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Lean Lena February 21, 2014

Five on Friday – Shoes and More!

Hey, guys! Happy Friday to you! Finally this week is coming to an end and it is time to enjoy the weekend!

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? Do share!

Anywho, as always, I am sharing my Five on Friday with you today – five things I’m loving/enjoying/wanting lately. Ready?

{ONE} Vibram FiveFingers – TrekSport Sandals

Totally under the influence of Meg McNeely, I have ordered a pair of these in orange last week. Check them out here.

I have heard so many people raving about how wearing these shoes transformed their lives, so I have decided to give them a try! (Can you tell I am such an impulse buyer?)

I got them in the mail in just 2 days from the day I ordered!

I absolutely love these shoes! Can’t even call them shoes…they are more of a second skin, really. I haven’t tried them “in action” yet, i.e. while working out, but I walked around the house in them a lot – they are amazingly comfortable!

{TWO} Spinning Jerseys

Oh Lord! There are so many of them and I want them all! But even with a discount they are still pricey…Debating this one, but oh I want it so much!

Check ’em out here.

{THREE} Water Bottles with Infuser

You know I’ve been obsessed with fruit infused water lately… But I tell you what – it is the cold season after all, and I do get sick every year and it usually drags on and on for a few weeks with lingering cough and general weakness. Not this year. I started coming down with a cold last week, it did hold on for a couple of days and is almost completely gone now. That NEVER happened to me before – usually if I get sick, I get sick. I thank the fruit infused water for that vitamin and energy boost it gave to my body so it is able to fight the cold.

So here we go, I got a couple of these to promote my new healthy habit:

Just loved this design and color!

And then I ordered this, too because, guess what? The water level is going down as you drink it!

Here’s where to buy:

{FOUR} Officially Certified!

I have finally finished my home studies part of the Spinning® program and took my online test. Look what I got in the mail a couple days ago…

Yey! I am officially certified now!

{FIVE} Foam Roller

I have been reading a lot about the miracles a foam roller can bring into an athlete’s/fitness enthusiast’s life. I have decided I should purchase one. I am looking at the options on Amazon, as well as at Target. So far I am leaning towards this one:

What attracts me in this option is the DVD part of it. Short of googling it, I have no idea what to do with a foam roller.

I need to do more research on this…Right now I am lost in the variety available and opinions published 🙂 But I am pretty sure I am getting one of those!

What’s your latest favorites? Link up below or share in comments!

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends, and stay fit!

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: fitness, fitness review, Five on Friday, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness review, five on friday, infused water, new experience, spinning 13 Comments

Lean Lena February 11, 2014

Dreams Come True – Awesome Weekend Adventures

Hey guys! How was your weekend? Mine was AWESOME!

As you probably remember, I had becoming a Spinning® instructor as one of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Well, this past Saturday I went for my Instructor Training session at the East Shore YMCA in Harrisburg, PA. It was a full day of training + 2 awesome rides – all done by an incredible Master Instructor Meg McNeely.

Gosh…where do I begin?

Well, first of all, for over a year I had no idea that the classes I was taking were not actually Spinning® classes. They were indoor cycling classes – thanks to Meg and Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc. – now I know what Spinning® really is 🙂

With this knowledge came a lot of revelations (mostly unpleasant) – starting with the basic moves I’d performed in cycling classes for the past year and a half being not so good for me, and ending with the whole different philosophy behind Spinning® classes as opposed to the classes I’d been taking… and unfortunately, I was not alone. 13 other people in the group were sitting there nodding their heads as Meg described the misuse of the terms Spinning®, Spin® and Spinner® and the basic moves used in indoor cycling classes that don’t do you any good and may be harmful.

This training was an eye opening experience!

I didn’t really have time to take any pictures except my Polar FT40 screen after rides.

Ride 1

Ride 2

I still have to pass the online assessment and get my instructor card, but I now have the Certificate of Completion of the instructor training which gives me the right to start teaching.

I am SO excited!

Now on to looking for a place to teach and continuing my education as an instructor. So far I have one place expressing interest I my services. We’ll see what happens!

Meanwhile I have a lot of work to do profiling classes, choosing music and thinking it all through while learning-learning-learning.

On a slightly unrelated subject – I have just been accepted to be a Sweat Pink Ambassador!!!

I have been waiting for a loooong time for this to happen. First, Fit Approach didn’t have their application process open when I first found them, then they opened it, I applied and waited and waited 🙂 I am SO excited to finally become a part of this wonderful community and to be their Ambassador. Thank you, Fit Approach!

