I’ve done Pilates mat classes in the past and thought they were okay, but for the past year or so I’ve really wanted to work out on a Pilates reformer.  People rave about the reformer, but the two gyms I belong to do not offer classes.  So, a friend of mine recommended Meredith to me.  I recently spent an hour in her home studio in the Highlands under her instruction on the reformer, and it was one of the best workouts I’ve EVER had!  I’m not at all exaggerating. 

Pictures of Meredith demonstrating some positions we worked on during our session are below.  Watch her gooooooooo! 

After my session, I was sore in places where I didn’t even realize I had muscles – which means that I haven’t been engaging these areas in my regular workouts.  Meredith was SO awesome, and now I’m addicted to the Pilates reformer! 

Meredith charges $55 per one hour session or you can purchase a pack of 10 classes with her for $500.  This is excellent pricing for one-on-one Pilates reformer workouts, y’all!  I highly recommend.  Swimsuit season is right around the corner, after all…

Contact Meredith Bass at meredithpbass@comcast.net. 

xx, L

Here’s the Q+DD on Flywheel: Crafted by Ruth Zukerman, legendary fitness instructor, Flywheel is a spinning “experience” that cultivated a cult following in NYC and is now out to claim the nation!

Each choreographed spin routine is 45 or 60 minutes long and includes arm work with weighted bars. Awesome news: the studio is set up with stadium seating, so no matter where you are, you’ve got the best seat in the house.

Big time bonus: One of Atlanta’s BEST spin instructors (and all around cool guy), Jeremy Levison is now teaching there (although I hear ALL the instructors are amazing.)  

If you’re asking yourself what’s different about this class than a typical run of the mill spin class, here are a few other things you should know:

1. You reserve your bike ahead of time like a seat on an airplane. This is HUGE for chronically tardy front row geeks like myself.

2. They rent you special spin shoes with clips

2b. If you are too blonde to get out of said clipped in shoes after class, some kind Flywheel employee will help you.

Don't worry, I'm not still here!

3. The tailor-made bikes are completely customizable to your preferences and have a “tech-pack” which shows your resistance (“torque”), your speed (RPMs) and your “power output” (current and cumulative for the class)

4. For the overly competitive, you can opt in to participate in the in-studio “Torqueboard” – a leaderboard that show’s how participants in the class are doing. BONUS: your stats for every ride will be recoded and made available in your private account on the website!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE.

Also open: FLYBARRE

Billed as the perfect compliment to your Flywheel cardio, Flybarre combines yoga, dance, circuit training, pilates, and strength building and I am here to tell you that I was lucky enough to be invited to a class by my girls Hess and Kate and I think I speak for the group when I say: “Seriously, OUCH…but when can I go back?”

The studio is small-ish. Witness:

But no fear of running out of space - you reserve these mats airplane-style too and trust me, you are feeling WAY too much in your muscles to feel any claustrophobia whatsoever. Fact.

It was fast paced and fun and they do this super cool “dynamic arms” routine that changes monthly with the idea that you’ll come back enough times during the month to learn the routine and look like a cheerleading squad.  I like.

Confession: You do a full-on lights-off stretch twice in the class and I was a little heartbroken when I found out the first stretch wasn’t the end… but very proud of myself at the legit end.

They’re both incredible workouts and I’m SUPER excited to have our very own Flywheel here in the ATL!

Welcome, welcome, Flywheel!

xx, L

Flywheel Sports Atlanta
102 W Paces Ferry Road NW
Suite A
Atlanta, GA 30305

P.S. EXTRA BIG THANK YOU to Flywheel for donating a Spin Party for the silent auction I’m working on for The Tasting next Tuesday!  Please come to the event and bid on it… I will try not to elbow you out of the way or give you the side-eye if you outbid me.  

Before

The course...

after the first Kilometer

At the Finish Line!

even Jamo got painted!

The event sold out at 10,000 runners…but never fear, Atlanta - there is an ENCORE next weekend! Click HERE for info.

It was an AMAZING day and I will be back for next year.

xx, L

Here’s the Q+DD on The Color Run: It’s a race that’s less about speed (thank goodness) and more about enjoying a run in the park and emerging looking like a bag of Skittles. The only rules are that you must wear a white shirt and end up covered in paint. Each kilometer of the event is associated with a designated color: 1k is yellow, 2k is blue, 3k is green, 4k is pink, and the 5k finish is a “Color Extravaganza.” I LOVE an Extravaganza.

