Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Letting Go

Wow I can't believe it's just over a week until Christmas and two weeks until the end of the year! Where the heck did 2014 go?

As the year comes to a close I've been looking back at my 2014 goals and thinking about what I want my 2015 to be like. And honestly, lately, I've felt myself coming up a little short. With my recent injury and all my efforts to make friends, I definitely haven't checked everything off my list (or even made a December monthly goals list. Oops).

But then I saw this article on Facebook and I realized that, while goals have kept me focused on moving forward in the past, maybe what I really need to focus on right now is letting go.

(Image Source)

My favorite yoga instructor always tells us to stop thinking about what we "should do" and to just focus on what we "can do" right here, right now. To view how or even if we take each pose as one choice that we own and not some big reflection of our fitness, flexibility, or self worth.

As I move into 2015 I want to apply these lessons to my life off the mat. To have less expectations and more trust, and to let go of the need to have it all figured out.

This is definitely not going to be easy for my competitive, goal-oriented self, and I haven't exactly figured out how to work towards this yet, but I'm sure going to try!

Q: What things do you want to let go of as you move into 2015? How do you give yourself a break?

Now on to the party!

Welcome to this week's Workout Wednesday (WOW) Link Up!

Brought to you by your hostesses

Diatta Harris | Femme Fitale Fit Club and Sheila Simmons | The Frugal Exerciser.

Workout Wednesday Link Up co-hostesses

Joining us are our co-hostesses:

Amanda | Eat Hard Work Hard and Heather | Divas Run For Bling
Workout Wednesday Co-Hostesses
Amanda | Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Heather | Blog | Twitter | Instagram

Be sure to stop by BOTH of our co-hostess' blogs as they are really cool and full of their fitness and running adventures so read some posts, leave some comments, share and subscribe so you receive regular updates. We are very happy to have them as co-hostesses.

How to Participate:

1. Follow, Like and/or Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:
2. Post our badge on your site so folks "hear" about our weekly link up 
3. Leave no more than 2 links to your blog, Facebook or YouTube post or video using the link up tool/button below 
4. Invite your like-minded friends! We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week til we make the walls sweat!!!! I told ya we party hard! :-) 
5. Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone's post so they know how you found them 6. Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN! This IS a party.

Femme Fitale Fit Club
GRAB OUR BADGE CODE
 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

WIN Detergent Review and GIVEAWAY

Ok I have a gross Workout Wednesday confession for you today. Sometimes I wait a long time to wash my workout clothes. And this isn't because I'm a dainty flower whose sweat smells like roses. Nope, it's due to pure laziness, and my laundry gets pretty stinky.

Case in point: I somehow "didn't have time" to wash my 5 yoga classes and 3 lifts worth of workout clothes, towels. etc. before I left for Thanksgiving. So you can imagine how great this pile smelled when it welcomed me home last week, especially once I added the workout clothes I wore on my trip and then stuffed into an airtight plastic bag.



Thankfully, I could play this off as an attempt to create the perfect conditions to test out a new product I received for review as a Sweat Pink Ambassador: WIN Detergent.



Disclosure: I was provided this product free of charge for review. I was not compensated for my time. All thoughts and opinions are all my own. Obvs :)

According to the company's science page, WIN Detergent is "specially formulated to get persistent, sweaty smells out of the synthetic materials used in today’s workout apparel. Apparently, while these materials are really good at wicking away moisture, they are also good at holding on to oils. This means that fancy fitness clothes are actually MORE prone to smelling bad, which is MESSED UP because you get the most sweaty and stinky in them!

Luckily, WIN is supposed to be optimized to break down the bonds that are trapping smelly oils to your clothes. WIN comes in both a blue-capped regular/lightly scented version as well as a dye-free, fragrance free GREEN version.

I tried out the regular version on the above terrible pile of clothes, and I'm happy to report that it really worked! All of my clothes came out sans that slightly suspect "ok I know I washed this but I also know this was really smelly not to long ago smell". If you ever wait more than a couple days to do laundry you probably know what I'm talking about. At least I hope you do. The GREEN version also removed any bad odors from my clothes, although I liked the very light, clean scent of the regular version.

The only thing I didn't like was the cap situation. The WIN bottles come with a small cap for sealing and another cap for measuring, with each regular load taking two cap-fulls. For some reason, I could not keep from getting detergent all over the bottle, although this could be a personal problem.



So what's the final verdict?

I really like WIN Detergent! It made my smelliest workout gear as fresh as new, and I particularly liked the regular scent. I'd also highly recommend the GREEN version to anyone with fragrance/dye allergies or super sensitive skin.




