Tag Archives: Crunch Lafayette Street

June 7, 2012

Three Things Thursday

Today’s workout: PT exercises, random ab workout

This week is the return of Three Things Thursday! I know how you all missed my incoherent ramblings last Thursday, so I’m bringing it back. Enjoy :)

1. This month is my first time doing the Foodie Pen Pals, organized and run by Lindsay@Lean Green Bean! Its an awesome program where you get randomly paired up with another person and send them food from your area, food you love, etc. and then someone else sends you some goodies! Not only is it a cool way to try new foods, but also meet new people. I’ve been chatting with fellow blogger Britt@Britt’s Blurbs who writes an awesome food blog (seriously, her food looks incredible, check it out!!). She will be sending me some goodies to try and I can’t wait. I love meeting new people!

I’m also getting together some items to send to my own foodie pen pal! Honestly there’s so many things I want to send but the limit is $15 so I have to control myself and pick some key items. I’ll let you know what they are after she gets them :) The reveal of what I get from Britt will be at the end of the month.

http://www.theleangreenbean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/fpplogo.jpg

2.  This Monday my freedom and easy lifestyle is over. Yes, I am starting fieldwork for my grad program: the last step before officially completing the program! The only good thing is that there’s no more classes. So I will be working in a hospital in NYC full time for 12 weeks and then again in another hospital in the fall for another 12 weeks.

Sadly though this means no more day-time gym classes or walks around the park in the middle of the afternoon. But it does mean that I’m closer to becoming a licensed occupational therapist and eventually getting a JOB! A real job! I’m scared/excited/nervous about starting but I’m looking forward to helping people.

3. So you all know how I bought that Lifebooker deal for a monthly membership at Crunch gym, right? If you didn’t here some of my reviews of their classes. I’ve been loving that gym but sadly my deal is about to expire. Today the people at Crunch gave me a call and were trying to get me to renew for the whole year. But honestly that’s not in my poor student budget right now.

But they do have a summer deal for students that I decided to take advantage of. I decided to take the plunge and buy a 3 month membership for the summer for around $200. Unlimited gym AND classes! Amazing!! I’m so excited I was able to get this deal and continue with some of the great classes they have. Since I’m starting fieldwork next week I’ll have to start going in the evening instead of the daytime. But as long as I can get my spin on once in a while I’m happy!

Now for the three things questions.

3 places I’ve lived:
1. Staten Island – where I grew up
2. New Jersey- where I went to college
3. Brooklyn – where I live now :)

3 things I am looking forward to this summer:
1. Flip flops!
2. The beach, NYC Parks, and weekend trips
3. Ice cream or froyo on a hot day

3 non-running outdoor activities I love:
1. Hiking – especially somewhere beautiful with lots of trees
2. Biking
3. Swimming – in a pool though, salt from the ocean on my skin bothers me!

During a hike in NJ

PS. I’m leaving for Lake Placid in the morning so I’m not sure what my blog-post schedule will be like. Apparently the hotel has free WiFi (hoping that’s true) so I’m planning on posting about my trip. But if I seem MIA, that’s why! Enjoy your weekend :)

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Also, only a few more days to enter my Cheribundi giveaway!
Plus, head over to PuraVit’s Facebook page to win a FREE 30 day supply of vitamins by clicking here.

Tell me 3 random things about your day!
Answer any of the 3 things questions above.

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June 1, 2012

Megan’s Monthly Goals {June} and Crunch Class Review {Beach Body}

Today’s Workout: 1 mi run, 45 min spin {The Ride}, 60 min beach body class @ Crunch

HAPPY JUNE! To kick off the new month (and pretty much the start of summer. Woohoo!), I am going to recap the goals that I set for myself in May. I really want to see if I met them all or not. Here were my May goals:

1. Go to PT consistently and heal this IT Band so I can run the Lake Placid Half in June.
MAYBE: I have been going to PT consistently but the IT Band is not healing all that fast. I will most likely run/walk the Lake Placid Half.
2. Do more crosstraining (pilates, kickboxing) classes.
YES: I have been using my monthly Crunch membership to try out lots of classes. You can read reviews here.
3. Stretch every day!
YES: I’ve been stretching every day consistently. Some days better than others.
4. No eating after 8:30pm and limit snacking.
NO: I forgot about this goal honestly and am guilty of snacking a lot. I am going to re-try this and make it one of my goals for June!
5. Plan an awesome anniversary day.
YES: Karl and I tried a new grill-your-own meat restaurant that was amazing. Although we couldn’t spend the whole day together, we had a great time.

Now onto my June goals and what I hope to accomplish this month. Pretty sure I can do them all, although numbers 1 and 2 may be difficult!

June Goals:
1. No eating after 8:30pm and limit snacking. (Need to do it this month!)
2. Continue and complete the RW Summer Run Streak.
3. Read at least one new book.
4. Buy a bike and start biking places.
5. Lose 5 pounds to get to my goal weight (I gained a few in May).

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This morning basically consisted of LOTS of exercise. I only have a week or so left to use my month-long membership to Crunch that I bought on Lifebooker so I’m trying to take advantage of it. I headed to Crunch this morning for two classes, but before that I had to get in my #RWRunStreak mile for the day. I only did one mile because today is normally a rest day for me, so I decided to take it easy.

After the mile I took a 45 minute spin class {The Ride} with Brooke. I reviewed a spin+abs class I took with her the other day, so I won’t write another one. You can see that review here.

After spin I was feeling energetic and noticed that another class was starting soon after mine ended. After some deliberation, I talked myself into staying for it to get my money’s worth of the monthly membership. I’m so glad I stayed, it was a great workout! Here’s the review:

Class: Beach Body@ Crunch
Instructor: Zuta G
Length: 60 minutes

This class was held in the group fitness room and was pretty crowded. That’s always a sign that the instructor is good!

