Hi friends!
Is it just me, or is January flying by?!
Today I want to rewind a bit and look back at my workouts of November and December ’16. I capped off my year with many awesome sweat sessions!
I kept up with doing an at-home yoga practice most mornings, though I feel like I stuck more to the basics and didn’t challenge myself with new/deepening asanas all that much.
Well okay, this pose is a pretty tough one!
Class-wise, November was fun because I got to experience spin classes at a new studio in downtown San Diego called Pure Indoor Cycling.
The folks at the studio kindly gave me a complimentary membership to try out their classes, and you guys, I had so much fun taking spin classes there! Pure offers the club-esque type of cycling classes that are becoming so popular in many cities — complete with loud, energizing music and lighting effects.
I love breaking up the day with a lunchtime ride, and I burned mega calories at Pure classes. I have my bike trainer at home that I use all the time, but I definitely pushed myself more in the classes. I left every Pure class feeling awesome, with lots of endorphins flowing!
One thing that I dig about Pure Studio? The classes are a bit more reasonably priced than you’d find at comparable cycling studios. And San Diego locals, the first class at Pure is free! I’d definitely recommend checking it out.
The only bummer for me? I wish I lived closed to the Pure studio!
Next up with my studio class workouts throughout November & December was going to more yoga sculpt classes at Fortis & YOGALUX in Carlsbad. I’ve become such a fan of yoga sculpt classes!
I love that they incorporate weight training, body weight training, and cardio exercises with yoga. If there’s a class that I’m most interested in teaching myself, I think yoga sculpt would be it. Maybe getting certified is in my future! We shall see…
[Playing around while hiking Boat Canyon at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park]
Being that it’s wintertime, I of course fit in hikes whenever I could! Besides the fact that the San Diego area has been getting a ton of rain lately, fall and wintertime tend to be my favorite hiking seasons. The temperatures are usually mild inland where many of the trails are located, which is great for my hiking partner, my pup!
My hubby, pup, and I did a few hikes together, including the above pictured Iron Mountain & Laguna Coast Wilderness Hike over Thanksgiving weekend. Clearly we were in a hiking mood that long weekend!
I also fit in a couple of local hikes with girlfriends, including hiking one of my old favorite trails, Kwaay Paay Summit, with my friend Trish.
I hope it stops raining long enough for the grounds to dry up a bit so that I can hit the hiking trails again soon!
As per usual, lots of long walks with my pup happened in November & December — some along the coast. Walking along the beach is my favorite! It’s just so relaxing.
I spent the last 10 days of 2016 on the east coast celebrating the holidays with my family, but all of the busyness didn’t stop me from fitting in some workouts!
I squeezed in a couple workouts at my father-in-law’s house, using his treadmill for cardio intervals with bodyweight exercises. I even incorporated firewood logs! Do what you have, when you can, with what you have available, right?
While staying at my parents’ house, I tried some Jillian Michaels workouts in my mom’s DVD stash that I don’t have myself. While I’m a little surprised that the video quality doesn’t seem great with these newer DVDs – like the one pictured above – the workouts got me nice & sweaty, so it got the job done.
Lastly, the final day of 2016, I went to a yoga class with my mom and sister. It was a great way to wrap up a pretty damn good year of workouts!
Later today I’m off to my first boxing class in quite awhile. I figured it was a good day to make a comeback… With it being the day that Trump takes office and all, I’m kind of in the mood to throw some punches! 😉
Tell me… What were your favorite workouts of 2016? Best sweat session lately?
Disclaimer: While I took complimentary classes at Pure Indoor Cycling and Fortis & YOGALUX, as always, all opinions expressed are genuinely my own.
David @ Spiced says
Haha…I love that Harley photobombs your photos. 🙂 But I gotta say that Harley is so well behaved. If I was exercising next to the dogs, they would be going crazy trying to be involved! (And somehow I don’t see Harley doing that pose.) Love the recap here. Enjoy that boxing class, and have a great weekend, Nicole!
foodielovesfitness says
Ha! It totally depends on her mood… sometimes she has no interest in me since she’s used to me working out at home, other times she’s in a playful mood and will keep trying to jump on me and give me her balls and toys to play with her, and then there are times like this where she just sits 2 feet away from where I’m working out & blocks me from moving too much!
Jennifer says
Looks like a ton of fun workouts for you lately!! My exercise routine is much more boring I’m afraid.
foodielovesfitness says
It’s never too late to spice up your workouts! Try a group class you’ve never done before, go to a studio or gym you’ve been wanting to try, or ask a partner to join you for a workout… or try one of the workouts here on my blog! 🙂
Cailee says
BABE!! You’re literally a yoga master! I’m so impressed by your poses! I’ve been wanting to be able to do a hand stand!! SO cool!
xoxo Cailee!
foodielovesfitness says
I’m not sure that I’m a master, I have much more practicing to do! But thank you for the compliment! 🙂
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health says
It’s awesome that you take advantage of all of the fitness classes and outdoor activities near you! The only thing we have here is Orange Theory which I signed up for earlier in the month. It’s been fun but I’m not such a fan of running on the treadmill. :/
I’m glad to hear Cali is finally getting so much rain but I can understand wanting to get outdoors. It has been raining here all weekend and I’m going stir crazy!
foodielovesfitness says
I hear you, the treadmill and I do not get along well either… which is actually the reason why I haven’t tried Orange Theory yet. We have them around here too!