Cross Promotion

I really was not in the mood to do interval runs yesterday so I decided to check out this fairly new class at Crunch Firness - Accerlation Powered by Fitbit. 

Basically, the class is chopped full of cardio units or segments that focus on you taking as many "steps" as possible. I type "steps" because we all know that Fitbit  (Fitbit Surge, in my case) uses arm movements as steps, and the class has a lot of punching and jabs. 

Steps or "steps" aside, this class was pretty fun. The instructor totally was energetic and super engaging. Also, her music choices really suited the class. 

For most of the class, I stayed within my peak cardio range and my Fitbit Surge say that I took 2,513 "steps" during the class. It seems that 4,000 "steps" may be a bit of a stretch. 

 I guess my goal for next week is to beat 2,513. However, I think that my real goal will be to stay in my peak cardio range longer than 17-18 minutes. 

A critique or two

1. I think that the class may have too many people in it. I say this because there are a lot of jumping forward, skipping, shuffling side to side, and running back and forth movements, which can lead to potential collisions. These can happen when as person next to you does not have a lot of physical stamina and have to stop during an exercise like suicides. 
2. I do not really see too much of the cross promotion. Crunch fitness (at least the one on 59th Street) started selling Fitbit Charges a few month ago. However, most of the people in the class did not have fitbit (perhaps they are fancy and own apple watches) or any type of tracker. To me, it does not make sense to say the class is powered by Fitbit. I think if fitbit and Crunch fitness (to some extent) should have some type of incentive for people to attend this class and buy Fitbits. Perhaps, making specific online Fitbit community group for the class at one or multiple Crunch fitness locations would get more people involved. I know that I am somewhat competitive and like to benchmarch my fitness progress with myself and others, so one could see how well he/she stacks up with other Crunch Fitness members. Just a thought. 

Postworkout

Since I was already trying new things, I decided to eat a Muscle Making Grill instead of the healthy Mexican grill, which usually sscrews up my orders, that I normally go to after the gym. This place prides itself on low carb, low fat, and high protein food options. I ordered the Arizona, which had grilled chicken, some chipoltle like sauce, brown rice, chives and tomato. I wonder if Arizona tastes like the plate? 

Cross Training

Like we all probably know, cross training is just as important as actually running in meeting your goals (no matter the sport). For my cross training (or weight lifting) days, I have been using the Full Fitness app. It is a great app for the following reasons:

1. It is free!!!
2. It has sports specific (e.g. Runner's Workout, Swimmer's Workout, Basketball Conditioning Workout) and goal specific (e.g. abdominal defining, arm workout, glutes defining programs)
3. One can add and remove his/her own exercises to create a specific program. 

Here are some examples from the Runner's workout that I have been using for my NYC Half Marathon training. Side note: I think that I am going to start alternating between the Runner's workout and the Glute Defining program. I am getting a little board with the Runner's Workout and it is good to shake things up for your muscles.