Archive for May 30, 2013

Why Your Workout Pants Don’t Need to Cost More Than Your Gym Membership

I’m definitely not going to disagree with the rest of the world, lululemon pants rock the body.  They look great, they feel great, and they are super trendy. What I don’t like? The price tag. Holy moly! I live in Santa Monica and work at a boutique, somewhat classy gym. Membership here is $89/month. (It’s a lot compared to other parts of the country, but for Santa Monica it’s about right.) The latest trend in workout clothes has pants that cost around the same price! While beauty can definitely be a price worth paying, I prefer to find the bargains when it comes to my workout attire.

LADIES: You don’t have to sacrifice cute workout outfits just because you don’t want to pay the high dollar. There are plenty of options that will keep you looking great and not going broke. 🙂

 

1. Reebok!

Reebok just came out with a new line of workout clothes called ReebokONE. They have styles for all types of workouts! Whether you’re doing Crossfit, Yoga, Running, or Weightlifting, they have it all. And the best part? You can find their prices to be about half of lululemon’s. NOW, they definitely have some pricier options, but if you look around the site a bit, you can find some bargains. They also have frequent coupon codes (currently if you sign up for their newsletter, you get an automatic 15% off). I snagged these bad boys for $55 including shipping/tax with a coupon code.

reebok

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Victoria’s Secret

I have been wearing Victoria’s Secret Most Loved Yoga Pants for years now. They are comfortable, can be used in the gym or just to lounge around and run errands in, and they last a pretty long time. I have used them for running, weightlifting, playing sports, sleeping, you name it! Right now, this link goes straight to a clearance where the pants are only $19.99 a pair. I just found out when I fetched the link, so excuse me while I go shopping before I finish the rest of this post….;-)

vspants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. TJ Maxx/Ross

You have to be in the mood to dig, but I’ve found great designer clothes (both workout and regular wear) at both TJ Maxx and Ross. Some trips are better than others, but I’ve found designer workout pants for less than half the cost. Can’t beat that.

4. Trunk Shows

Finally, call your local stores and find out if they have any upcoming trunk shows. I know lululemon and Lorna Jane both do them at yoga studios and gyms occasionally. Trunk shows usually yield a discount of 20-40% off of their new clothing. It’s definitely worth making the phone call.

While I say all of this in the name of saving, I still spend $200 on a pair of jeans without blinking an eye. Hey, you have to splurge somewhere, right?

What are your splurges and what do you try to save money on? Any discounted deals to add to this list?

 

*Note, I am not affiliated with ANY of the companies above (aside from Iron Gym). Although I definitely wouldn’t mind it 🙂

Make a Workout Date!

fun gym 3

One of my favorite ways to stay accountable for a workout is to make a date with a friend. I try to do this a few times a week for two reasons:

1) I get to catch up with my friends while getting my fitness on! We’re all pretty busy, so this is a great excuse to catch up while we sweat.

2) Another person to push you. I don’t know about you, but nobody is ever allowed to beat me. And if they do, I’ll die trying to catch up.

Today, I made two dates with two different friends. It is also Tuesday, which means it’s hip hop cardio day. Needless to say, it was quite the active day!

Workout #1: The morning workout consisted of pushups, pull ups, snatches, burpees, box jumps, leg press, and a 15 minute elliptical session. I did this in between work (I work at the gym, which makes it easy for me).

Workout #2: today was hip hop cardio. I love this class so much because I’m NOT a dancer. Yes, you heard that right. Most people get excited because they were a dancer as a child, or they love to dance and are good at it. I’m a metal head. This is so different from what I’m used to and I have an absolute blast. I’m not the best dancer, but I have fun and sweat my booty off, so I win!

Workout #3: Finally, my friend met me at the gym this evening for Date #2. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. 😉 I found the workout below on instagram and we decided to do it. We did two full rounds of it and finished off with some freestyle dancing and shenanigans as always.

kb workout

The moral of the story? Making a date with a friend will greatly improve the chances of you showing up AND will likely push you to work harder. I don’t recommend making 3 dates in the SAME DAY, however, so learn from my mistakes. Somehow I think getting out of bed tomorrow is going to hurt….

sword fight

The next time you’re feeling less than thrilled to workout, grab a friend and enjoy some friendly competition and catch-up time!

Do you make workout dates with your friends? What is your favorite thing about them?

Survey and Goals

I always forget how much I love writing/blogging until I start doing it again. I decided today is as good a day as any!

