June 28, 2016

Free Fitness All Over!

June 28, 2016/ sherri d'alessandro

Hi guys! Thank you all for your sweet comments and messages last week after my "What I learned from Injury" post. I'm glad most of you felt like you could relate and I also appreciate your kind words. I'm feeling light years better and have been boxing which has really helped mentally!

You may have noticed on my social accounts that my worlds have been colliding lately. What I mean by that is my full time job and my blogger life have been intermixing in the best way possible. We are executing a number of fitness events at both Legacy Place and The Street and I'm here today to tell you all about it! (It's not a shameless plug if it totally relates to the blog AND I'll be in attendance at MANY of them :))

The Legacy Place Series KICKED Off (pun intended) with Kick it by Eliza last week. As always, Eliza brought the energy and SPUNK! She took us through her 13 rounds and by the end I think everyone felt rejuvenated and confident. Eliza's energy is amazing.

This week we have Athena teaching her "Bring your Body Boot Camp". Since I don't live anywhere near where Athena teaches, I've actually never taken any of her classes so I'm PUMPEDDD to finally take one. My co-worker takes her classes weekly and she's one of her favorites so it's going to be awesome.

This series will continue on every Thursday from 5:30-6:30pm in "The Gardens" in the roadway in front of Shake Shack. We have Chris DaVeiga from Everybody Fights, Monique from Burpees to Bubbly, C2 Pilates, the gals from Rev'd, and more Kick It Instructors. Are you wondering what happens if it rains? Well, class is still ON... we have a great indoor space that can hold the class so there are NO EXCUSES!

So for those of you looking for FREE Fitness a little outside of the City... Legacy Place will have it all summer long. View full schedule here: FREE FITNESS THURSDAYS.

Next up, The Street in Chestnut Hill is Legacy Place's sister property and they also have a jam packed schedule of "Street Sweat" all Summer long.

Kick It by Eliza instructors will also be teaching in addition to Pilates & Sculpt from the folks at Healthworks, and Baby Boot Camp will teach StrollFit. There will be Yoga on the green with lululemon and Run Club brought to you by my new favorite lunch place, Juice Press! This schedule is seriously fully loaded with a variety of events so check out the entire STREET SWEAT SERIES here.

As I mentioned, I'll be at as many of these events as I can fit into my schedule. There's nothing better that outdoor group fitness in the summertime. It's just so much fun! Plus, there's usually some extra goodies and treats involved after class :).

I hope to see you all there! xo

June 22, 2016

what i learned through injury

June 22, 2016/ sherri d'alessandro

Hi friends! For those of you keeping up on instagram and snapchat (first of all, thank you!)... I've decided to keep fff alive (thanks for the extra push, Athena :)). For those wondering where the heck I've been... well, it's been a tad bananas. Somehow I handled my job, my blog, planning my wedding, getting my nutrition certification, and taking the Boxfiit certification pretty well until... I got promoted and pinched a nerve in my neck and finally said to myself... STOP (at least for a minute). Which leads me to the premise of this post: What to do when injuries or something else throws a wrench in your day-to-day.

A very FLATTERING selfie I sent to rob during the brunt of the pain

If you read this blog, I assume you are likely someone that works out on a somewhat consistent basis. You likely have a solid schedule and when something interrupts it, you probably get at least a little bit annoyed. You may also be scared of getting injured because HOLY COW, what to do if you can't WORK OUT?! Fire the alarms!

I'm here today to share the emotional process I went through so that hopefully, if you are the person I just described... it helps when injury or a busy schedule or a life event prevents you from keeping up your preferred routine.

First things first, let's just thank all the goodness in the world if we are blessed enough to have working limbs and the ability to exercise, hike a mountain, run, climb, bike, garden, swim, and drive. There are many that cannot, so let's recognize that FIRST.

Next, I just want to say that I was only completely "out of commission" for about 2-2.5 weeks. This is no where near the recovery time of surgery, a broken bone, a sprain, etc. I was, however, in constant worst-pain-of-my-life for a solid 7 days. I was also scared shitless that it would never go away. I also didn't know, and still don't know, what necessarily caused it, if it's chronic, or how long it would take to recover.

So... what did I learn?

1. When you are seriously injured, at first, the only thing you care about is resting and making the pain stop. That first week, working out wasn't even close to an option or a desire. I just wanted to lay on the floor for the tiniest bit of relief.

2. I've always been a little nervous that if I took a week off from working out, I might actually enjoy and get used to it. Um, this did not happen. As soon as I started feeling a bit better, I wanted to MOVE my body.

3. I learned that I need more consecutive rest days. I used to pat myself on the back for taking 1-2 rest days a week. For the most part, that's fine but, sometimes take the full weekend of or 3-4 days in a row. Your body will thank you.

