yourself. The class isn't going to wait for you to finish watching that episode of House Hunters - it's going to happen whether you're there or not, which believe it or not makes it more likely you'll go. If you can do something at any hour of the day, you're more likely to procrastinate, but when you have one chance that day, you're going to be there!

It keeps variety in my workout routine

If left to do my own thing at the gym, I'm probably going to stick to the treadmill and some dumbbells - my comfort zone. Group fitness classes add so much more variety to my workout routine. I would never get on the stationary bike in the gym, but a spinning class? Absolutely!

The people I meet

I've said it before and I'll say it again - the people you meet in the group fitness setting are second to none. There is so much camaraderie and respect in one room, it's amazing the whole room doesn't explode.

What do you love (or not love) about group fitness?

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Confessions of a group exercise instructor

11/8/2013

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It's hard to believe that it has been over seven years since I started teaching group exercise classes. According to my quick calculations, that means I've taught about 900 classes. While according to Malcom Gladwell, author of, "Outliers", I have a long way to go before I become an expert (approximately 9,100 classes), I have certainly learned a lot over these past seven years. It is often the highlight of my day, and a extra special class can maybe even be the highlight of my week. I've made such great connections with not only the participants in my class, but the other instructors as well. When you get a group of instructors together, you can't help but talk about your classes that week, and yes, sometimes we even talk about the participants (mostly good things, I promise). So, I put together a list of 10 group fitness instructor "confessions". ENJOY!

Confessions of a group exercise instructor

We like the music loud

And I mean LOUD! In a perfect world, the music would be so loud that you couldn't hear me, even with the mic - you would be able to read my mind to know what we're doing next. I may have the music taste of a 12 year old girl (cue the Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift), but I like my music loud. It gives me energy. Some people drink Red Bull, I listen to my music loudly!

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We have bad days too

We all have bad days, but as a group fitness instructor, you check your day and everything that went wrong at the door. You put on a happy face for your participants because they paid to get a great workout in a happy environment. The beauty of it? By the end of the class, we usually forget what was bugging us that day.

We are not impressed by all the weight you can lift or pushups you can do if you don't have good form

We put a lot of time into putting together a challenging workout for you. We aren't keeping track of your weight, so don't try to impress us. We will notice and correct you if you aren't using proper form though - we don't want you to get hurt! You want to put a ton of weight on your bar for the bicep track in Bodypump and then do bicep rows the whole track? Oh, that's nice, but we're curling over here. We're not impressed.

We love it when you smile

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Just like loud music, smiling and happy faces give us energy. We're not comedians, and I know most of the time our jokes aren't funny, but humor us and give us a chuckle. It lets us know you're paying attention!

We might not know you're name, but we know your capabilities, potential and preferred brand of sneaker

It sometimes is embarrassing to ask you your name for the third, fourth or even fifth time. It's even more embarrassing when we've had about ten conversations about your new sneakers, your upcoming wedding, your kids, but I don't even know your name. Personally, I'm terrible at remembering names, so I apologize. It doesn't mean I don't remember you. I remember that you did your first push-up on your toes last week, I remember you finally got that hamstring combo, but I most likely don't know your name.

We encourage feedback (good or bad)

Unless your feedback is that the music is too loud. Just kidding - it's your class and if you want the music lower, I will begrudgingly oblige. Some people wear earplugs to my class - just saying. But seriously, we want to make the class the best for you as the participant, so be sure to let your instructor know your thoughts!

We would rather you didn't bring your cell phone to class

I'm actually pretty lonely in the camp of "I don't care if you bring your phone into my class as long as you aren't disrupting the class", but most (if not all) of my instructor friends think you should leave your phone in your locker.

We take other instructors' classes

At least half of what I've learned about group exercise classes has been from taking other instructors' classes. It helps us develop as an instructor and also gives us an idea of what else is going on at the gym.

