Tag Archives: spinning

Taking Advantage

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Living in the Bay Area is something special. I have said it a lot: Here and Here and Here. But where can you enjoy the whirring liveliness of the city and then drive less than an hour and be surrounded by the serene beauty of nature.

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With some out-of-towners in toe, we spent the day in Napa Valley enjoying the view, the tastes of aged grape juice and some laughs.

Who wouldn’t want to end the day with some glasses of bubbly!?

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Another thing that I have learned to appreciate and take more advantage of are the exercise classes offered at my YMCA. I have been trying to do as many spin classes as I can get to during the week, and this weekend I went to a spin class on Saturday and Sunday. Without long runs in my mix of workouts I find that I need to really be guided to get a good workout in and what better way to build up that cardio then with shouting instructors and spinning pedals?

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After an hour in the saddle I leave knowing that I have worked hard, burned some calories and strengthened my muscles. It’s also a great way to practice my posture and use my core to control my body and leg movements.

Unfortunately I will be traveling for work soon and I will not have access to a spin bike, let alone a spin class, but to maintain my exercise routines I will be taking advantage of the wonders of the internet and printing out some at-home workouts.

It always pays off to take a moment and look around at the resources that you have right at your finger tips.

What will you take advantage of today?

Hello Friends

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First, let me apologize for my absence. Last year when I started this blog I was dedicated to posting something every day, and I did. This year I am still very adamant about keeping up with my writing, however with all of the things going on in my life I have decided to only post when I have time to write informative and substantial posts. This might be posts a few days in a row or posts every few days, but either way I will continue to share on Almondjay as long as you enjoy reading.

And with that, let’s start here – howdy there.

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This weekend has been full of friends, near and far.

My best friend in Chicago (you can check out what she is up to over here) sent me these very delicious, but rare, biscotti.

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I used to eat them all of the time when I lived on the east coast, but over here my Wholefoods, while full of Cali grade produce, lacks these gems. NOTE: fabulous card not included with purchase. Thanks Erika for satisfying my craving!

And on the home front, there was a birthday celebration for my dear friend, the lovely Elisette – Happy Birthday!

I also invested in my health this weekend, laying down some cash on these beauties.

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Since spinning has found its way into 2-3 days of my week I decided to get some kicks that will motivate me to pedal stronger and faster. I can’t wait to use them on Wednesday’s spin class!

And to end my full weekend on a high note (unfortunately I do not have MLK Day off) I enjoyed a tasty brew and made these easy, baked turkey burgers.

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Extra lean meat, green onions, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder and a tablespoon of tomato paste. Mix together and bake for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

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I ate mine with plenty of ketchup – Yum!

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I hope you all enjoy your long weekend!

What have you been up to lately?

Some Feedback

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Because running is off of the table until late Summer at the earliest I have turned to swimming and spinning. I really enjoy my time in the pool, but swimming wall to wall can get a bit old day after day, so I have turned to gym classes to get in a good workout. My spinning classes are at the YMCA and I have experienced two instructors so far, each on very different ends of the instructing spectrum. One is not super exciting and the class itself is boring and repetitive and the other instructor becomes your best friend right away and puts on smile on your face even though you are working at 90 RPMs.

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For those of you out there who don’t mind me venting and for those athletic instructors who might want to hear what their clients think, please read on…

1. As an instructor we, your spinning students, really enjoy when you are doing the workout with us, NOT hopping on and off your bike to adjust fan speed or direction, or randomly walking outside of the room to “talk to someone”, or even just standing in the middle of the room for a change of scenery.

2. Mix it up. Climbing hills over and over can get very boring, especially if you use the same routine every class. My spinning instructor last night was GREAT! She took us on a journey over the Golden Gate Bridge and tried to stay true to where the hills would be and where the straights occurred. She even had us partnered up doing some intervals by pretending we were doing time trials! BE CREATIVE!

3. Make sure you are engaging and talking to us. Silence is the worst! We don’t know how hard to push it, what we should be focusing on or when we can take a break. We also enjoy when you are friendly and work in funny stories or anecdotes to distract us from our task at hand.

4. Be friendly. Make sure you are smiling and having fun. We are not always giddy about spending and hour pedaling our buns off to end up in the same place we started, so if you act like spin class is the best thing ever we will stop watching the clock. Plus if you act like our friend then we wont be gritting our teeth as much when you tell us we have 3 more climbs ahead of us with some isolation.

Lastly, I do just want to say thank you to all spin teachers and class instructors for sharing your knowledge so that we can all be healthier :) Without you I would not be able to sit on a bike for an hour and sweat like I should!

Spin Therapy

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I parked the car, grabbed my gym bag and proceeded to the tag scan. I reached for a towel and did a double take. There was a stack of spin class passes for the 5:15pm class and I couldn’t look away. I have been cleared to do spin classes by my doctor and up until this point I have walked right past the classes to do my own workout on the stationary bike. But not today. Today was the day I was going to spend 45 minutes listening to a woman on a bike yell at me to climb an imaginary hill. My hand reached for the pass before my brain could talk me out of it and I proceeded to studio 2 to pick out a bike.

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It was not the hardest I have ever worked in a spin class, but it might have been one of my favorites purely because my mind went completely blank and all I was thinking about was my muscles pulling the bike pedals. Today was an incredibly rough day. From setting off my office building alarm because I was the first one there, to reliving traumatic moments of my accident, all I wanted was to forget the day. Spinning in that room melted away those heavy emotions of the day and left me feeling free (well as free as I one can be on a stationary bike in a small little room in a gym).

When the class was over I was convinced it was not the same day. I felt great! I was even inspired to create an incredibly delicious meal for myself:

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Chicken and broccolini cooked in balsamic vinegar and lemon with some brown rice.

It’s good to know that a free class at the gym can really turn things around. I am inspired for tomorrow and can’t wait till my next 45 minutes of spinning.

What do you do when you have “one of those days”?

Look at me go!

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Yesterday’s physical therapy appointment was a huge success. I was nervous after Tuesday’s morning run that I would be in pain today, but not the case. During the PT session I got to test out my version of Chi-Running and after a few little tweaks I was told I had caught on quite fast. It felt pretty natural and my knees felt great. It is a lot of mental work to train my body to position itself differently as I hit the pavement but I am determined to master this new art of running!

After some running in the morning I decided to give my knees a break and went to an evening spin class – got to love working your ass off getting nowhere in a small claustrophobic room.

What is your favorite group fitness class? Do you prefer to work out alone?

It’s Not Sunday?

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It’s hard not to lose track of days during vacation. I was convinced yesterday was Sunday, especially since laundry was the main accomplishment of the day, but as we all know it was Monday. It was truly wonderful to not have to worry about answering phone calls or answering emails and I didn’t have to take the bus downtown! Instead, the day was spent running a few errands and gearing up for an evening of spinning, making a delicious dinner and watching a laugh out loud movie.

After pedaling in place up the steepest invisible hills for almost an hour all thanks to Danny our inspiring spin instructor, Dave and I came back to the apartment to make the following DELICIOUS creation:

Quesadillas Your Way

Saute onions, garlic, peppers, and some frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe’s (yum!)

Cook up some strips of chicken – sprinkle with seasoning of your choice

Slice thin strips of avocado 

Heat up a few tortillas in a heated saute pan

Combine ingredients as you see fit and sprinkle with cilantro and cheese (fake – non-dairy cheese in my case)

And dig in! But make sure that you have a fork on hand for those few ingredients that try to escape :)

And if you’re looking to shut off your brain and just laugh I highly recommend this: