Physique Chez Moi

I purchased all three Physique 57 DVDs back in September.  I've been meaning to review them, but my first attempt at the Classic 57 Minute Full Body Workout was thwarted by my lack of stuff.  I figured I had weights, so I'd be all set.  It turns out that I owned one five pound weight and one ten pound weight.  I didn't have sets.  Also, I thought I'd get by without a playground ball, but that didn't really work.  I gave up after about 10 minutes and decided to wait till I was full equipped.

I planned on going to Modell's to purchase the weights, but kept putting it off because I'd have to carry them back to my apartment.  I use eights and fives, so that would be 26 pounds of weights.  Finally, I decided to order them from Amazon with the free shipping option.  The weights arrived Thursday, so on my way home from work Friday, I stopped at Physique 57 to pick up a playground ball.

Walking home from midtown carrying a bright green playground ball was awesome; several people asked me where I was playing dodgeball. 

In any event, yesterday I was finally ready to give the DVDs a shot.  Classic is led by Tanya.  I've never taken her class in person, but on the video she is very funny and super high energy.  This is key because instead of the dance re-mixes of popular songs that you get in a live class, the DVD has generic excercise video type music.

If you've taken Physique 57 classes, you'll find the Classic sequence familiar: arms, thighs, seat, abs, back.  The main difference is that there is no "thigh intermission" between seat sides. 

If you don't have a ballet barre handy at home, Tanya invites you to use the back of chair or sofa to simulate one.  This is fine for seat work.  The thigh work on the chair just didn't do it for me, though.  I got nowhere near the burn I normally feel would in class.  I didn't work as low into the positions because I didn't trust the chair to stay put, and I felt like I was putting more strain on my knees.  In all fairness, I happened to be having a bad knee day yesterday because I ran a bit too much this week, so I'll let you know how it goes next time.

All in all, it's a good workout.  I got the DVDs because I thought they'd be nice on rainy days when I don't want to trek to class, or to add in an extra Physique class now and then without the added expense.  The Classic video should serve that purpose well, but, for me, it could never replace going to class entirely.

If you are a workout-at-home kind of person, you should know this is definitely an apartment-friendly workout.  I didn't have to move any furniture and was able to do everything in a small space.  That said, if you haven't tried Physique and you live in Manhattan, I say go in person even if you ultimately plan on using the DVDs.  It's worth having the instructors correct your form once or twice so that you get the most out of the workout. 

I'll be checking out the Express 30 Minute Full Body Workout and the Arm & Ab Booster soon.  I'll keep you posted.

-Gym Belle-

Things I Heart About Lulu

I have vague memories of cruising the Equinox stores hunting for cute gym clothes that wouldn't break the bank. Sometimes I'd find stuff, but often I wouldn't. Even when I did, I doubted that my purchases were truly worth it.

I resisted Lululemon at first. Yes, the outfits were cute, but they were expensive. And everyone was wearing them. Then I bought my first. It was the length of the top that appealed to me. I'm not even 5' tall, but somehow gym tops always shrink and ride up. Years later, this one is still the perfect length.

That's another thing. I still have my first Lulu outfit. It even survived the Equinox laundry system for a year (story for another day).

These days, I buy most of my Lululemon at the third avenue store. It's a happy place. The staff are all super sweet and helpful and they seem genuinely interested in what you'll be doing in your purchases. You know that super cheesy "New Yorkers are awesome" feeling you get when you're running the loop (or whatever) in Central Park and you see so many people out doing their thing? I get that there.

My Lulu outfits are exactly the right level of cute (unlike the uber girly Stella McCartney shorts I'm wearing right now because everything else is in the laundry... they were a gift.) In fact, since the office was technically closed yesterday, I wore one to work. At 4am (sad, but true), I was so happy to be in my Lulu. Nothing else would have still been that comfortable.

Final word on the subject: matching headbands. These people so get me.

-Gym Belle-

She's Alive

I do have a pulse! After buying two non-functional Suunto T3 heart rate monitors from City Sports last week, I gave up on the idea of trying something new and went back to the Polar F6. (Despite the issues, I have to say that everyone at City Sports was very nice.) I can happily say that in Marion's 45 min. class at ZoneHampton this morning, I burned 318 calories, hit 175 as my max and averaged at 145. I would've guessed the numbers would be higher - this was a tough class - so this is good to know.

I spent the walk down there justifying the impulse spend: (1) Equinox 74 has no early am classes on Tuesdays; (2) it's raining so I'd have to run indoors (3) perfect excuse to get the good coffee from Food Emporium on the way home. Once there, however, I had no regrets other than my choice of bikes. I'm guessing "ow" yelping guy behind me got his coffee before class.

-Gym Belle-