Tag Archives: equinox

Lunch with a Vipr

This has felt like an incredibly long week, so I’ve been doing little things to make myself feel better all week.

wrap.jpg

A spinach feta wrap this morning.

Picture 53.png

Buying this gym bag that I’ve had my eye on for awhile (and then getting Equinox to do a price adjustment when I saw that Lululemon themselves sell it for $30 less.)

DSC_0370.JPG

A slice of whole-wheat toast with sunflower butter and chocolate chips as a snack last night.

And then, after hearing some not-so-awesome news at work today, I decided to have lunch with a vipr.

Picture 52.png

Not a cobra.

I tried the Vipr class at Equinox at lunch today. I’m trying to remember to do more strength training, and this looked like an awesome challenge. When I walked into the class, I thought the Vipr stick, a nine-pound hollow tube, was really just like a thicker weight bar.

The instructor said that it was more difficult than regular weights because the weight was spread across the tube, rather than concentrated in one area. We did a lot of “functional” movements, like hoisting the tube over your shoulder, “shoveling snow,” and “raking leaves.” There were also close to a million lunges and squats, and we did not stop moving for even one second. It was so difficult that everyone was a sweaty mess, and the instructor slipped in a pool of sweat and wiped out towards the end of class. (She was okay.) I really enjoyed this class, and would definitely do it again.

DSCF7217.JPG

For lunch, I got some relatively healthy comfort food at the Equinox cafe: meatballs, wild rice and Brussels sprouts.

And now I’m craving something sweet…

I Eat Treadmills for Lunch

I overslept this morning. (Is anyone shocked?) I meant to wake up early to run outside, but it didn’t happen, so I went to the gym at lunch to rock three miles on the treadmill. They were supposed to be “easy,” but I get bored on the treadmill, so I ended up bumping up the speed to 6.8 by the last mile. Oops.

I seem to get a bunch of questions any time I work out at lunch, so here’s how I do it.

1. Grab gym clothes, look both ways and furtively sneak out. I don’t know why, but working out at lunch always makes me feel guilty. (I also think this is a female thing–I was talking with a male and female coworker with this the other day and the female said she felt guilty about it, the male thought we were crazy.)

2. Power-walk to the gym. Knock over small children if you have to.

3. Take your clothes off as quickly as possible. It helps if you practice this at home, preferably not alone.

4. Plan a short workout. If you are set on taking no more than an hour (which I am), you probably can’t work out for more than 30 minutes. Make the 30 minutes count! Do intervals or another hard workout. If you are planning a longer workout, you will be frustrated when you have to cut it short. Alternately, take a class and sneak out early.

4. Don’t wear much makeup in the morning. The less makeup you’re wearing, the less makeup you have to wash off/sweat off.

5. Rock as high and loose a ponytail as you can to avoid hair elastic lines.

6. If you’re choosing between cutting your workout short and stretching, always stretch. I’d rather have a shorter workout than injure myself. I worship hard at the temple of stretching. (Although my tight leggies beg to differ.)

7. Shower. Don’t wash your hair, and blow-dry the sweat out of your hair. (What can I say? I keep it classy.)

8. Go back to work and refuel.

DSCF7116.JPG