It's Not All About the Bike

     While spinning is my favourite way to keep fit, it certainly isn’t all I do to stay healthy. I aim to spin 2-3 times a week (although lately it’s been a pathetic once a week) and I do other types of workouts on the other days. As much as I love spinning, if overdo it my knees really feel it. So I mix it up. So here are some of my favourite non-spinning workouts: 

Cardio: besides spinning, my favourite cardio to do is kickboxing. My all-time favourite is Turbo Fire—it’s been a mainstay of my fitness routine since it was released in 2010. It’s a Beachbody set led by Chalene Johnson and features absolutely awesome music. It’s just fun fun fun. I sweat like crazy and always feel great when I’m done. A word of warning: some people find Chalene to be a bit over the top and some of the music to be slightly objectionable. (I personally don’t but can see where those people are coming from).  It's also not strictly kickboxing--more like a kickboxing/dance fusion and the form isn't always perfect. Here's a clip: 

My other favourite kickboxing to do is the Powerstrike series, which is lead by Ilaria Montagnari. Ilaria is the anti-Chalene: she’s very serious and form-driven. I don’t find the Powerstrikes to be as much fun as Turbo Fire but I still love doing them and get a great workout with Ilaria.

Strength-Training: my go-to for weights is Jari Love. Her workouts are low weight/high reps, which is what my body responds to best.  When I first started doing weight-training about ten years ago, Jari was the first instructor I tried and I’ve been loyal to her ever since. My favourites are still her original three workouts (Get Ripped, Get Ripped: Slim & Lean and Get Ripped & Chiseled), as some of her newer releases feature weird outfits and look like they’re set in night clubs. When I want to do high weight/low reps, I turn to Cathe Friedrich’s Burn Sets or Gym Style series.  I’m also a fan of Chalene Johsnon’s Chalene Extreme (CLX) and P90X/P90X3. I know that Tony Horton isn’t for everyone but I enjoy his cheesy jokes :)

Ballet/Barre: these are newer categories for me, areas that I’ve really only gotten into over the past year or so. For ballet, my absolute favourite is Mary Helen Bowers’ Ballet Beautiful. These give me amazing lower body/butt results and I aim to do her Classic Total Body workout at least 2x a week. I also love Leah Sarago’s Ballet Body. She has tons of downloads and 4 DVD’s to choose from—these are no joke and give me DOMS for days. For barre, my favourite is Sadie Lincoln’s Barre3. The “3” is because they’re a mix of barre, yoga and pilates.  I also enjoy Suzanne Bowen,  The Bar Method and Physique 57.

Essentrics: Essentrics is an off-shoot of Classical Stretch (which I also love). Essentrics workouts are led by Sahra Esmonde-White and are a bit hard to explain so this explanation is directly from their website: "Essentrics dynamically combines strengthening and stretching to develop a strong toned body with the complete ability of moving each joint and muscle freely and with full range of motion." 

CS and Essentrics are based in Montreal and they regularly work with and train the Canadiens and Olympic athletes. Essentrics is wonderful for rehab and really helped my recover from my back injury. I’m such a fan that I’m currently undergoing teacher training to become an Essentrics instructor.

Here's a clip from one of my favourite Essentrics DVD's (Strength and Stretch in Motion:) 

Kettlebells: before my injury kettlebells were a huge part of my fitness routine. Sadly, I’ve had to abandon them because of my back injury and I really miss them. I got fantastic results from an RKS rotation and hope one day to be able to do it again. My other favourite KB workouts  are Paul Katami’s Kettlebell Drills and AOS (Art of Strength), especially Providence and Santa Monica.

Pilates: I love pilates but have a hard time working it into my rotation. I first started pilates with Jennifer Kries and she remains my favourite pilates instructor, although some find her rather dry. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Cassey Ho of Pop Pilates—her routines are fun and high-energy. Jules Benson, Bernadette Girogi and Rebekah Rotstein are other instructors I enjoy.

Yoga: before my back injury I adored yoga and did it several times a week. But about 15 months after my injury I started seeing an osteopath (who I love and who deserves an entirely separate post) who told me that my body “wasn’t made for yoga.” So I took a break from yoga and yes, sadly, my body (especially my back) did feel better. But I really missed it. So kundalini yoga has been a god-send. Kundalini is more spiritual and less physical than vinyasa or power yoga (although it can be physically intense if you so choose).  My favourites for kundalini yoga are a husband and wife team, Ravi Singh and Ana Bret (better known as Raviana). I also really like Mantra Girl. When I was doing vinyasa yoga, my favourite practice was Tilak Pyle’s Altar of the Heart, which is a transcendent, one-of-a-kind experience. I also loved Travis Eliot’s Ultimate Yogi set, Rudy Mettia’s Yoga Warrior 365 set and anything by Eoin Finn.

Other instructors/sets that make it into my rotation on a regular basis: Kelly Coffey-Meyer, Jessica Smith, Hamelin D'Abell, Jillian Michaels, Michael Olajide, Tracy Anderson, Shaun T’s Insanity and Focus T25, Piyo, Leslie Sansone, Horizontal Conditioning, 21 Day Fix, JNL Fusion, Dream Body, and You Are Your Own Gym. 

So many workouts, so little time!