Registration is closed, but please come on out to Piedmont tomorrow to witness and cheer on Team “We Dream In Color”

Should be hilarious!  

xx, L

I almost got in a car wreck on Howell Mill + 14th Street yesterday when I drove by the old West Egg space and spotted Lulu’s signature red motivational shopping bag plastered across the entire building!

OMG.  OMG.  OMG.  OMG.  OMG.

(I wonder if I can set up direct deposit each month for my paycheck with them to cover all the damage I am going to do there during slow workday lunches??)  Welcome to the WestSIDEEE, Lulu! 

xx, L

Tadasana Yoga Pants.

 They’re a little slimmer and a little more flattering than my beloved Groove Pants and a little higher waisted, too, so they’re perhaps even MORE practical for all kinds of exercise…and they’ll look just a teeny bit cuter when I just put on workout clothes and traipse around town pretending I worked out!

I love you, lulu.

Namaste and all that!

xx, L

Y’all know how much I heart my second home in Atlanta, Exhale Spa.  Y’all know.  (And, welcome LK!  So happy you’ve joined!!) 

Well, I had my first facial at Exhale last week and JUST when I thought I couldn’t love it any more there, I fell even more head over heels!

It was the absolute greatest facial.  The greatest!  The one I got was the 60-Minute True Facial w/ a Cool Beam Treatment. 

Here are the deets:

True Facial: Enliven your skin with our customized facial appropriate for all skin types.  We use a layer of our most coveted mushroom enzyme mask to lift away all dull, tired skin and reveal a fresher, brighter version of you!  Trust that all of your need will be thoroughly addressed in this one hour facial – a true transformation!

Cool Beam Treatment: Monochromatic coherent light penetrates into the dermis sparking a physiological collagenic growth spurt.  This healing therapy inflates fine lines while simultaneously reducing post-surgical inflammation and decreasing hyperpigmentation and cystic acne.

My therapist, Kathryn, was absolutely amazing, too.  I highly, highly recommend getting a facial at Exhale.  My skin has been glowing since and feels like silk!

Also newsworthy at Exhale is…one of my favorite Atlantans + fitness gurus, Anne-Marie Berte, Manager of Guest Experience for the spa.  Do you know her?  Do you know her?  You should!  Y’all have seen me reference her in every single one of my Exhale-related posts, but you guys REALLY need to know how awesome Anne-Marie is! 

anne-marie berte

In addition to all her responsibilities at Exhale, she is also the ambassador for the 100 Women Project, the Lease Luxury Properties lifestyle & wellness concierge, and all around excellent person.  Anne-Marie is really into brand marketing and promotions, and is constantly working to connect people and create relationships and cross promotions for brands.  She has a contagiously positive and uplifting personality – this girl is going places, people!! 

super-fit, A-M!

Stay tuned for more Anne-Marie awesomeness – you are sure to see her around the ATL as the “fit girl blogger” bringing you up to date on the latest and greatest workouts to try, studios, and healthy lifestyle tips!

Love, love, love Exhale + Anne-Marie!  Just the best in 2012. 

xx, L

Exhale Atlanta
Anne-Marie Berte, Manager of Guest Experience: amberte@exhalespa.com
1065 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA  30309
404.720.5000
http://www.exhalespa.com/Locations/GAtlanta/Default.aspx

You see, I walked out to my parking garage to find my back left tire…

Flatter than a pancake.

I managed to get to the Costco in my neighborhood at Town Brookhaven, and after waiting for an hour and a half for Costco Tire Center to open, I was informed that though the puncture from the NAIL I drove over could be repaired, my tire was essentially mulch on the inside and would have to be replaced.  HOWEVER – they didn’t have the tire I needed in stock at that location so they fitted my car with a lovely donut and instructed me to high tail it to the Perimeter Costco to get this blessed tire. 

In the 5.6 miles between the two Costcos…apparently I rolled through a stop sign and was promptly pulled over by a motorcycle cop. 

Yep.  

However, alls well that ends well because it just so happens that my evening was so spectacular that it quite literally saved the day. 

