New Gym = New Meat.

As of last week, my membership with Eco Fitness came to an end. As much as I loved Eco, I had to decide whether to sign up for another year, or try East Shore Athletic Club. I made a list of the pros and cons for each gym.

ESAC

Pros:

• Multiple locations. 3 facilities just in Mt. Pleasant and 1 on Daniel Island where I work
• Lots of group fitness classes, including all the Les Mills Body training systems (Body Pump, Step, Attack, Jam, and Flow) that Erica teaches!
• Indoor track, racquetball courts, sauna, pool – Eco has none of these
• $15/month because my apartment complex partners with them
• Ashley can also go to ESAC with me through her school
• New gym = new meat

Cons:

• I will miss working out with Justin, Joey, Noah, Mike and Troy.
• No more Grimy Wednesday spin class

Eco

Pros:

• Lots of friends to work out with
• JULIUS!
• Brand new equipment

Cons:

• $49/month. This is more than 3x what I’d pay at ESAC
• I’m kind of bored there

The winner?

I will mostly be sad about leaving the friends that I have made, but making new friends will not be a problem. And new hotties? Yep yep.

Besides the Les Mills classes, here are some other classes I’m interested in:

BURN AND FIRM: Burn fat and lengthen muscles faster by fusing short bursts of cardio with strength training, stamina and balance moves that will get your entire body stronger, leaner and more defined.

B.Y.O.B. BRING YOUR OWN BODY is a unique sculpting class using the step, weights, and stability balls.

CARDIO CRAZE: Intervals of your favorite cardio moves that burn lots of calories, shape & tone your muscles and make your heart smile :o) Jump, step, kick, punch, lunge, squat & crunch your way to a new you. For beginners or aerobic superstars, this class has it all!

GUNS & BUNS: Challenge yourself with this heart-pumpin', muscle-blastin', core-crushin' workout. A healthy mixture of cardio resistance training that gives you the pump you need to finish out the week. Suited for all levels.

Guns and Buns!??! Really!? I MUST GO. It sounds intense and works my two favorite muscle groups.

Blog friends: Which is your favorite Les Mills Class?

Charleston friends: Do you go to ESAC? Which location/classes do you like? Will you be my new gym partner in crime, pretty please?

I Am In Love.

Not with a man, nope, no way.

I am loving these lately:

1. C.O. Bigelow lip products: Apple Rose Salve and Lemon Lip Cream. Both are so refreshing and Summery!

2. The fact that even at 26 years old, I still consult a Magic 8 ball for making life decisions. Ask8ball.net is the 8 ball of the 21st century.

3. Library books. I embrace my nerdiness.

4. Nerdiness would be an understatement.  This would explain why Ashley and I feel that it’s okay to “power up” with our matching rings.

5. PEEPS!! Justin reintroduced these into my life Thursday night. For the past 20-ish years, I’ve thought that I didn’t like them. Wrong. We ate these peeps in .2 seconds in the Target parking lot.

6. This sign from the tanning bed that I found in Ashley’s bedroom. It was on her desk, but I kindly placed it on her bed where it belongs.

7. The fact that we somehow managed to get half of the gym friends out on Friday night. Don’t ask me who the Bob Barker lookalike and his woman are. We just befriended them I guess.

8. Chick-fil-A. Did you think it wouldn’t be on this list? Ha.

What are yall up to today? I am off to the Vickery’s Oyster Roast with some gym friends. Sunday Funday!!

xo!

Grimy Wednesday!

This morning I woke up on a mission to make cookies. I made Peanut Butter Banana Oat with a peanut butter honey drizzle. Most people mash bananas with the back of a fork or potato masher, but I was feeling ferocious and used a meat pounder. And then I licked it.

I had a very typical Xtina moment with the icing. I got distracted by the oven timer and dripped it all over the counter. Oopsies!
The cookies came out wonderfully but the icing really made them. Amanda stopped by for a a couple during her study break and then I sent her home with 6. : ) I hope they help her get an A+ on her test!

I brought a bunch to the gym for my guinea pigs/gym boyfriends to test. Justin P, Mike, Phillip and Ashley loved them…

but NY Justin, Noah, and Dave didn’t love the texture. And I quote, “They need to be harder.” I kept my mouth shut, but thought, “TWSS.”

After about an hour of working out but mostly socializing, NY Justin, Mike, and I went to “Grimy Wednesday” spin class. “Grimy Wednesday” = spinning to dirty rap. I almost lost it when “Doe Boy Fresh” by Three 6 Mafia came on. If you haven’t heard that song, click here. GHETTO.

An hour of dirty dancing on a bike really worked up an appetite, so Justin and I went to Whole Foods for pizza. I called in a cheese pizza for Xtina. They took me seriously. I’ll forgive them for the unnecessary hyphen.
  They also had BEETZA!
This was our pizza. Large and in charge.
Justin folds his pizza to eat it. I eat mine crust first. How do YOU eat it?

