New Things Weekends

Winter inevitably makes me feel like I'm in a rut. The novelty of the snow has worn off due to the dirty slush lining my walk to school, and the effort it takes to get my act together to try something new invariably  makes it impossible for me to actually do said new thing.

But not this weekend! My new year's goals have been looming and this week I finally started to make strides in achieving them. Let's go chronologically, shall we?

Thursday: Alright, fine it's not technically the weekend, but I did officially register to get my personal training certification. Classes start Wednesday! (with a blog post to follow)

Friday: Yoga Meltdown
Friday is the first day of my weekend which is pretty fantastic. And what better way to work out on a dreary South Bend Friday than with Jillian Michaels. While others may beg to differ, I think that I have a healthy obsession with Jillian. I simply think that she has such an admirable mission and a unique corner on the fitness market. Yes, she is notorious for being "TVs toughest trainer", but unlike all of the other celebrity trainers out there, her ultimate goal is to exercise for superior health, not for superficial looks. I've been a Jillian devotee for a while now, but her Yoga Meltdown workout - which I did Friday - is still pretty new for me, and *shocker* I love it.

Jillian's yoga is not exactly traditional yoga. She goes through the familiar power poses, sun salutations and vinyasas, but in order to work in an element of cardio, she works in reps that mimic squats, crunches, and lunges. I love it because it's a covert workout - you go into it thinking that you'll stretch and relax and then you find yourself in the middle of your crow pose thinking that you may just shed a tear because your abs hurt so bad.

Saturday: More Jillian and The Backer
Picture two girls in a tiny apartment, doing back lunges with hammer curls, plank rows and military presses, most likely looking a little a lot foolish. That was Kenzie and I yesterday, and I'm sure all of the patrons of the shopping center across the street got a good laugh if they saw us through the half-open blinds. I'm certainly not a Jillian DVD novice, but they are so much more fun when you are doing them with someone. Kenz is also finally convinced that Jillian is nice, and not terrifying.

And as more of a side note, I finally crossed the threshold of The Backer. I was pleasantly surprised by the distinct lack of sludge, however it was painfully crowded with a bunch of people we didn't know. Locals to be exact. The music was also good, but the all-female bar staff was not conducive to me getting a beverage quickly.

Sunday: The Rock Wall

Hell yeah. One step closer to completing one of my new year's goals and it isn't even February yet! Kenz and I went to the open climb sponsored by the Climbing Club. Since there isn't much information on the website other than the hours they are open, we showed up not really sure what to expect. They gave us these sweet climbing shoes and then asked us if we wanted to get "belay certified". We quickly agreed. 

Newly belay certified.

We slipped into some harnesses - as you can see from the photos we looked super fly - and then we learned how to safely attach the carabiner as the belayer and then as the climber. Once our instructor Ben officially certified us to belay we went to work. Despite one mildly terrifying drop with a little too much slack in the rope, we both did really well! Unfortunately our arms were so sore from Jillian the day before we felt a little wimpy trying to get up the wall. I'm so excited to do more climbing, especially since it's one of those activities that doesn't really feel like a workout, but it definitely gets the job done.

Kenzie rockin' the harness.

Hopefully I can come up with enough new things to do that I can make this a weekly installment. Any suggestions? We're thinking about doing Hot Yoga next Saturday, so I better hydrate to avoid passing out in the middle of Warrior 2.