Thank you, my wonderful friends, blog readers and my family – for your constant support and encouragement in what I do. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you!

Now I better go check what else was there on my Resolutions list and get cracking 😉

Stay fit, my dears!

Filed Under: events, fitness, fitness events, new experiences, spinning, Spinning Instructor, Sweat Pink Tagged With: bicycling, bucket list, cycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, indoor cycling, new experience, spinning, spinning instructor 8 Comments

Lean Lena January 27, 2014

Motivation or…Monday?

Hey guys! How was your weekend? Mine was busy! Between the Saturday morning workout, Carmen’s basketball game and a killer workout aka house cleaning on Sunday, it feels like there was no weekend at all!

Anywho. Did you have a good week last week?

Mine was terrible.

I felt demotivated, lazy, blobby and overall so-so sorry for my poor self!

Result – only two workouts last week:

Monday night spin class with MJ

Saturday spin with Johnny D.

Between Monday and Saturday, for 4 days that is, I did sweet nothing.

I don’t know what came over me these past couple weeks…I am just generally not feeling good. Not at all.

Everything seems useless, pointless and done in vain.

What do you do when you feel that way? I try find positive things around me and count my blessings.

So, I’m gonna try!

{1} I have a wonderful family!

Carmen’s science project got 2nd place at the fair!

{2} I got my CPR certification – one step closer to becoming a spinning instructor

{3} I am in good health and so is everyone I love.

{4} I make kick $ss salads and everybody knows that 🙂

yep, like this one

Ok, so that’s 4 blessings – one for each day last week that I felt crappy and didn’t workout.

Now I need to suck it up and go spinning tonight even if I have to drag my butt to the gym. Because guess what? I am NO QUITTER!

How do you motivate yourself on days you feel like crap and don’t want to workout?

Filed Under: fitness, Motivation Monday, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, spinning 2 Comments

Lean Lena January 14, 2014

NY Resolutions: Status Update

Hi! Happy Tuesday, guys!

I thought I’d give you a status update on my New Year Resolutions post today.

So…one of the resolutions was to become a spinning instructor in 2014.

I have been thinking about it for a while now and even did some research before making that resolution! There are a lot of options out there for all kinds of goals, willingness to travel, price ranges etc. etc..

I looked into online training and certification with AFPA.

I looked into going to Philly for a pre-conference training and certification at the SCW MANIA in February…

Another option for instructor training I was looking at back when I first started thinking about becoming an instructor was with Mad Dogg Athletics. Last time I checked, the closest to me (geographically) instructor training session they had was in Washington, DC. It’s not that far from me, but would still require travel, time off work, accommodation and meals expenses on top of the training cost, that I wasn’t really looking forward to, so I kept researching.

Once I made this resolution in the beginning of this year and made it public, I looked at their website again and…they had a session scheduled on Saturday, February 8th, 30 minutes away from where I live at a local YMCA!!!

Of course I signed up right away!

Marked my calendar!

So, on February 8th I am going for a 9 hour spinning instructor orientation training.

Last Friday I got a box in the mail from Mad Dogg Athletics.

with my Instructor Manual in it!

Now – study, study, study!

Also, on Thursday this week I am taking my CPR certification class. Mad Dogg Athletics does not require CPR certification card for the training, but I will definitely feel better if I have one! 🙂

Ok, so for those of you who are looking into becoming a certified spinning instructor, here’s how to do it with Mad Dogg Athletics, Inc.:

Head over to their website and find the next instructor training session near you.
Register and pay for the training online.
Receive your Instructor Manual in the mail.
Study, study, study!
Attend the training session and receive your certificate of completion, which allows you to start teaching.
Take the online assessment test at your convenience.
Upon successful passing of the assessment test, get your instructor certificate in the mail – valid for 2 years.
Earn the required number of STAR point (CEC’s) in two years by attending their events, taking online courses, or other continuing education events/training (which you can later petition to be counted as your CEC’s).
Renew your certification in two years.
Enjoy being a spinning instructor and teaching! 🙂

Pretty awesome, huh?

I can’t wait for my training and getting certified – SO super excited!

Question: have you started working on making your NY resolutions a reality yet?

Filed Under: events, fitness, fitness events, new experiences, spinning, Spinning Instructor Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, new experience, spinning Leave a Comment

Lean Lena January 3, 2014

Resolutions Anyone?