This pizza was a celebration pizza!! More details to come

Counterproductive Gym Sessions

Sunday:
I was in a craptastic mood so I jumped on the treadmill, pressed start, and didn’t speak a word for 3.1 miles. Meanwhile, Lucy and Ashley were on the arctic climbers wondering why I wasn’t engaging in the “omg-listen-to-what-happened-last-night” session. About 25 minutes later, I ripped my shirt off and went straight for the foam roller. Yes, I had a tank on underneath. Lucy and Ashley joined me shortly after for a therapy session. Not physical therapy. Mental therapy at the gym.

In about 10 minutes, Lucy and Ashley successfully brought me out of my lunatic state right back into my usual chipper mood. God bless those ladies. I totally forgot to roll my shins, but I did find an interesting Redbook magazine:

I love Bethenny Frankel so much. I totally relate to her screwy family situation and complete lack of a verbal filter.

Monday:
The highlight of my day was creating a new cookie recipe. See the dough? Try and guess what that purple-y mess is. It’s heavenly, just heavenly.
 
I absolutely love baking, but I think what I enjoy more is giving them to people and watching their reactions. So I brought them to where a good chunk of my loved ones are: the gym.

Locker #14 containing my purse and 16 cookies.

The first person to consume one of my cookies was Mike. I told him he could have one now or on his way out. He dropped his dumbbells and said, “Well I might as well have one now.”  Thanks for giving in, sweaty Mike.

Beaming with a sense of success, I skipped over to my treadmill. I left the tupperware at the end of my treadmill so my friends could easily access them. Ashley, David, Melody, Justin, and Dave all ate cookies mid-workout. Ashley was convinced it made her work harder:

Later that evening, both Joey and Daniel stopped by for cookies. They came in, chatted for a few minutes, then got out. I hope my neighbors know that I’m only dealing cookies. :)

What I’m Wondering Wednesday

1. WHAT is in this soup? Lucy and I are obsessed with this soup we found at Whole Foods. It went on sale and we stocked up like mad women. Take a gander at Lucy’s stockpile:I told her that we should try to make this at home before we go broke and are unable to pay our rent. Looking at the list, it seemed easy enough to make:  filtered water, organic carrots, organic onions, organic tapioca starch, organic almond butter, sea salt, organic expeller pressed canola oil and/or organic safflower oil and/or organic sunflower oil, natural flavors with yeast extract, organic spices, carrageenan.


Easy enough, right? But what about these “organic spices?” I need to know what they are! Have any of yall had this soup? Go get some and help me figure it out….!


2. HOW do you feel about unsolicited advice at the gym? This has been a major issue for Ashley and me this week. Coincidentally, tonight, both of us were approached by the same individual (a trainer) who felt the need to advise us. I was standing in the mirror next to Ashley probably listening to Ace of Base when this convo occurred:

Trainer man: Hey, can I show you something?
Me: What? Am I doing something wrong?
Trainer: You’re trying to work your tris right?
Me: Yeah…(thinking: tris for the guys, yeahhhhhhh.)
Trainer: Do it like this. [shows me a different way]
Me: So what I was doing before was a waste of my life?
Trainer: Ha, no, but this way you’ll work your lats too.
Me: Awesome, I love lats. Thanks.

Sooooo my first thought was: Awesome, I’m on the highway to bufftown when I was clearly on the back roads before. My second thought was: Wait a freaking second, you’re not Julius! Who are you acting like you’re King Eco!!

THIS IS KING ECO!!

I really think Julius, my old trainer, is the only one who should be giving me unsolicited advice. Or Ashley. Or my Grammy, bc she knows a thing or two about pumping iron. Just kidding. How do you guys feel about this? Would you care if someone approached you like that? I mean maybe it is his job to help people get buff or he’s trying to gain clientele. Either way, I want your opinions.

Don’t forget to send me your Chick-fil-A pics!

Later gators!

How I Spent My <3 Day

I woke up this morning after having a dream that I was eating an quail egg. In the dream, I was holding the egg, broke it in half, and ate it. What.the.crap.does.that.mean. Either I like to attack nature or I’m very fertile? I don’t even know how to begin analyzing that nonsense.

For breakfast, I had some vanilla coffee in my French press with a serving of Fiber One Honey Clusters with light vanilla soy milk.

 ++

= very filling breakfast.

Not long after that, I received a Valentine’s Day package from Callie! She sent me a Cheryl & Co. box of assorted cookies, brownies, and chocolate! I immediately dug into a mini blondie bite.  Second breakfast in the form of a blondie? YES!Later on, Lucy and I ran some errands, which included picking up some new books from the library. My book choices are random, but always include several cookbooks.

• My Horizontal Life – surprisingly I haven’t read any of Chelsea’s books.
• Don’t Be That Girl – this one looks like a humorous gem.
• The Ultimate Soup Cookbook by Reader’s Digest
• Christina Cooks – I may have gotten this just for the title.
• Kosher by Design Lightens Up – more fuel for my Jewish food fascination.
• Cooking – self-explanatory.

