Reebok Cardio Ultra: New Sneaks and a Bodyweight Circuit Workout

Today I’d like to introduce you to these little beauties.

I’ve felt pretty snazzy at the gym lately because I’ve been testing out the new Reebok Cardio Ultra sneakers during my workouts. Sunshine yellow sneakers? Yes, please! Last week I wore them while teaching my studio classes, doing a metabolic resistance training workout with kettlebells and barbells, and when doing the decreasing row and medicine ball core strength workout I posted last week.

The Cardio Ultras are designed to be a high impact shoe, which is perfect for the types of classes I teach. They have enhanced medial arch support and a wider base to provide more ground contact, mobility, and cushioning.

I was actually first introduced to the concept of the Cardio Ultras during a Reebok focus group I attended at the Reebok headquarters in the spring. During the focus group, I learned about the following features the Cardio Ultras offer:

• The adaptamove upper naturally cradles the foot, perfectly supporting multi-directional movements such as lateral shuffle touchdowns, skaters, or agility ladder crossovers.
• The turnzone is integrated into the outsole and designed to allow the foot to turn freely in 360 degrees, which helps for anything that involves pivoting between exercises such as a plie squat to lunge.
• The trifoam forefoot cushioning perfectly absorbs impact and provides rebound needed between moves. This feature helps the feet feel supported when landing from higher impact exercises such as squat jumps, toe taps, burpees, and more.

I am pretty excited that Reebok launched a studio shoe like this because often women don’t know what kind of footwear to opt for in group exercise classes. You really shouldn’t wear the same sneakers to a circuit training or kickboxing class as you do running, walking, or lifting because they are designed for two completely separate purposes. Personally, I found these sneakers really comfortable, and the wider base fits my foot shape nicely. I’ve found Reebok sneakers to be on the narrow side in the past, but the Cardio Ultras didn’t feel too tight at all. Plus, I’ve never owned yellow sneakers before. Reebok for the win!

Along with my new sneaks, I also received the Reebok Bonded Tight and Studio Cardio Crop for this campaign.

I thought the bottoms were flattering on my tush and had a lot of enhanced breathability with mesh toward the bottom of the leg, however I don’t think I would ever work out in the long sleeved crop. It’s just not my style. I could see myself wearing it if I were a Zumba or dance instructor, but for the kinds of high impact workouts I do, this just wouldn’t cut it, and I’d probably feel a little self conscious. The open back is cute, but I don’t know how I’d wear a sports bra with it!

I also thought that I’d share a little bodyweight workout today that’s perfect for the Cardio Ultras! This one only requires 10, 15, or 20 minutes (whatever you have time for), and there’s no equipment necessary. It just has a lot of high impact and lateral movements in honor of everything the Cardio Ultras stand for.

Let me know if you try this one out!

–Let’s chat–

Do you buy separate sneakers for different activities at the gym? What do you look for in a studio shoe? What are your favorite multi-directional or high impact exercises? Would you ever wear a crop top at the gym?

Hope your weeks are off to a great start!

This is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Reebok.

The Awk Spot: The Time I Thought I Lost My Phone But Didn’t

The following post is sponsored by Fitfluential LLC on behalf of Reebok.

Last week I was invited to attend a fitness class downtown that was hosted by CrossFit Backbay and City Sports. While I am not a “traditional” Cross Fitter, I do like trying new classes around the city and was excited for the opportunity. I also knew we’d likely be doing a bodyweight workout since the class was held outdoors, and I’m always looking for new bodyweight ideas to teach in my fitness classes, do as part of no equipment workouts at home, and share on the blog with all of you.

I went into the night feeling a little flustered after being stuck in traffic on the way home from work. I had to sprint to catch the bus I take into Boston, but luckily my new Nano 4.0 sneakers that Reebok sent me to wear to the workout helped me make it in time. Phew!

