Posts in Fitness
Trying New Things + Some Recent Eats

Happy Hump Day! This week has been pleasantly busy over here. How has everyone been? Philadelphia has been sweaty HOT and humid lately and today was the first really nice day in a while!

I've been trying a lot of new things lately, thanks to Class Pass. It's the BEST thing ever for group fitness junkies, especially if you move to a new city and have no idea what kind of gym you would want to join. I've tried several new things lately and I have been loving everything.

On Monday I tried a Megaformer class at SFS Sculpt Studioin this cute little plaza in Northern Liberties.

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OWWWWW. It hurt so good. But really bad. Every movement is very slow and controlled and about ten minutes in my entire body was shaking. Definitely will be going back. I am still sore! It's a very specific workout, different from pilates reformer classes (which I also still have yet to try), but I promise if you ever have the chance to try you will feel it.

Yesterday, my roommate and I tried an aerial yoga class at Kaya Aerial Yoga in Old City. OMG yes. This was SO much fun. The inversions were a little scary at first, but once I learned to feel the balance and let go, I felt so free! Will also definitely be going back while I can with Class Pass.

IMG_3144This morning I taught my circuit class at Sweat Fitness which included a couple full body dynamic circuits with exercises across the room and a few circuits with more isolation to work on core, strength and balance. I am loving that I'm starting to see regular participants.

Tomorrow I'm going to do a hot yoga class to stretch out my sore muscles. I've really been enjoying adding in a lot more yoga, barre and Pilates-style workouts. I usually stick to strength, cross-training and HIIT type of workouts, so adding in new things is refreshing. I think it's really important to switch it up every so often to keep your body guessing. It also humbles you when you think you're well rounded in the fitness realm and then you just about die in a hot yoga class (cough cough me).

On another note, I finally tried another new thing here - the subways! The verdict: they are WAY faster than the busses. Not very shocking, but I was hesitant at first to try to figure out the subway system because there are so few lines here in comparison to when I lived in NYC last summer and there are a million different subway lines.

I also just got hired at City Fitness to teach back to back level 1 and 2 TRX classes on Tuesday nights! I'm really excited to continue teaching and thankful I was able to find group fitness jobs so quickly here. The Philadelphia fitness scene is poppin'. I will make sure to upload a couple TRX workouts on here next week after I teach my first class if anyone is interested in training with the TRX.

And since I've been slack about sharing recipes and food posts (my kitchen tools are limited right now & I've been crazy busy) I thought I would share a couple of things I have been eating a lot of lately!

For breakfast I have the same thing every morning. I either bring oatmeal & fruit to work or throw together scrambled eggs, a wrap & fruit to eat when I get to work. It's easy and keeps me full!

Here are a few dinners I've made recently (sorry for the crappy photos):

IMG_3111PIZZA EGGS.  It's kind of like a big delicious open faced omelet that tastes just like pizza. P.S. this was pre cheese melting.

IMG_3132Chicken, brown rice, chopped salad, Trader Joe's brussels sprouts and kale chopped mix and feta cheese.

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 presetPesto zoodles with cherry tomatoes and feta topped with baked Swai fish, which is exactly like Tilapia. I bought it because a pack of three filets was only $3.99 at Trader Joe's compared to only two Tilapia filets for $5.99. Always gotta get the deals.

And that's all I have tonight!

- Rach

Have you tried anything new lately?

Upper Body & HIIT Workout

I've got a quick workout to share with you all! This morning before work I dragged myself out of bed to get in a quick sweat since I'm going to an event after work with my co-workers. I took a Tabata Boot Camp class last night that was heavy in jump squats and lunges so I focused on upper body. I wanted a quick burst of cardio at the end so I did a 10 minute HIIT circuit (exercises shown in video). I just chose five exercises and did them through twice with 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest. I can't do cardio machines. UB&HIITThe high intensity moves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJGasKn5tmw

Also I thought I would share one of my favorite songs at the moment from Florence and the Machine's new album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ50rvySDCk

Happy Tuesday!

What's your favorite song at the moment? Always looking for new music! 

Week(end) Recap + New Group Fitness Job!

Happy Monday! I'm not being the greatest with updating my blog at the moment. Things this (last) week have been crazy busy.

First off, my weekend back home was short and sweet! Julia graduated and is currently at UF for her preview. I keep getting texts from her and my dad telling me how much they love the school and I'm just like OK I GET IT I MISS IT TOO MUCH STOP.

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And a throwback to when I graduated because clearly I miss college a little bit...

IMG_2980Work has been great and Philly even greater. The week flew by, probably because I feel like I just didn't stop for one moment. But I love it! Busy is good.

Tuesday night I taught my first cycle class in a month! Finally got hired to teach somewhere. I subbed that Tuesday class, a 6 a.m. circuits class on Wednesday, and on Saturday I taught a back to back super circuit and spin class!! Starting this Saturday I will have a permanent 9 a.m. Saturday class at the Sweat Fitness Old City location! Come sweat with me if you're in the area :) My hour long spinning playlist:

Spinning Playlist

Wednesday night Chelsey and I got off work and decided to peruse the million shops by work. Lululemon is very close and I finally caved and bought my first lulu leggings. I love them. I can see this being an issue. After that, it was already 6 p.m. and we thought we would stop for a beer somewhere because every Wednesday night in Philadelphia there is a city-wide happy hour called SIPS - beers are only $3, wine is $4 and cocktails are $5. We stopped by BRU first for a beer and a pretzel:

IMG_2996On the way home, we stopped by the Independence Beer Garden, which is a magical little place right across from Independence Hall. And after all of that I was still in bed by 10 p.m.!

I returned to Independence Beer Garden with Michael on Friday night before downing a whole pizza with parmesan and prosciutto at Pizzacato. YUM. This restaurant was delicious! I definitely recommend for some quality pizza. We then stopped at Big Ass Slices because Michael needed some more pizza for desert.

IMG_3003 IMG_3004Yesterday consisted of relaxing in Rittenhouse Park, lots of laundry, grocery shopping & ending with a little walk to Race Street Pier. For lunch we bought some cheese, meat, bread and fruit to enjoy in the park from DiBruno's - favorite kind of snacky lunch. DiBruno's is quickly becoming one of my favorite markets. But the prices are not my favorite.

IMG_3018 IMG_3021I'm determined to foster my inner chef and get some more recipes up on here soon! And workout ideas as well.

Who knew moving to a new state and starting a new job would be so busy??