Hey you, guys! And Happy New Year!

I hope you had a great time off with your loved ones, enjoyed the holidays and all back in the groove now.

New year is the time for resolutions, decisions, new goals and re-evaluation. It is to the point where it is borderline pure pressure and stress, isn’t it? Everyone is asking about your resolutions, sharing theirs, and looking for “resolution buddies”. Uuuurgh! Pressure. I hate pressure. Pressure has the reverse effect on me – the more I am pressured, the less I want to do it. For me, what does the trick is ME actually WANTING to do something. So. Let’s get the pressure off of you and have you relax for a couple minutes while you read this. This post is about me and my goals for 2014 as well as looking back at 2013. No pressure on you, navigate away if you like 🙂 Or…Keep reading 🙂Continue Reading

Filed Under: fitness, new experiences, running, spinning, Weight Lifting, Yoga Tagged With: bicycling, C25K, fitness, fitness motivation, new experience, running, spinning, weight loss, yoga 7 Comments

Lean Lena November 11, 2013

Motivation Monday – Last Week’s Exercise Recap

Hey, guys! Happy Monday to you!

Hope you had a great weekend.

I haven’t done a Motivation Monday post with weekly exercise recap in a while – simply because I haven’t been exercising nearly as much lately due to my bad cold and later – bronchitis.

All better now and pretty much back in the game! So here’s what has been happening on the fitness front in the past week.

Monday and Tuesday – rest days (good start to the week, right? 🙂 ) as I was still recovering from my cold/bronchitis.

Wednesday – had a wonderful yoga class with Jim at the Y. One of my co-workers joined me for the class and we had a great time!

Thursday and Friday – rest days (told you I was taking it easy).

Saturday – did my usual double. Oh did that feel good!

11 sweaty miles!

Followed by a great yoga class!

Sunday – in addition to running errands (lots of walking), cleaning the house (lots of walking), and meal prepping (lots of walking), hubby and I went to the gym to lift weights! I love working out with him!

I think it was a pretty good week for the condition I was in, and that I managed to stick to the rules:

Credit: indulgy.com

It was a little hard to get back in the game after the 2 week break, though. The first week I didn’t know what to do with the free time I suddenly got on my hands due to not working out! But the second week (when I got a taste of doing nothing and having extra time), I felt like I am slipping back into my natural laziness! Couldn’t let that happen.

Credit: www.motivationblog.org

Credit: www.losgatosfitness.com

Because once you take that exit, you realize there is no turning back!

What did you do for your exercise this past week?

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, spinning, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena October 11, 2013

Junk Food: 2, Lena: 1

Hey guys!

I finally got to my blog – second time in this busy week, which sucked for the most part 🙂

Let’s see….It’s Friday (YAY!), I am back to PT for an uncertain period of time (boooo), and heading to NYC this weekend to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary!!!

The past week healthy eating was challenged by:

lunch out with my husband on Monday

Birthday celebration cupcakes at work

Photo source – Catherine’s Cupcakery

movie night at home with my family

Junk/Processed/Not-so-good-for-you food – 2, Lena – 1.

There were some good/not-so-bad food choices and decisions this week, as well.

Fruit and yogurt for breakfast last Thursday

Home made crock pot chili

Mashed potatoes and chili on top

Home made crock pot split pea soup

Whole grain orzo salad

All in all, it wasn’t the best week food-wise.

On top of that, I pulled my left calf on Wednesday night, went to my scheduled physical therapy session on Thursday and was immediately treated for the new disaster. And that’s right when I was going to start making my way out of PT some time after next week. No such luck. The pulled calf hurt like hell last night, but seems to be a little better today.

What I am most upset about is the rest days I have to take that I was not planning on. This injury once again messes up my entire exercise routine and I can’t ignore it because it hurts to move.

Erm…remind me – isn’t exercise supposed to make you fell better? 🙂

Anywho, before my fitness life was interrupted by the pulled muscle, I managed to fit some fine exercise in last week:

12 ml ride in Monday’s spin class

Weights and strength training with Jim on Wednesday

Yoga class with Jim on Wednesday

Blogging news:

Did you guys noticed the new banner? What do you think?

Also, the former “Healthy Recipe” page of the blog is now called “Recipes” (the sole reason for the name change is that what’s healthy for me can be unhealthy for somebody else, so let’s go with the neutral name) and is powered by ReciPage!