We sometimes prefer to workout on our own

We LOVE teaching group exercise classes. I mean REALLY REALLY REALLY love it! But, sometimes, we like to work out on our own too. It's a much different type of workout, and it gives us time to work on things that can't be addressed in a group setting (and time to come up with those crazy moves we're having you do during class).

You make our day!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - one of the best part about teaching group exercise classes is the connections we make with other people. We watch people struggle, reach goals, smile, grunt - really every emotion comes out during our classes, and we're there for it all. This hour is often the best part of our day, and YOU are the reason why!

Are you a group fitness instructor with a confession? Share below!

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Les Mills BODYPUMP 87 Launch & the importance of strength training

10/30/2013

1 Comment

Les Mills BODYPUMP 87 Launch & the importance of strength training

Launching a new BODYPUMP workout is always an exciting time, and the launch of 87 certainly did not disappoint. This release is one of my favorite BODYPUMP workouts yet - the music is great and the back and lunge tracks are KILLER! My favorite tracks are squats & biceps for the music and back & lunges for the challenge. This year, the launch coincided with our Freaky Fitness Fest at the gym - a full day of free group fitness classes, prizes and even a dance class to learn the moves from the Thriller video. It was double trouble for me - I started my day team-teaching the 7:30am class with Jackie, and finished things up at the 6:30pm class with Alex and Carrie.

Why is it important to strength train?

It is important to understand the basics of strength training and why you should incorporate this activity into your training program. Muscle mass naturally diminishes with age. "If you don't do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose, you'll increase the percentage of fat in your body," says Edward R. Laskowski, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist at Mayo Clinic and co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center. "But strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass — at any age." It's the good old "use it or lose it" phenomena. The lean muscle mass that we all work so hard for decreases with age. If we don't add strength training to our routine then it will turn into fat. Below are some specific benefits of strength training.

Develop strong bones. By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density, resulting in stronger bones and reduced risk of osteoporosis. One of the best ways you can control bone loss as you age is to add strength training into your workout plan.
Control your weight. Strength training will not only make you strong, but will also help with managing your weight. As you gain muscle, your body begins to burn calories more efficiently because your body works harder to maintain muscle over fat. The more toned your muscles are, the easier it is to control your weight. Controlling your weight can also improves your quality of life as you gaining body confidence. In a specific study where BODYPUMP™ was used for strength training, An average of 483.1 (males) and 338.9 (females) calories can be burned during a BODYPUMP™ session. This equates to 8.4 (males) and 5.9 (females) calories per minute. An additional 10% of calories have been shown to be burned after the cessation of a BODYPUMP™ session, due to Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC). Who doesn't want to burn more calories?
Boost your stamina. As you get stronger, you won't fatigue as easily. Building muscle also contributes to better balance, posture and functional fitness.
Manage chronic conditions. Strength training can reduce the signs and symptoms of many chronic conditions, including back pain, arthritis, obesity, heart disease and diabetes. It not only builds muscle, but increases the strength of connective tissue, muscles, and tendons. This leads to improved motor performance and decreased injury risk. Strong muscles, tendons and ligament build up in the joint and back areas making these areas less likely to give way under stress.
Muscle tone. The conditioning effect will result in firmer and better-defined muscles.
Improved aerobic fitness. In the same study as mentioned above, it was found that during a BODYPUMP™ session the mean oxygen consumption was 21.5 ml/kg/min (males) and 19.0 ml/kg/min (females), with an average intensity of 41.6% VO2 max (males) and 39.8% VO2 max (females) observed. Males spent an average of 11.6 minutes and 3.2 minutes, and females, 8.0 minutes and 0.6 minutes, above 50% VO2 max and 70% VO2 max, respectively, during the same BODYPUMP™ session. The average heart rate during a BODYPUMP™ session has been shown to reach 138.2 beats per minute (males) and 132.6 beats per minute (females). Males spend an average of 37.4 minutes, and females 40.2 minutes, above 70% of maximum heart rate during a BODYPUMP™ session.