Fitness Friday: #SweatworkingWeek 2017
It's 2017 and I'm bringing back Fitness Friday! This week, I'm going to highlight parts of Sweatworking Week. I plan to talk more about these studios in depth in the coming weeks, so this is going to be an overview of the amazing week I had working out all around Chicago.
Monday Buns-Day
Monday was spent burning my butt and abs at Flybarre in Old Town. I gotta say, that class killed me and I honestly did prefer it to Pure Barre. The focus with FlyBarre seems to be more on fitness, and less on dance. I've always gotten the vibe at Pure Barre that I wasn't rhythmically coordinated enough for class, and while I did feel the burn, I always felt awkward in class. I didn't really feel that at all with FlyBarre. I really liked the fitness focus.
Tuesday SOUL
I spent my Tuesday at SoulCycle and not with Sweatworking Week. I wanted to include it here because it was part of my week's workouts, but again, it wasn't with Sweatworking.
Wednesday Weird
Wednesday morning, I crawled out of bed at 4:40am to drag myself to 5:30am yoga at DyBrkr. Maggie led the class (and was amazing) and I really enjoyed waking up with some yoga! The room was packed, but not uncomfortably so, and the water being projected on the ceiling had me feeling really zen. The dance party wasn't really my thing, but I really enjoyed the yoga and would definitely go again!
Thursday Thighs...day?
Thursday was another early morning, this time at Studio Lagree in River North. This is their newest location in Chicago and I highly recommend checking it out!
Studio Lagree is a Pilates class using the reformer (a big torture device that's impossible to describe) to work on your core while you do pretty much everything else. There's this platform that moves, and holding a squat with one foot on the stationary part of the machine and another on the moving platform left my inner thighs sore for days after.
I've taken classes here before, and they're all different and equally challenging. I recommend checking them out early morning for a pre-work stretch and workout.
Finally Friday
Friday, I skipped my workout at Sweat Chicago. I just couldn't make it. I was exhausted from all the early wake-ups. So Friday was my rest day, but I made up for it Saturday.
Saturday: Closing Day
I unexpectedly got into the Barry's Bootcamp class on Saturday, doing Double Floors (my favorite!). So Saturday I had two workouts very close together.
Saturday morning, I did a sweaty and amazingly invigorating Vinyasa/Sculpt combo class with the studio manager, Kevin, at CorePower River North. He kicked our asses. It was hot. It was sweaty. It was difficult. And it was perfect. I really needed those hot flows after such a tough week on my body. I left drenched in sweat and totally relaxed. 10/10, would recommend.
Following CorePower, I made myself a protein packed lunch (a smoothie with protein and a luna bar, plus a LOT of water) and headed to Barry's for Double Floors. I don't want to go to in-depth, because I have a pretty hefty article in the works, but I'll give you a synopsis.
Barry's is "the original" treadmill + HIIT workout studio. It's new to Chicago and is already making waves. I had been twice before (once with SweatWorking, once on my own). I did treads and floor both that first time, and decided that while I'm a runner, the treadmill sprints are just too hard on my knees. Something about the absolute pounding of your feet you have to do to keep up with the speeds the instructor calls just really kills my knees. I find that Double Floors (which is all weight/resistance work the entire time) gives me just as good of a workout.
After our workout at Barry's, there was an after party for all of Sweatworking Week, complete with a Braid Bar, smoothie samples, massages, sake samples and a DJ! I had a great time sampling things and talking with friends.
After we left Barry's, Jenn and I headed to True Food Kitchen for dinner. It was definitely a unique place! I liked my meal (steak tacos) a lot, and had an amazing black tea concoction with extra vitamin C to go with it! I'll do a post on them once I've had a few more experiences there.
From True Food Kitchen, Jenn and I walked to Nike Chicago for Tight Night and tried out Nike's new tights! Their spring collection has the prettiest color palette (think: lots of pinks and white!) and the event features juice samples from Real Good Juice, food from True Food Kitchen, and a photo booth! Though our photo never showed up from the booth itself, we did take a photo with the dreamy backdrop!
Sunday, I slept. It was a solid day of rest before heading into this week.
I'll have more posts coming up soon detailing things about the studios I've been trying lately! I've found some I really love that I can't wait to share with you!
To sign up for upcoming Sweatworking Events, keep your eyes on aSweatLife.com!
--B