4. You will not get fat, you will likely lose weight (hunger goes down and a little bit of muscle loss may happen). Remember your body is recovering from injury, keep it nourished.

5. Sleep... SLEEP! I slept 9-10ish hours a night that first week and was able to take hour long naps on my days off. You know what that taught me? That I need A LOT more sleep. I couldn't really use my phone because it bothered my neck so tiredness came on naturally and I slept and man, it was glorious.

6. When you are able to work out again, you'll want to do everything... don't. At first I took walks, now I'm running and today I took my first boxing class (I didn't hit the bag very hard). Each accomplishment has been amazing, but, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to hit the weight room and pummel the bag. I just know better, I've learned. I need time and I NEVER want to be in that kind of pain again.

The view during one of my recovery walks. How gorgeous?

7. This too shall pass. If you follow doctors orders, keep up healthy habits, have a positive attitude, and most importantly realize how truly lucky you are that it's a temporary problem not a life-altering situation, you'll be back to your routine before you know it.

8. If you are in good shape, you won't lose it. You've worked hard, it doesn't disappear. I've been running and I boxed today and my endurance was FINE. And if it does go down a little bit... so what? You'll have more goals to accomplish!

9. This may be the most important one: LEARN from your recovery period. If you feel tired and like you need a day off from working out, don't push it just because it's "Wednesday and I always work out on Wednesdays". Listen to your body, know your limits, and give yourself a frigging break every once in a while. I'm going to be 33 this year... my body probably isn't recovering as quickly as it used to in my 20's. My x-ray showed some slight degeneration in my C6 and C7 disks. That knowledge has grounded me a little. I'm still going to push it at the gym, give myself goals, and aim to be in the best shape possible. The process to attaining that might be a little different now. It definitely means more sleep. It probably means more rest days and it certainly means that I need better posture at the computer! haha (if you slouch - don't!)

Last but not least, be grateful for that body and take care of it.

Have an awesome week! xo

February 02, 2016

MyStryde Review featuring New Balance Fresh Foam 1080s

February 02, 2016/ sherri d'alessandro

Hi friends! How's the week going? Is it just me or is it actually dragging for once? Oyyyeee. I guess I should embrace it since most weeks seem to zip-zip-zip on by. Right? Right!

Anyway, last Wednesday New Balance hooked a bunch of us Boston bloggers and media folks up with the opportunity to try the new Fresh Foam 1080s at the brand spankin' new MyStryde in the North End. I was a tad bit nervous at first because the thought of hitting the treadmill for a full 45 minutes seemed a little intimidating. I'm more of an outdoor runner than a treadmill runner but, I must say that the 45 minutes went by pretty fast and with all the hills, sprints, and slow-downs.. it made it a lot more fun (ah, and challenging).

MyStryde is situated at the end of Hanover Street in the North End... closer to the waterfront. Great location with an adorable studio. The front check-in area is warm and inviting with some apparel for sale off to the side.

Sorry for the poor picture quality but, this is the setup of the room. Not pictured on the right is another set of 4-5 treadmills. The one with the lights around it in the middle is the instructor's treadmill.

And these, well these are the foamiest, loveliest little pair of Fresh Foams I've ever put on my feet. Between the full, solid layer of foam and the Woodway treadmills, it felt like I was running on puffy little clouds. If you've been following fff for a while, you know that I love the Fresh Foam family of sneakers so I knew I'd really like these, as well. The team from NB explained that these are engineered by studying runners' biomechanics, force patterns and wear tendencies. It has a substantial midsole with an inherently stable footprint, and a careful attention to the areas of flex. It is designed to accommodate various instep heights and foot volumes to wrap the foot securely. In simple terms... "so comfortable and stable".

Also, see those pants? Those are the most comfortable pair of running pants/yoga pants/workout pants that I have EVER put on my body. Not kidding, I could sleep in them. They are part of the new Trinamic Collection and are designed to support dynamic movements. It's super-duper soft and there are breathable holes in the "hottest" areas. A few members of the New Balance product development/engineering team provided all the info on our gear and when they asked if we had any questions, I raised my hand like a dork to make the statement that the pants are the most comfortable of my career. The Trinamic Collection will launch this Spring so keep your eye out for this collection! (The shirt was just as comfy as the pants, I am just extremely picky about pants so they stood out to me)

That's Becca! She's been dreaming up MyStryde for four years now and she made her passion project happen. The class was awesome and never got boring. We had little cards that helped explain how we should treat the different levels in the class (3=jogging/outdoor run pace, 4=little more strenuous/harder to have a convo, etc). She moved us through different songs that took us up hills, through sprints, and in between. Before we knew it, the 45 minutes were up and we were dripping in sweat.

Another perk to this class? Getting see my girls Athena and Monique! It was so fun to have these girls by my side during the duration of the class... we had a lot to catch up on and it is always motivating to do these types of classes together!