After arriving to the Greenway and checking in, I really had to pee. Since I had five minutes to spare, I decided to quickly run across the street to use the bathroom in one of the restaurants in the North End. Of course my awkward self picked a creepy restaurant with a bathroom in their dark downstairs area. As I was waiting to use the bathroom, I started overheating because it was so hot. I took off my zip-up jacket (note: phone was in the pocket) and put it in my bag, quickly used the bathroom, and made my way back across the street. At this point, everyone had arrived and settled in, and it was time to start the workout.

We began with a double Tabata style warmup where we did different dynamic exercises such as squats, lunges, high knees, jumping jacks, pushups, and situps to get our blood flowing. During the warmup, I reached into my pocket for my phone to snap a few pictures (dun, dun, dun), only to realize that my pocket was empty. No phone. Of course I started panicking and stepped out of the warmup for a minute to scan the area around me and frantically dig through my bag. No dice. I lose things at the bottom of my bag all the time, so I quadruple checked, but I still couldn’t find it. Gah! How the heck I was supposed to document my experience at the event for this blog post!? More importantly, I started freaking out about all the pictures that were still on my missing phone from Slesh’s wedding and Erica’s bachelorette party.

After our warmup, the instructor said he was going to take about five minutes to explain and demonstrate the next exercises for the partner section of the workout.

I figured that since the exercises and form for each move were familiar to me, I could sneak away to try to backtrack my steps to the restaurant. I ran away, ignoring some of the weird looks I was getting from other class goers, and sprinted across the street. Back to the creepy bathroom area it was. The manager of the restaurant even came down at one point only to find me crawling around on the gross dark floor like a crazy person. I guess I don’t blame him for being concerned. It’s probably not every day that someone decked out in Reebok gear comes barreling in to his restaurant not once, but twice in one night, and not even to eat anything.

At this point I chalked it up to a loss and figured I should just finish the workout and would worry about my phone later. Back across the street I went, and I made it back just in time to start the partner part of class. Miraculously, a really nice guy was still looking for a partner and found me. The gist of the workout was that each pair needed to finish all 100 squats before moving on to the sit-ups, then all 100 sit-ups before moving on to the jumping lunges. Everyone could decide how they wanted to split up the reps, so my partner and I decided to just alternate doing 10 reps each until we reached the 100 total. The kicker was that every minute on the minute, the instructor would yell for everyone to pause wherever they were and do 3 burpees. Those minutes seemed to get shorter and shorter as the workout went on! I taught this workout in my class this morning, and I think it’s safe to say that my class members would agree.

Can you spot me doing butterfly sit-ups?

[photo via Run to Munch]

Once everyone completed the partner workout, the instructor said that “the only reward for exercise is more exercise!” (definitely stealing that), so we finished class with some isometric work: straight-arm planks, side planks, and a new to me version of V-ups that I most certainly will be introducing in my classes soon. Even though the class was advertised from 6-7, we finished around 6:45. The City Sports and CrossFit Back Bay folks stuck around to host a raffle, hand out water, and answer any questions people had.

City Sports also gave me a little swag bag before the workout started, so after I finished stretching, I sat down to peek at what was inside. What was the first thing I saw in there? My phone. When I took my jacket off and put it in my over the shoulder bag, my phone must have fallen into the swag bag inside somehow! I still don’t really understand how that happened since I hadn’t opened the swag bag yet, but it did, and I basically ran around like a madwoman for an hour for no reason. I just had to shake my head because this was definitely a typical awkward Athena thing to do.

I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to introduce myself to some of the other bloggers that were there, but I just felt too frazzled to have a normal conversation with anyone. I do consider my overall experience a success though. Even though I “lost my phone,” I was still able to get a good workout in and sweat a lot during the WOD. I also really liked wearing my new orange and purple kicks for the workout. They were super comfortable, and the wider toe box was a bonus! (ha).