It’s a lazy Sunday, and I’ve put in a tough week of workouts including, but not limited to: hiking, tabata, strength training, running, plyometrics, hip hop, and kettle bells. Now that I write that out, I really hit a rainbow of workouts this week! It’s always fun to mix things up and do different things. I actually didn’t do any steady-state cardio on a machine this week, and still feel like I kicked.my.booty.

Goals of This Blog

Healthy Eating: I’ll document some of the healthy foods I incorporate in my life. It’s taken me a long time to find my health-shui if you will and now that I’ve got it, I think it’d be nice to share it with the world. My quick outlook: Make the healthiest choices you can that still make you happy. That is, if you just want to have the fries, but don’t really care to have cheese or a bun on your burger, then by all means do it. Make the changes that you don’t notice as much, and keep the foods you enjoy in your life in moderation. And sometimes? You just go get frozen yogurt because your boyfriend wants it. 🙂

Exercise and Fitness: I’ll document my workouts, give some workout suggestions, and share my thoughts on exercise. I am a certified personal trainer and a 6 year test dummy with fitness. I’ve tried it all from bodybuilding to power lifting, to crossfit, etc. In addition, while, yes, I work at Iron Gym in Santa Monica, I’ve also really enjoyed the new group fitness program we’ve implemented called Momentum. I’m going to start highlighting the different classes we offer there because having these classes available to me have helped me to try new things that I never would have otherwise. Maybe you will find some inspiration as well!

Since it’s been a while, and my life is constantly changing, I thought a little “about me” survey would be in order. As I type this, I’m enjoying TJ’s Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad and baby carrots dipped in TJ’s Spinach and Kale Greek Yogurt Dip. Holy yum.

Spinach and Kale dip front tjseggwhite

Here we go….

A – Age: 25..a quarter of a century! (gulp)
B – Bed size: Queen
C – Chore you hate: i know this is weird, but dying my hair. I get gray hair because I’m 25 going on 92, and paying to get it done every 3 weeks is just insanity, so I do it myself. It sucks, but it’s cheap 🙂
D – Dog’s name: My dog in AZ is Knuckles. Here in LA, I don’t have one yet…..but I’m working on convincing the boyfriend that we NEED one now. A boxer would be just dandy 🙂
E – Essential start your day item: Workout and caffeine. In any order.
F – Favorite color: black and gray. I’m dark 🙂
G – Gold or Silver: Silver
H – Height: 5’7.5…that .5 counts ok!
I – I am: very strange, a hard worker, and somewhat frustrating. But I’m funny, so that cancels everything else out. 😀
J – Job: You mean jobS. I’m a manager at a gym, a part time office manager for a celebrity, a sound engineer, a personal assistant/office manager for an executive, and the owner of MyPartTimeManager. I work a lot 🙂
K – Kids: Just my boyfriend.
L – Living arrangements: I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate and my boyfriend.
M – Mom’s name: Caryle
N – Nicknames: Lizard, Lizzio, Gizmo, Giz, Zeedee, Lizzandra
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Thankfully, never.
P – Pet Peeve: I have so many. People tend to annoy me in general. I definitely hate when people leave you waiting, rather than just giving you an answer. I also can’t stand stupid people and incompetence. Oddly enough though, I get along with pretty much everyone.
Q – Quote from a movie:? I have always said if you could have a career in quoting movies, I’d do that. But alas, I am asked this question with nothing coming to mind.
R – Right or left handed: Both!
S – Siblings: Sister (32), Brother (30), Brother (21)… although looking at that there is no way my baby brother is that old!!!!!! He is still 10 in my head. 😀
T – Time you wake up: 8 or 9ish usually.
U- Underwear: I wear it, yes.
V – Vegetable you dislike: I LOVE vegetables. But peas? No thank you.
W – Ways you run late: Left, right, center.
X – X-rays you’ve had: dental, elbow, shoulder, etc. I’m an athlete. While I’ve had no major injuries, I’ve definitely had minor ones.
Y – Yummy food you make: I make weird things. I get on a kick and that is what I eat for weeks straight. Right now an egg white sandwich with ezekiel bread (toasted), egg whites and TJ’s Spicy Jalapeno Sausage cooked together and topped with a little bit of colby jack cheese. Yummmmmm.
Z – Zoo favorite: I went to the San Diego Zoo last year for the first time since being a kid. It was the most depressing thing ever and I’ll never go back.

Your turn!