Fitness contests & FIT-spiration

Yoga Challenge – Day 8

Day #8

Today we headed to BALANCED YOGA for a Vinyasa class!

Friends have done and suggested several classes here, especially the Baby+Me and Mini+Me yoga. We’ve heard good things, so we wanted to check it out ourselves. Balanced is in Clintonville, and offers a wide variety of classes for all levels of yogis. Their website states, “Not only is yoga good for the mind, bones, muscles, spirit and soul, yoga’s all about the you time.” Everybody deserves a little you time!

Described as a Vinyasa Class, it was much slower than we are used to at our local spot, Harbor. I’ve never done meditative yoga or practiced my ‘OMs’ before, but I think this is the type of yoga that would incorporate it. The instructor spoke a lot during the practice, positive thoughts, quotes, had us envision things, etc. There was no music for a good chunk of the first part of class and then low-key background music for the remainder of it, allowing for you to focus on your breathing and to be present.

At the conclusion of the class, we did some wall stretches that were similar to these post-run recovery poses/stretches…

poses above from lulu’s blog via jasyoga

Overall, the class was a bit too slow for me, but we got our yoga practice in for the day and left feeling very relaxed. And its always fun trying somewhere new! Great for those wanting to chill and just get in a nice, slower-paced practice… maybe escaping from your faster-paced life.

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The #IndependenceArmy challenge pose of the day is L-sit or hasta dandasana. That is a mouth full!

We actually thought headstand was the pose of the day when we were at Balanced [oops!], so we had practiced that a bit when the instructor gave us ‘time to play.’

Upon returning home and realizing it was actually L-sit, we attempted it. Using blocks is helpful for [us] beginners… and that would be helpful if we had blocks! We found this video from Kino – the first one minute shows how to do the L-sit, although she makes it look easy-peasy. As with anything, practice makes perfect [see today’s quote below]!

Today’s quote…

Off to bed!

Yoga Challenge – Day 7

Day #7

Today is just some easy yoga practice on the mat at home [following a short walk/run/hike!]. We practiced the first six poses from the maxresdefault Instagram #IndependenceArmy challenge and attempted today’s pose, pendant [lolasana]. Pendant is an advanced posed, often practiced last in Ashtanga so we are just putting a dent in it ~ mastery someday!

Kino Yoga has a great video how-to for beginner’s to get started and build up strength for pendant. That’s Kino —————->

The #IndependenceArmy challenge is hosted by Laura Sykora [@laurasykora and @twofitmoms], Kino MacGregor [@kinoyoga] and Kerri Verna [@beachyogagirl]. All three have fabulous Instagram accounts, online tutorials and much more, so check them out some time when looking for inspiration.

Inspirational quote of the day…

Have you visited your fitness goals lately?

Happy Monday 🙂

Yoga Challenge – Day 6

Day #6

Today we will tackle Jillian Michaels: Yoga Meltdown

Jillian’s yoga uses traditional yoga poses (chair, up & down dog, mountain, lunge, crescent, plank, forward fold, chaturanga, camel), but also works in cardio to get that heart rate elevated… this is no slow flow!

She does go through the moves rather quickly, so even though there is a ‘Level 1’ – it does seem more appropriate for those who have practiced before.

We LOVE it!

After we were warmed up with Jillian, we were ready to tackle Day #6 of the #IndependenceArmy yoga challenge on Instagram ~ CRANE [bakasana]. This one is challenging so we’ll do some practice with a video clip from VentunoYoga.

We’ll also practice crow (similar to crane) ~ this video clip from Sarah Beth yoga explains the differences and practices both. Lastly, we’ll do a few minutes of boat from day #4 because we didn’t practice that long… and runners need a solid core!

Here is Teresa’s best effort as of today…

Inspirational quote of the day…

Many yoga poses take practice and determination. Running a race takes training and determination. But set your eyes on the goal and you CAN achieve it! So we leave you with this,

Happy end of the weekend!

Yoga Challenge – Day 4

Day #4 – Happy July 4th!!

Did another Yoga with Adriene video today – FREEDOM Flow

Seemed appropriate 🙂 Let freedom ring!

Day #4 of the #IndependenceArmy yoga challenge on Instagram is boat.

Did a few boats at the conclusion of Adriene’s video, but will focus more on it tomorrow. Today was a quick session, allowing time for friends, family and fireworks 🙂

Lastly, today’s inspirational quote…

We have family in the military so we want to give them a shout out. We love & appreciate you!

