Weekly Workout Recap – December 5th – 11th

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AKA Workouts During Week 12 of Pregnancy 

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was filled with holiday festivities including Theodora’s annual cookie swap and the annual holiday lunch with some of Bo’s best guy friends, many of whom I’ve now known for nine years! Thanks to a very rich, late lunch at Peter Luger’s yesterday, I was in bed by 7:45pm. This set me up well for an early morning Monday workout!

Since so many people have requested that I share my workouts throughout pregnancy, today is the return of my Weekly Workout Recaps. I will share these each Monday with not only links and class details but also any adjustments I made during class due to pregnancy. Since I’m still early in my pregnancy, just 13 weeks, there aren’t very many adjustments yet.

  • Monday December 5th – After a long Monday I was craving a cardio sweat party, aka Soul Cycle class. While I don’t take Soul Cycle that often, I find that it can cure a bad mood better than almost any other workout. Joyce’s class was almost completely out of the saddle which is a change for me. If you take Soul Cycle classes regularly, would you say this is typical these days?
  • Tuesday December 6th – You guys know I don’t have my rythym and therefore typically avoid dance workout classes. Thanks to Target‘s C9 brand and AKT Nomad I had the opportunity to try an AKT Happy Hour class bright and early Tuesday morning with Kayla, Theodora and other NYC influencers. The Happy Hour class is their signature dance-based interval class. The class alternated between choreographed dance cardio combinations and toning workouts including a VERY challenging glute series that left my glutes sore for two days. By the end of the class I’d let my inhibitions go and was having a blast even though I was always a step or two behind. I enjoyed this class SO much that I’d consider going to it again or even trying their AKTEASE class which is targeted towards beginners.
  • Wednesday December 7th – Rest Day
  • Thursday December 8th  – I received a cold weather running package from my friends at Brooks which inspired me to immediately try on the pieces and head out the door for an outside jog. I jogged for 30 minutes around the neighborhood, enjoying the holiday lights and festive decorations while trying to ignore the cold weather’s affect on my lungs.
  • Friday December 9th – Since joining the Brooklyn (Dodge) YMCA this month, I’ve had the chance to get back into Body Pump. This was the first workout class I took when I started my fitness journey ten years ago. I used to take Body Pump three times a week at the gym near my apartment in Wayne, Pennsylvania but since moving to New York City haven’t been able to take it since it’s only offered in certain gyms. Friday evening I kicked off the weekend with a very sweaty, fast paced Body Pump Express class. I thought express meant it’d skip one track to result in a shorter class. Nope, it just meant you did 90% of the work in 75% of the time and most of the time was saved during transitions. I think I’ll stick to regular classes during my pregnancy as I found the pace a bit hard to keep up with at times.
  • Saturday December 10th – I met my sister-in-law at the Brooklyn Heights Soul Cycle for a 60-minute Soul Survivor class led by the very energetic Eve. Her class included A LOT of time out of the saddle as well as Rihanna tunes. By the time class was over I was ready to get out of the hot, sticky room but during class I felt great.
  • Sunday December 11th –  I returned to jogging with a 40-minute treadmill workout consisting of 5 minute walking intervals at 4.2 speed and 5.0 incline followed by 5 minute of jogging intervals at 5.7 speed and 1.0 incline.

 

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The Hardest Class I Took at the YMCA

Thanks to the YMCA of Greater New York for sponsoring this post.

Over the past two months, I have taken multiple classes at the YMCA including, but not limited to boot camp, yoga, spin, TRX, water aerobics and even a trampoline class. While each YMCA location had it’s own individual community vibe, I loved that every class format provided a safe environment for all abilities with teachers providing modifications throughout class.  The instructors took time before and after class to engage with students and it was clear that in most classes, I was the only new person. The YMCA members are loyal to their classes and instructors, and this was especially clear in my final class – Insanity.

After reading about the Insanity workouts on other health and wellness blogs, I was excited to discover that YMCA branches offer this workout to its members for no extra charge. Typically, the Insanity workout is only available when purchased through a Beachbody coach or their official website for 3 installments of $39.95.  This intense workout uses only your body weight and is a maximum interval style workout. This means that you push yourself, as hard as possible for 30 second to 1.5 minute increments and then have a very brief recovery between moves.

Chinatown YMCA

Offered Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Chinatown YMCA, there was a line waiting outside the studio when I arrived, ten minutes before class. I asked a few of the students if they were regulars and took the class often. Their responses quickly told me that this class was going to be intense and I should fill my water bottle up and grab a towel because I’d be a sweaty mess by the end.

This class is awesome. 

The workout is efficient and killer!

Wait, this is your first time? Good luck! Make sure to tell Marc. 

Spoiler alert – this 45-minute class was beyond hard. In fact, it was not only the hardest class I took at the YMCA but one of the hardest classes I’ve taken – ever!