To learn more about WIN Detergent, visit their website and check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

ALSO, one lucky reader will win TWO full bottles of WIN detergent, one regular and one green! How awesome is that?? Oh and just in case you don’t win, you can also use the coupon code WINGIVE1 for $1 off a bottle of WIN here through December 15.


To enter the giveaway, please follow the Rafflecoptor instructions below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now on to the party!

Welcome to this week's Workout Wednesday (WOW) Link Up!

Brought to you by your hostesses

Diatta Harris | Femme Fitale Fit Club and Sheila Simmons | The Frugal Exerciser.

Workout Wednesday Link Up co-hostesses

Joining us are our co-hostesses:

Amanda | Eat Hard Work Hard and Heather | Divas Run For Bling
Workout Wednesday Co-Hostesses
Amanda | Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Heather | Blog | Twitter | Instagram

Be sure to stop by BOTH of our co-hostess' blogs as they are really cool and full of their fitness and running adventures so read some posts, leave some comments, share and subscribe so you receive regular updates. We are very happy to have them as co-hostesses.

How to Participate:

1. Follow, Like and/or Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:
2. Post our badge on your site so folks "hear" about our weekly link up 
3. Leave no more than 2 links to your blog, Facebook or YouTube post or video using the link up tool/button below 
4. Invite your like-minded friends! We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week til we make the walls sweat!!!! I told ya we party hard! :-) 
5. Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone's post so they know how you found them 6. Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN! This IS a party.
Femme Fitale Fit Club
GRAB OUR BADGE CODE


Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Fitocracy Strength Training Tracking App Review

Happy first Workout Wednesday after Thanksgiving! I don't know about you, but I'm still recovering after my normal three-house marathon which included trying no less than 5 different pies. No regrets though!


(Image Source)
As you may have read a few weeks ago, I've been trying to get back into weight lifting. I found a sweet 3 days a week total body plan, which I think had to turn into an upper-body only strength training plan on doctor's orders. I was doing a pretty good job of fitting in my lifts but was frustrated because I couldn't find a good way to track them.

Thanks to Chaitali from Running, and Enjoying the Journey, I've found something that works pretty well for me: Fitocracy.



How it Works

Fitocracy is designed to help provide fitness motivation with workout tracking along with points, badges, and other virtual community incentives for working out. The app is free to download on Android or iPhone. After some quick profile set up, it's super easy to begin tracking your workouts.  

The app comes with lots of built in workout routines you can do, or you can build your own. I created and saved routines for each of my three upper body workouts super easily.


After completing each workout, you get awarded a certain number of points. You can also "level up" when you reach certain points thresholds. This part of the app wasn't that interesting to me so I didn't look into it that much.


Pros

Customizability: I love that you can create and save your own workout routines. 

Ease of use: It's really easy to find and add exercises to your workout routine from the large exercise library. And, being able to select from recent and copy recent workouts makes tracking each session pretty painless.


Price: Can't beat free .99!

Cons 

Tracking view options: It's hard to see at a glance how many workouts you've completed recently outside of point totals. It would be really nice to have a way to see your workout history at a glance.

Speed: The app will sometimes freeze or take a long time to load routines, which is annoying if you are trying to get in and out of the gym quickly.

Bottom Line:

This app provides an easy way to keep track of strength training. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who is trying to stick to a weight lifting routine!

Now on to the party!

Welcome to this week's Workout Wednesday (WOW) Link Up!

Brought to you by your hostesses

Diatta Harris | Femme Fitale Fit Club and Sheila Simmons | The Frugal Exerciser.

Workout Wednesday Link Up co-hostesses

Joining us are our co-hostesses:

Amanda | Eat Hard Work Hard and Heather | Divas Run For Bling
Workout Wednesday Co-Hostesses
Amanda | Blog | Twitter | Instagram
Heather | Blog | Twitter | Instagram

Be sure to stop by BOTH of our co-hostess' blogs as they are really cool and full of their fitness and running adventures so read some posts, leave some comments, share and subscribe so you receive regular updates. We are very happy to have them as co-hostesses.

How to Participate:

1. Follow, Like and/or Subscribe to your hostesses and co-hostesses:
2. Post our badge on your site so folks "hear" about our weekly link up 
3. Leave no more than 2 links to your blog, Facebook or YouTube post or video using the link up tool/button below 
4. Invite your like-minded friends! We love finding and reading new blogs so spread the word so we can increase the size of our parties every week til we make the walls sweat!!!! I told ya we party hard! :-) 
5. Use hashtag #wowlinkup when you comment on someone's post so they know how you found them 6. Last but definitely not least, HAVE FUN! This IS a party.

Femme Fitale Fit Club
GRAB OUR BADGE CODE