Photo of the group fitness room from another day

Zuta is really high-energy and picked great exercises that flowed well from one to the next. She played great music the entire time and honestly it made the whole class so much more fun.

The class was focused on conditioning the entire body, so we did a little bit of everything instead of just one area of the body specifically. In most of the exercises we used both arms and legs at the same time for a better workout. The class started out with lots of fast movements (e.g. kickboxing kicks and jabs, step-up kicks, fast squats, etc) to warm up and get in some cardio, while also strengthening. I was seriously sweating the whole time, but especially during the first 15 minutes. It was intense. We used the stepper during most of the class, but especially the beginning.

My station!

After the cardio section we used the weights for some upper body and back strengthening as well as core (planks). Zuta emphasized high reps with the weights, but not an unrealistic amount. I was feeling it in my muscles but at the same time I wasn’t overwhelmed with how much we were doing. It was just right! Towards the end of the class we did some chest and ab work, which killed me since my abs and core are pathetic.

The verdict: I enjoyed this class and its worth a try. Zuta is a great instructor.

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Since I didn’t do the Three Things Thursday post this week, I just want to end off this Friday post by sharing a few random pictures that I took this week. I love NYC and all its craziness.

Random man on a super tall bike in BK

A GAP billboard make entirely of shirts. Real shirts.

This was my lunch today. Apparently subway has low fat kettle cooked chips. And they taste GOOD! Yay!

Did you meet your May goals?
Tell me some of your goals for June.
Any good plans for the weekend?

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May 30, 2012

My Graduation Day and Crunch Class Review {The Ride+Abs}

Today’s Workout: 1.5 mile run (RW Streak Day 3), The Ride+Abs at Crunch, PT exercises

Tonight is the graduation ceremony for my Master’s degree in occupational therapy! Basically its a faux graduation though because I’m not really done. Its sort of anti-climactic. While I’ve completed all my classes, I still have two Level II fieldwork affiliations to complete (basically its working full time for credits). So until those are done I can’t sit for my licensing exam. But its only about 6 more months until I can get a real job! Then I’ll probably feel like this…

Later I’ll be going out to eat with my family before the ceremony so I didn’t want to go overboard with my food today (since I know I may indulge a little this evening). In the past few weeks of being off from school, I’ve felt myself losing some control over my diet. Perhaps its me just getting lazy or the change in my daily routine but I’ve noticed I haven’t been feeling the same lately.

Because of that, I think I may have gained a couple pounds. Its only a few and nothing major, but I want to be better about not snacking too much and making better choices in general. I want to feel as good as I did a few weeks ago, which is most important to me. So today I had a Clif bar for breakfast on my way to the gym and for lunch a green smoothie (almond butter, banana and spinach) and TJs salmon burger. Filling and tasty! Plus, there was a ton of protein in there for my muscles.

I was so sleepy when my alarm went off this morning and basically had to pep talk myself into getting up. Its gloomy in NYC lately which makes me feel this way… I’m missing the sunshine! Anyway, I did get up eventually and headed to Crunch gym for a class. I ended up getting there sort of early and decided to get in my run before the class to complete Day 3 of the RW Summer Running Streak.

Since its normally supposed to be a “rest day” for me, I decided to take it easier and run 1.5 miles on the treadmill. I’ve been running on the treadmill a lot lately just because its convenient but I really need to get my butt outside more. I’m just not thrilled about running on the city streets and since I can’t run that far right now, there’s no sense in commuting to Central Park or Prospect Park. But this week I’ll man up and run in my neighborhood! Watch out pavement!!

Proof that I ran. I think that calorie burn is a lie.

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After my quick run I headed to the spin room for my second spin class ever. I may be an addict.

Class: The Ride+Abs@ Crunch
Instructor: Brooke E
Length: 45 minutes

I’ve already talked about the Crunch gym spin room at Lafayette street in this post, so I’ll just get right into the class itself. Basically this class is different from the regular “The Ride” class at Crunch because its only 30 minutes of spin and 15 minutes of abs.

Unlike the last spin class I took with Tomas (mostly in positions 2 and 3), Brooke utilized all three positions pretty equally. We did some seated sprints and then some in the other two positions on the bike. I really enjoyed the 30 second sprints that were incorporated, they were my favorite part.

Brooke seemed to emphasize high-resistance riding while Tomas used more of a moderate resistance throughout with some higher level resistance sprinkled in. I think I prefer the way Tomas organized the class in that sense but I still feel like I got a really good workout today, which is really what matters. Brooke was also very high energy, helpful, and kept everyone motivated!

The music was pretty good overall but I prefer more dance type, Jersey shore fist pumping music for classes like this than the mix that was played. However, it still was coordinated to the pedaling and the resistance on the bikes which I really enjoy since it helps me keep my uncoordinated self on track!

After spin we went into the group fitness room for some abs. Now, I have to preface this by disclosing that I have incredibly weak abs/core. That being said, the abs section of this class was TOUGH! Although it was a quick 15 minutes, I definitely got in a great core workout. I liked the variety of the exercises Brooke chose and how they flowed from one to the next. I was seriously feeling the burn!

I would recommend trying this class. I liked how it incorporated spin + abs, which adds a little variety to the workout. I’m really liking spin and want to take as many classes as I can before my membership expires. I’m also going to keep an eye out for Groupons or discounts that agree with my student budget! If you know of any, send them my way :)

What was your workout today?
What did you have for lunch?
Which do you prefer: running outside or running on the treadmill?

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