We stopped at Chick-fil-A for lunch. That was my Valentine’s Day present to myself. I got a Southwest chargrilled chicken salad (my fave!) and a PINK diet lemonade. SO exciting. Lucy and I were debating going to the gym when I got message from Ashley: “are you trying to go to the gym tonight? or hide and eat ice cream. i am DEF going to go. the single men will be out. maybe they are hiding bc they don't want to admit they are dateless.. i am willing to find out!” I, too, was willing to find out.

I decided that it was more than appropriate to wear my “boys <3 me” shirt to the gym on V Day. It was both ironic and awesome.

The gym locker room = our photo booth.

In case you are wondering what is going on with my hair, I scrunched it instead of drying it. Apparently creepers notice things like this. Some man to whom I’ve never spoken before approached me. First he told me not to to lift such heavy weights because I was making him look bad. Ok #1, I was pulling like 25 or 30 pounds on the free motion chest press. #2, he is a trainer. I’m pretty sure he can out-press me. Then, he said “Did you get a hair cut? It’s usually longer.” Nope, dude, it’s just a ratty mess. And thanks for admitting you’ve been staring at my tresses.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hula/Spin Success and Black History Month

I promise the above topics are related. Just read on.

Hula/Spin was a success! David gave me a wonderful introduction and I’m confident that everyone in the class thought it was a neat concept. We had one girl win a free personal training session because she was able to hoop the duration of a 3 1/2 minute song. I’m seriously contemplating buying a book on hula hooping so I can become a master hooper and start my own fitness classes. Just imagine that. Would you attend?

During the cool down song, David usually comes around for high-fives. He instead announced that in honor of Black History Month, he’d be walking around asking us individually who our favorite black person was. I almost fell off my bike laughing. I mean really, we were getting our burn on AND our learn on. Most people responded with celebrities like Denzel Washington, Sydney Poitier, Michael Jackson, and Usher. I chose an Eco celebrity:

JULIUS!!!

Julius was my trainer last year and became one of my favorite people in the world. I highly recommend him if you need to learn how to pump iron. He is the reason why I am no longer afraid of the gym’s man zone and can babe-hunt like a pro.

Because I was in class, Ashley was left to gawk at the babes alone. I received this tweet from her:

Past gym-related tweets that will make you chuckle:

(Feel free to add me on twitter: @christinaorso.) About that last tweet, Ash’s most recent gym crush appeared to be a babe until he jumped on the treadmill next to us. It was like big foot joined Eco Fitness and his main mission was to pound down on heavy machinery. I guess he can still be a babe, but if he wants to run on the treadmill, he should probably put on ballerina slippers.

Question 1: Do hot gym babes motivate you to work out? I don’t have a gym crush but I do appreciate any male who likes to work on his pecs/lats/biceps. Not traps though. Those are freaky.

Question 2: How do you feel about men doing the stereotypically female fitness classes like yoga and pilates? My ex-bf pumped iron but loved pilates. I’m a huge promoter of doing whatever fitness routine that makes you happy, but that always made me wonder. Then again, I find exercise while drinking. Who am I to judge?

Vodka curls last summer:

Adventures in Hula Hooping

Last Wednesday, my hilarious friend Mike challenged me to a hula hooping competition. For some reason he was under the impression that he could outlast me; little did he know I am a hooping champion.

The two of us met at the gym with five different hula hoops: one crappy hoop that Mike had and four of Lucy’s and my hoops. As I walked in with my hoops, I wondered if people would look at me like I was a lunatic, but the exact opposite happened. Everyone wanted to know what we were up to, and I was even asked if I’d be teaching a class anytime soon. A few other girls approached us and asked if they could give it a try. It was fun to see so many people intrigued by our $5 toys.

Mike and I had a couple mini competitions, most of them lasting between 5 and 10 minutes. Mike did an awesome job keeping the hoop up, but I was definitely the winner. Here is a little clip that Lucy took of us. Please enjoy Mike’s “competition attire” and the part where he skips. He’s a gem.

While we were there, one of the spin class instructors/trainers, David, attempted to hoop. He was very enthusiastic, but didn’t do so well. The next day at the gym, I went to his spin class, and he immediately recognized me as hula hoop girl. In a typical spin class, you can spin, run on the woodway speed boards, or use the krankcycles. David thought it would be fun to throw the hula hooping option in there and asked if I’d like to bring my hoops to a class. Of course I was all over this. On Friday morning, I brought my hoops to class and it was a success! Even David finally got the hang of it.

At tomorrow’s  Spin class at 6:30 p.m., David will be teaching spin, and I will be teaching hula hooping! Anyone can come, but I recommend calling to sign up for a spot just in case. David is offering a free personal training session to whomever can keep their hula hoop up the longest. All my Eco friends need to come!