I am still in the process of transferring the recipes from one to the other, but very happy with the way the new page looks! I think it is a lot easier to brows recipes now. You can also search by key ingredients, cooking methods and alphabetically.

I hope you like it and I would appreciate any feedback!

I will see you guys next week with the NYC trip recap!

Have a great weekend and stay fit!

Filed Under: breakfast, dessert, dinner, events, family events, fitness, lunch, recipes, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: bicycling, dessert, dinner, family, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, lunch, pasta, pasta salad, recipes, salad, spinning, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena October 7, 2013

Last Week’s Exercise Recap as part of the Motivation Monday

Hey hey, my fitness friends 🙂

Happy (?) Monday to you! Are you ready for another week of work and fun? I feel pretty good today – I think it is going to be a very-very fun week…and – this weekend is our second wedding anniversary. It’s been very happy two years – with ups and downs like in any family in general and a step-family in particular.

But not for once did I ever regret that “I do” I said to the most wonderful guy in this world!

So we are keeping the tradition of going to NYC for our anniversary! I am so excited about another opportunity to discover more of this great city!!!

Anywho, back to our Monday. I am back here with my exercise recap of the past week.Continue Reading

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, new experiences, spinning, Weight Lifting, Weight Watchers, WW Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, new experience, running, spinning, weight loss, Weight Watchers, wwbtb, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena September 23, 2013

Motivation Monday – Weekly Exercise Recap, WW Weigh In Results

Hey my dears! Happy Motivation Monday to you!

Let’s see what I did in the past week exercise-wise, shall we? 🙂

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, spinning, Weight Lifting, Weight Watchers, WW Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, health, ilift, spinning, weight loss, Weight Watchers, wwbtb, yoga 2 Comments

Lean Lena September 19, 2013

Belated “What’s on my Plate Wednesday” and Weekly Exercise Recap

Hey hey, my fitness friends!

I bet you didn’t expect a “What’s on my Plate” Wednesday post from me on Thursday! Well, guess what? It is happening. And since I missed the exercise recap post this week, I am combining the two!

Here we go, eating highlights and exercise recap of the past week or so!Continue Reading

Filed Under: breakfast, dinner, fitness, healthy snack ideas, lunch, recipes, spinning, Weight Lifting, Weight Watchers, what's on my plate wednesday, WW Tagged With: bicycling, dinner, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, good food, healthy breakfast, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, healthy snack ideas, Lose it!, lunch, recipes, salad, smoothie, spinning, weight loss, weightwatchers, wwbtb, yoga Leave a Comment

Lean Lena August 19, 2013

Motivation Monday: Last Week’s Exercise Round-Up

Hey there my fitness friends!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are rested enough for this Monday!

I had a very good week and feel ready for the new one.

Today’s post is one of the “Motivation Monday” series with my previous week’s exercise recap. I hope it helps you motivate yourself to get out there and exercise!Continue Reading

Filed Under: fitness, Girls Gone Sporty, Motivation Monday, new experiences, spinning, Weight Lifting Tagged With: bicycling, fitness, fitness motivation, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, Lose it!, motivation monday, new experience, spinning, weight loss, yoga 2 Comments

Lean Lena July 29, 2013

Back to Blogging, Working Out and Eating Better

Hello, my fitness friends!

I am finally back to my blog – after a bad cold, couple days in New York City and celebrating my husband’s birthday.

There is so much to share about the past few days! I just wanted to check in and let you know I am ok, back home safely and will be posting about my trip and hubs’ birthday celebration soon.

For now, I just wanted to share the recipe for the pesto that I promised you in my previous post.Continue Reading

Filed Under: dinner, fitness, gadget-head, Girls Gone Sporty, recipes, spinning, travel Tagged With: bicycling, dinner, fitness, gadget-head, GGS, Girls Gone Sporty Ambassador, healthy dinner, healthy lunch, lunch, pasta, pesto, recipes, spinning, travel 1 Comment

Lean Lena May 18, 2013

Spinning, family bicycling and yoga

Hello, friends.

It’s been a fun couple days here in Carlisle, PA! On Friday night I was so tired after work, I decided to just chill and go for a bike ride instead of doing my usual 5:30 pm yoga class (it’s been a routine changing week!). When I told Carmen and my husband about that, they said they wanted to come along! So Friday night workout turned into a fun family event. Continue Reading

Filed Under: family events, fitness, spinning Tagged With: bicycling, family, spinning, yoga Leave a Comment

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