Night night!

Yoga Challenge – Day 3

Today continues our yoga challenge! We had our 3 mile group run, so just a short 10 minutes of yoga today.

Here is what we did…

Yoga with Adriene video – we did the first ten minutes of her Yoga for runners – cool down video.

Adriene is a yoga instructor in Texas and has a lot of great free videos. A fellow runner friend, Chelsea, told us about her and we love her site and yoga tips!

Day #3 of the #IndependenceArmy yoga challenge on Instagram is chaturanga pose, so we focused on this after the running cool down yoga. We did 5 flows of prayer-chaturanga-upward dog-downward dog-forward fold-prayer, holding each pose for 3 seconds.

We also checked out lulu’s article called how to cha-cha-chaturanga which includes a one minute video by ambassador Michelle Wong.

Lastly, today’s inspirational quote… we sent out our July newsletter today and we used this quote;

Tomorrow is July 4th, so spend some time with family, friends, etc… and make sure you set aside 10 minutes [or more] for yoga!

See you soon.

July FIT challenges – join us!!

We LOVE a good fitness challenge. Being that it is summer, we have a bit more time to focus on our fitness goals, so why not participate in a couple!

Here are the two we chose…
1. #sweatpinksummer Instagram challenge [10 days]

Teresa recently became a Sweat Pink ambassador, so this seemed like a great challenge to begin the summer with.

Challenge yourself ~ you can do ANYTHING for 10 days!

2. Yoga challenge [30 days]

No strict rules here but we will follow some guidelines from yogachallenge.org and attempt to…

Commit to at least 10 minutes of yoga per day for the entire month of July
Find [and post when possible] an inspirational quote each day
Choose a pose to work on [likely following the #independencearmy challenge – see below]

We will also be following a few challenges on Instagram including @baileyactive’s #standonthosehands challenge and @glyderapparel’s #independencearmy challenge (see below). If you’re feeling up for it, feel free to practice these each day… we will be practicing, but won’t necessarily take photos each time. Some of these poses are really challenging, so push yourself to try them!

Day #1’s pose is downward dog and here are some awesome down dog images…

Yoga @ home – his favorite pose!

Living Fit on the beach

Remember, there is strength in numbers so find a buddy or email us @ LivingFitColumbus@gmail.com for support.

Good luck!

Weekly updates

Some weekly updates…

Group Runs

There will be NO GROUP RUN tomorrow morning as we are checking out Friendship Crossfit. See you at 8:50 for a nice change of pace!
We had our first #ptownrunclub meeting last night in Historic Dublin. We did a nice 3.5 mile run and met some new people! Come join us some Thursday @ 6:30.

Season 1 Kick-off! 5/2014

Kick-off Run! 5/8/14

Our MAY FIT FREEBIE…

Our first of hopefully many giveaways, the winner of our LIKE + SHARE + JOIN&CLICK! contest is….

Congrats JANE, you are the proud owner of our May Fit Freebie goody bag!

Get on our E-NEWSLETTER list by emailing LivingFitColumbus@gmail.com

Happy Friday, off to bed!

Cap City recap & upcoming events

Cap City recap

Several of our Run Club ladies ran the Capital City Half Marathon this past Saturday. It was a great race and everyone did a fabulous job! Katie, Amanda and Deedra all finished the 13.1 mile distance for the first time, lots of calorie burning and photography took place and it was a fun filled morning! Check out our gallery below…

Pack H20

In other news…

Living Fit [Columbus] is partnering with lululemon athletica Polaris [also known as PTOWN] to host a Thursday night social run! The group runs begin this Thursday, MAY 8th, and will be promoted as ptown run club. We will meet in Historic Dublin in the Town Center lot near Starbucks. Come join us and bring a friend!

Visit our FB page for other upcoming events – there will be no group run this Saturday as we are checking out FRIENDSHIP CROSSFIT in Dublin.

We will also be partnering with Winan’s Dublin and meeting there for our group runs on Saturdays beginning Saturday, May 24. Come join us for a run [or walk] and a cup of Joe after. Be sure to LIKE their Facebook page for updates!

This is the last week to enter our MAY FIT FREEBIE contest, LIKE + SHARE + JOIN&CLICK!