Check out my two-step remedy:

Step 1.  Core Fusion® Cardio at Exhale Mind Body Spa in Midtown. 

I decided I had mooched off Lindsay’s Exhale membership for long enough so I called up our buddy Anne Marie to get myself my very own membership!  Yay!

Linds has been preachin’ the gospel about Exhale for a while, but as a reminder, the Q+DD on Core Fusion® Cardio is this: It’s a “calorie burning, sweat inducing, body sculpting, power-packed fitness experience, masterminded by the co-creators of Core Fusion®, Elisabeth Halfpapp and Fred DeVito. Merging cardio with intense strength and flexibility moves, this 60-minute class generates maximum calorie burn, resulting in defined abs, sculpted legs, and high, rounded glutes.”

I am here to tell you it was ridiculously tough and I felt like a bazillion bucks when I finished. 

After our class, Linds, our girlfriend Stef, and I met a handful of our fabulous friends for the BEST thing that ever happened to Wednesdays (and also step 2 in my remedy.)

Step 2.  LADIES NIGHT at Piola!

 Reminder: if you are a lady, EVERY Wednesday, you can enjoy BOTTOMLESS wine or sangria with the purchase of an entrée or a pizza.  I suggest both. 

I’d also suggest ordering absolutely ANYTHING with the Catupiry cheese.  ET turned me on to this amazing soft cheese from Brazil and it pretty much just makes everything better. 

There you have it, ladies.  Straight from LK.  There is nothing a little detox/retox and a GNO* can’t fix.

Happy Thursday, friends.  It’s ALMOST the weekend.

xx, L

*Girls’ Night Out.  Duh.

The purpose of this incredible walk is to raise money for breast cancer research and community programs.  Without a cure, one person will die of breast cancer every 13 minutes in the United States.  Together we can make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. 

The 3-Day commences tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning at Stone Mountain and ends on Sunday in the early evening at Turner Field.

Friends, family + general spectators are encouraged to come out to cheer on the 3-Day walkers!  Closing Ceremonies, in particular, on Sunday are easy to attend and very, very moving.  Spectator information can be found here: 3-Day Atlanta Spectator Info!

Look out for LK, G$, Randodi and Kevin at Closing Ceremonies!  And, best of luck to all the fantastic 3-Day walkers!!  We’ve got THIS! 

xx, L

And I’ll be honest – until a couple of months ago, I thought Zumba was perhaps less appropriate for this blog and better suited for a feature in say… a publication like this: 

I was wrong.  Lucky for me, I had a small herd of girlfriends who persuaded me to attend a class at the brand spankin’ new LA Fitness in Town Brookhaven (which is conveniently located mere feet from my apartment door, so I had no excuse)

You guys.  It is a DANCE PARTY and full of adorable people. It’s less like this:

And more like this:

Here’s the Q+DD on Zumba: It’s a dance workout class that combines Latin-influenced music with pop songs that’s meant for all fitness levels.  You can burn 1000 calories in a single class!   

My 7:00PM Monday class at Town B is definitely more Usher than “Oye Como Va”– and definitely more cheerleader than soccer mom – but I think at least partial credit goes to the instructor, Melissa.  I am pretty much obsessed with her.  I don’t even know where to begin – she’s so cute I want to put her in my pocket.  And she SMILES the whole time.  It’s love.

Last night I took Broadway Meredith with me and pretended we were in our own little show stopping production of a dance musical.   It is the MOST fun.  (Can’t WAIT to bring Linds with me in a few weeks!)

Cabaret, Shmabaret. It's ZUMBA, baby.

BONUS: If you attend Melissa’s class on Monday 10/31 – wear all black and come prepared to do a little THRILLER.  (!!!!!!!!!)

In doing a little Zumba research, I found out that this class has been around since 2001- so I don’t know what took me so long to find it but I hope it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

The bottom line: it’s a super intense cardio workout cleverly disguised as a party and I am ALL about it.  

Obviously, I love the 7:00PM Monday class at LA Fitness Brookhaven, but check out your local LA Fitness, I think they all have a class or two on the schedule. 

You can also find a class nationwide by clicking THIS link.

Or, apparently Zumba from home!  DVDs are available HERE.

I hope you Zumba with reckless abandon. As that old cliché goes, “Dance like no one is watching.”  Seriously.  It’s way more fun that way.  

xx, L