Insanity after

This class, while open and available to all members, is not for all abilities. Even though the friendly and high energy instructor, Marc, asked students about injuries and provided some adjustments, it as non-stop plyometric work. Almost all the moves were high impact including lots of jumping, side to side movements, sprints, and bursts of power. I can’t remember all the moves but the ones that stuck out in my head were the tuck jumps, ski jumps, cross jacks, ski abs, and clap push-ups. It wasn’t necessarily any individual move that made this class tougher than most of the classes I take at Barry’s Bootcamp, Fhitting Room, or Brick but instead the constant intensity. There weren’t alternate exercises to use as a “rest” such as weights or erg pieces. Instead, you were constantly moving between these high impact movements.

Insanity 2Insanity 1

Now that I have experienced Insanity, I can understand the appeal. For people who want to take their fitness and health to the next level, this is a great option especially if you workout at home. If you do the routine the 6 days a week that founder Shawn T recommends, you will get into fighting shape. However you will also put your body at a very high risk of injury if you don’t already know the right form and have a strong fitness base. Instead of trying this at home initially, I would recommend seeing if your local gym or even ClassPass studio offers the class so you can try it in-person with an instructor. If that isn’t an option, try to partner with a friend who has done it before or is experienced in high intensity workouts so they can help you with your form.

If you’re a member of YMCA of NYC and looking for a challenge, Marc’s twice a week Insanity classes will leave you sweating and out of breath. His friendly smile and awesome playlist will make you forget that you have 44 minutes left of class after you’re already out of breath in the first minute of tuck jumps.

Your turn: Have you tried Insanity yet? If so, what were your thoughts? 

Live in NYC and want to see what your local branch offers? Check out the YMCA website.

Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored partnership with the YMCA of Greater New York.

Other posts in this series:

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A Workout for All Abilities

Thanks to the YMCA of Greater New York for sponsoring this post.

When I was young, I spent a great deal of time at my grandparents house as my parents did their best to balance staring a family business and working full time. Most Summer mornings, my grandmother would don her favorite floral swimsuit and swim cap, force me into my swimsuit, lather me down in just a little too much sunscreen and drive us to the neighborhood pool. For the next hour I would dance on the pool’s ledge to the music as she and twenty of her friends took a water aerobics class. This class served as social hour for the women, providing them the chance to catch up on the local gossip, while also allowing them to get their heart rate up in a low impact environment.  Oh how I wish I had pictures from these morning workouts as the memories are wonderful.

Therefore, when the YMCA suggested that I try one of their aqua exercise classes, as part of my partnership, I was excited to follow in my grandmother’s footsteps and give her favorite workout a try. Even though it’d been more than nine months since I slide into my favorite TYR swimsuit and donned my aqua swim cap, I was excited to get in the pool last night after a long week.

mcburney ymca

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I arrived at the McBurney YMCA, commonly known to locals as the Union Square YMCA, at 6pm allowing myself plenty of time to explore the space and change before the 6:30pm class.  The building was bustling and packed with teenagers joining the weekly basketball game or the swim practice.  There are multiple floors and spaces including studios for group fitness, basketball courts, a large weight room, massage rooms, steam room, sauna and of course a pool.  I headed to the locker room where I was able to change into my swimsuit and rinse off before class.

 

aqua exercise

As soon as I exited the locker room the instructor, Val, kindly introduced herself and gave me a quick overview of the class.  She teaches aqua bootcamp multiple times per week at the YMCA and each class is a little different depending on the crowd. Last night’s class had twelve women of all shapes and sizes. For the past ten years she has loved teaching aqua boot camp as it allows her to bring fitness to people of all abilities as the workout is low impact but the water and foam weights provide resistance.

aqua exercise 3

I eased myself into the water, introducing myself to the other students. There were a few first timers, a mother in her third trimester and then some groupies who follow Val throughout the city for her classes.  Positioned in the deep end of the pool, I was ready to give this class a try.

The aqua boot camp class is broken into segments, which Val led both from the pool ledge and then in the water with us.

  • Warm-up
    • This portion was a blissful mix of deep stretching and yoga moves. 
  • Cardio
    • In order to get your heart rate up it’s suggested that you do this portion in the deep end, if possible. We spent 20 minutes doing different calesthic moves like running in place, jumping jacks, butt kicks, tuck jumps, lateral jumps, and cross country skiing.  This portion was harder than I expected and within five minutes I could feel my heart rate increasing and by the end of the twenty minutes I was short of breath. Now I know why people can use deep-water pool running while training! 
  • Strength
    • We used foam weights for the strength portion of the class, doing typical moves like lateral raises, bicep curls and hammer curls. The resistance of the water combined with the weight made the moves harder than normal. In order to keep our heart rate up we’d include cardio bursts after each move such as sprinting in place. 
  • Cool Down

For me, the class served as a great way to shake out my muscles after a long week and a few tough workouts while also enjoying the water’s relaxing effects.  I would highly recommend this class for anyone who is new to fitness, needs to keep things low resistance due to injury or is looking for a change.

Have you tried water aerobics or pool running before? 

Live in NYC and want to see what your local branch offers? Check out the YMCA website.

Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored partnership with the YMCA of Greater New York.

Other posts in this series:

 

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