To enter, complete the following by this Thursday, MAY 8th…

1. LIKE Living Fit [Columbus] on Facebook

2. SHARE one of the following…

SHARE this post from Living Fit Columbus’ Facebook page to your timeline or a friend’s timeline OR
SHARE a fitness-related photo on Instagram and tag it #livingfitcolumbus – if its a running pic, feel free to also tag it #ptownrunclub

3. JOIN&CLICK – Attend one (or more!) of the following & join in our group photo session…

~~lululemon athletica fun FIT session this Thursday, April 24th @ 7:30PM at the Polaris store; get some new gear & discuss your FIT goals~~
~~our group meetup at the Capital City Half Marathon on May 3 @ the post-race 13.1 mile block party; more details to come~~
ptown run club kickoff run this Thursday, May 8th @ 6:30PM in Town Center lot, Historic Dublin

May FIT Freebie includes…

lulu reusable lunch tote
$5 Starbucks card
#livingfitcolumbus or #ptownrunclub momento
Honeystingers organic energy chews

Winner will be announced this Friday, May 9th on our blog @ LivingFitColumbus.wordpress.com and our FB page. So get going… Like, Share, & join us for a CLICK!

Disclaimer: contest is only open to readers within the United States. Living Fit [Columbus] has not earned commission or kickbacks on any of the giveaway items.

Ten Day “Clean Eats” Challenge ~ Day 2!

Yesterday was our first day of the Ten Day “Clean Eats” Challenge!

We probably won’t update daily, but here is a glimpse at some meal options we used the last two days…

Day 1

Breakfast – 1/2 cup steel cut oatmeal, strawberries, & 1 whole egg 1 egg white
AM Snack – protein (low sugar shake or egg whites)
Lunch- spinach salad with chicken, lots of veggies, low fat balsamic dressing
PM snack – *plain non-fat greek yogurt with berries, red peppers
Chicken breast with mushrooms and tomatoes, small sweet potato
Workout – Arms & Abs (see our current fitness challenge, Jamie’s 30 day knockout)

Day 2

Breakfast – 1/2 cup steel cut oatmeal, strawberries, & 1 whole egg 1 egg white
AM Snack – protein (low sugar shake or egg whites), carrots
Lunch- 1/2 cup quinoa, 2 turkey muffins, roasted cauliflower, fresh string green beans
PM snack – banana or apple w/ natural (no sugar added) PB – Krema Nut is the bomb!
Spaghetti squash, ground turkey w/ peppers & onions, low sugar marinara
Workout – Legs & cardio (run!)

*Note – some are doing NO DAIRY and some are doing non-fat or low fat dairy

Keep it up! Being FIT isn’t always easy ~ you have to want it AND you have to work for it!

BIG NEWS & our first FIT Freebie contest!

BIG NEWS!

Living Fit [Columbus] will be partnering with lululemon athletica Polaris [also known as PTOWN] to host a Thursday night social run! The group runs will begin MAY 8th, and will be promoted as ptown run club. Come join us and bring a friend!

Have we told you how excited we are?!

We are ecstatic!

To celebrate, we are doing our very first giveaway! LIKE + SHARE + JOIN&CLICK!

To enter, complete the following by MAY 8th…

1. LIKE Living Fit [Columbus] on Facebook

2. SHARE one of the following…

SHARE this post from Living Fit Columbus’ Facebook page to your timeline or a friend’s timeline OR
SHARE a fitness-related photo on Instagram and tag it #livingfitcolumbus – if its a running pic, feel free to also tag it #ptownrunclub

3. JOIN&CLICK – Attend one (or more!) of the following & join in our group photo session…

lululemon athletica fun FIT session this Thursday, April 24th @ 7:30PM at the Polaris store; get some new gear & discuss your FIT goals
our group meetup at the Capital City Half Marathon on May 3 @ the post-race 13.1 mile block party; more details to come
ptown run club kickoff run on Thursday, May 8th @ 6:30PM in Town Center lot, Historic Dublin; more details to come

May FIT Freebie includes…

lulu reusable lunch tote (choice of red or teal)
$5 Starbucks card
#livingfitcolumbus or #ptownrunclub momento
Honeystingers organic energy chews

Winner will be announced on Friday, May 9th on our blog @ LivingFitColumbus.wordpress.com and our FB page. So get going… Like, Share, & join us for a CLICK!

Disclaimer: contest is only open to readers within the United States. Living Fit [Columbus] has not earned commission or kickbacks on any of the giveaway items.