Note to Self: Don't Eat This Before Working Out...

I was my own worst enemy yesterday.


I had a class during the day, then went home for a few hours before heading to the gym then to teach a voice lesson afterwards.  An hour or so before I was going to leave, I realized I was super hungry, and wanted a light meal to hold me through until dinner after everything.  So, I made myself this delicious, small meal.


Fast forward about an hour.  I'm at the gym, getting on the elliptical.  All of a sudden, the red onion strikes!!!  I'm oozing onion odor, and I can't do anything about it!  I tried to just breathe out of my nose the entire time to try and contain what must have smelled like horrid BO to those around me.  The nose thing worked for about 5 minutes, but I was working up a sweat and mouth breathing was necessary.  Acid reflux also kicked in, making the whole thing just horrible!!!  I made it through my workout, and then chewed about 5 pieces of gum on my way to my students house.  I apologized to her in advance for any onion essence that might make it's way out of my mouth (but she was so polite and said she didn't smell anything!).


The moral of this story:  Don't eat red onions at any point in the day before going to the gym.

Gym Pet Peeve of the Week

Before I even start, let me just say that I LOVE my gym and everyone who works there.  Honestly, it's a great place to be.  


That being said, I have an issue with one of the fitness instructors of a class I take every week.  The class is great, always leaving me feeling accomplished afterwards (and sore the next day).  The instructor is nice and really pays attention to the participants to make sure everyone is doing the right thing.


My issue?  The instructor does not go with the music.  Now, I know I'm a music teacher, but I can't be the only one who has this need to move with the beat of the music, especially in a class where you are moving together.  I think part of the problem is that the music isn't loud enough.  You can hear it fine, but it's not as loud as other classes.  The instructor will be counting the moves totally off of the beat, and every once in a while they will notice it's not matching up, have the class freeze, and try to get back on the beat.   Try listening to a song and NOT clapping on the beat (or opposite of the beat).  I double-dog-dare you!


I have to force myself to try and tune out the music and just rely on the verbal cues and watch what is going on.  It's so hard!  There are times where the music only has 8 beats but somehow the instructor adds in a 9th!  I don't even know how that happens!


Has anyone else had this sort of trouble with a fitness class?

Let's Get Physical

If you've been going to the gym for a while and have been sticking to the same routine, I suggest shaking things up a bit!  Not only is it better for your body, but it will keep you from getting bored and dreading doing the same thing for the millionth time!

I'm a creature of habit.  I would go to work, and then go to the gym after.  40 minutes on the elliptical while watching something on Netflix, then at least 20 minutes of weight machines, mainly arms and abs.  BORING!!!!!!

I've made it a goal to try more of the classes offered at my gym, and I'm so glad I did!  There's a great class called Basic Training that is an all over barbell workout.  It works your whole body in 45 minutes and it's a lot of fun!  I'm doing that on Tuesday nights and Sunday mornings.  Wednesday nights there's a Punch-Kick Weight Camp that's a dumbell workout with kickboxing intervals.  This also gets my whole body working while adding in the cardio element.  It's awesome!  I also plan on going back to that great yoga class on Monday nights and Saturday mornings.

So, just in classes, that's 5 days of different workouts.  On the other days and before yoga, I'm either going to rest or go to my elliptical followed by some kettle bell exercises instead of the machines(never used a kettle bell?  You should check them out!).  

I hope that this will kickstart my body into losing weight again.  If you've been shy about trying classes at your gym, give one a chance.  I think you'll find that it's worth the risk of walking in for that first time!

Gym Rave of the Week

I need to watch something interesting while doing my cardio.  Music doesn't give me enough reason to keep going hard for the full 40 minutes, I'll want to stop way before that.  So, I put movies and shows onto my iPod and have always watched them that way.  It works.


The elliptical I like to use has controls for both the crossramp and resistance, as well as moveable arms.  There was only one of these in the entire gym.  A few weeks ago, our gym got a whole bunch of new cardio machines, including 3 more ellipticals with all of the features I like.  The only issue for me was that they lacked a place for me to put my iPod where I could watch it.  There was a space on top where I could plug it in to charge, but it would obscure half of the screen.  Therefore, I've put off using the new machines.


Yesterday, the gym was relatively empty when I got there, but someone was on the one machine I usually use.  So, I decided to try a new machine.  I got on, started pedaling, and plugged in my iPod figuring I could at least charge it while watching whatever ended up being on tv at the moment.  Much to my pleasant surprise, the wire that I thought was just a power cord was actually a complete AV wire, so it charged my iPod while allowing me to watch my show on the larger elliptical screen instead of my little one.  How awesome!!!