If you are interested in participating in this class, you are in luck because it’s being offered every Thursday night from 6-7pm until August 21st on the Greenway (right between the North End and Haymarket station, near the intersection of Cross and Hanover). To take part, you just need to register online and show up. I definitely recommend it! There was a good group – about 25 people total of mixed genders, ages, and fitness levels – so if you are intimidated by Cross Fit, don’t be. The instructor broke everything down so all the beginners were comfortable, and I think free fitness events like these are a great place to meet new people.

Unless you are a loser like me.

–Let’s chat–
Have you ever tried CrossFit before? Was it indoors at a CrossFit box or outside for a free event? Are you taking advantage of any other free fitness classes in your communities this summer?

Want more awkward slices of my life?

• The Time I Blew Up A Ball At My Desk
• The Time I Was Poised (But Still Spilled the Coffee)
• The Time I Tripped and Dropped the Wine
• The Time I Taught Barefoot Zumba
• The Time Tim Tried Spin Class
• The Time Slesh Hugged A Stranger
• The Time I Was THAT Girl in the Audience
• The Time I Got Hit On at the Gym and then Tripped
• The Time I Was Afraid of Balls
• The Time Everyone Put Their Hands Up
• The Time(s) I Got Pooped On
• The Time I Got Stuck in a Drive Through ATM
• The Time I Got Yelled At On a Plane
• The Time I Forgot My Towel
• The Time I Was a Massage Virgin
• The Time I Needed Mothballs & Pantyhose

Life Lately {April 2014}

Morning! Time to chat about what’s been going on in my life lately. As you guys know, April was busy busy!

At the beginning of April, I flew out to Minnesota for work. I did several different staff trainings throughout the week, but the highlight of my visit was obviously the day I got to focus on our wellness program.

Other highlights included some pretty good hotel workouts, a delicious margarita, and my first outdoor patio meal of the season.

April weekend highlights include:

My Chicago adventures, which you can read all about here if you missed my recap post.

Tim’s birthday weekend, which included dinner at The Blue Dragon, a two-hour brewing session at Hopsters, and dinner with his family at The Local in Newton.

Greek Easter, and as always, there was lots of food and our annual Easter egg cracking tournament.

Marathon Monday, which was spent with our friends Bret and Ashley in Cleveland Circle.

And finally, Slesh’s bridal shower in Connecticut.

Some other things from my month:

Pretty flowers

Worksite wellness meets office antics

Homemade pretzel night

A fun fitness focus group at Reebok Headquarters with fellow Fitfluential ambassadors

NatureBox snacks to my doorstep. I really enjoyed the three-month subscription that Tim’s sister gave me for Christmas, so I was pumped when POPSUGAR offered to send me another box through my relationship with them. I know there are a lot of subscription boxes out there, but this one is my favorite out of the three different ones I’ve tried so far. If you guys are interested, the POPSUGAR Must Have Snacks by NatureBox will be 50% off for a limited time here. I highly recommend trying it!

That’s it for April! I know we’re well into May already, but here’s what I have going on this month (a couple of which have already happened):

• Blog friends dinner with Steph and Caroline
• Katrina’s shower and bachelorette weekend
• Bottling session at Hopsters for the beer brewed in April
• Maybe finally seeing my friends from home? My childhood friend Matt just proposed to his girlfriend Katie last weekend!
• Work 5k obstacle race
• Mother’s Day
• Slesh’s bachelorette weekend in New York
• Dinner date with my friend Erin
• Two free weekends, woohoo! I’m remaining non-committal for now, but I can’t decide if I want to try to escape to the Cape to kick off summer or stay at home and just relax with no plans. We’ll see!

–Let’s chat–
What are some of your highlights from April? What fun things are you looking forward to in May?

Disclaimer: POPSUGAR and NatureBox provided me with a complimentary POPSUGAR Must Have Snacks by NatureBox box. The opinions I have shared about the box are my own, and POPSUGAR and NatureBox did not tell me what to say or how to say it.