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Happy Hump Day!
Since it’s Wednesday I’m linking up at Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie at The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie at Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Sarah at Creating Better Tomorrow, and Michelle at Fruition Fitness! I’m going to share my recap of the fantastic FitRetreat I attended last Saturday with City Fit Girls! 
For the second year in a row, my sister and I attended the City Fit Girls FitRetreat. It took place at the Impact Hub in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia for 6 hours full of tough workouts, nutrition tips, tasty food and drinks, and a little pampering time!
We got in the car around 7:40 am for an easy 10-minute drive to FitRetreat. Thankfully we were able to find free parking just a block away. Since we pre-registered on Friday night at the New Balance store downtown, we were able to lounge around a bit before the start of the program.
The schedule was very easy to follow and well-organized. The “fit” portion was in the morning, consisting of intense workouts while the “retreat” portion in the afternoon was all about meditation and self-care.
I registered as a VIP so I was able to get some pretty nice perks – a special VIP navy blue tech shirt (that you can see I’m wearing), a gift card to new balance, a free green juice, and a few other nice goodies!
Can you spot me? Photo credit: Melissa Alam
Is there any better way to start the day than with some vinyasa yoga? Once again, Grace and Glory Yoga was there to lead our yoga session.
Funny thing – yoga isn’t the greatest thing to do when you can’t breathe through your nose. As I mentioned last week, I picked up some sort of cold/allergy thing while I was in Charleston, and I’m still fighting the effects! We had to emphasize breathing in and out of our nose during the practice, and that is VERY difficult when you’re worried about what’s going to accidentally come flying out!
But regardless, it was a fun, challenging workout and we were dripping in sweat by the end of class. I still struggle with the eagle and tree poses, but I was pretty darn proud of my chair pose. I miss practicing yoga because I know how good it is for my hips, and that is ultimately good for my running! The ladies of Grace and Glory are always very light-hearted, so it was fun to sigh loudly and giggle with some of the other women. We even got a coupon for a free class, which is always great!
I have never worked out with kettlebells in my life, so I was very excited for the opportunity to finally find out what it’s all about! Rachel Rubin is a pretty intense fitness trainer – she led the Boot Camp that City Fit Girls hosted at the Be Well Philly Boot Camp back in June, which was a killer!
We started up with a warm up that definitely got my blood pumping. Then we started doing squats while holding the kettlebell. Everyone had one kettlebell to use, and I decided to be ambitious with a 15 pounder. Thankfully it wasn’t as heavy as I thought it would be!
The hardest part of the class is what I would consider the acrobatics of working with the kettlebell! We had these combination moves where we had to swing the kettlebell and then rotate it or toss it in the air, pass it around our legs and switch it from hand to hand. I don’t know how I did it without ever dropping the kettlebell! It was quite the challenge, but I really enjoyed it!
Hmm…maybe I need to buy a kettlebell?
This was a very interesting class that gave me more to think about when it comes to balance and mobility. Veronica Dilzer talked to us about the differences between stability, flexibility, and mobility. Our bodies want to be stable, but because of poor posture based on our daily activities, over time we tend to create certain imbalances like back pain, shoulder pain, or hip weakness, for which our body tries to compensate.
So we did a few exercises to “reset” our bodies, some with a partner:
The craziest thing was that my body did feel much more relaxed after doing all of these exercises! Who knew?
We also learned about “Animal Flow” – which was the toughest part of the class! We had to stay on all fours, left our knees up just an inch and hold for as long as possible. Then we had to raise one leg, one arm, and then opposite legs and arms at the same time, while still keeping everything else in place. Wow!
This was a pretty interesting and entirely too short session about skin care, hosted by Steve Duross, founder of Duross and Langel. He was very entertaining as he talked about his company and how they use natural ingredients for their beauty and skin products.
We were able to give ourselves facials using Duross and Langel products. My sister got volunteered to sit up in the front – so of course I had to take her picture!
I tried a green tea mud mask for treating dry skin – it felt great! I also tried their exfoliating coconut lime sugar scrub, which made my hands feel amazing! There was also a really nice toner made from rose water that I tried. Most of all, I liked that the class was informative but not too sales-y.
Some tidbits that I learned in session:
More structure in the session would have been nice, but I still had a very nice time! I love using natural skin-care products and I know I need to do a lot more research!
I was very happy to receive a free 10-minute massage from one of the therapists at PhilaMassages. Of course, the time always goes by too fast! It was nice to get some attention on my quads, hamstrings, and especially my feet – they have taken a bit of abuse in this past session of race training. I was a little bit annoyed though because there was a lot of chatter between the therapists during my session – it was much quieter when everyone else was getting massages. But otherwise, it was definitely needed and appreciated!
Since I signed up as VIP I received a coupon for a reduced price class. I have always heard great things about PhilaMassages since they cater to runners and athletes, so I really need to take advantage of it!
Thanks so much to Takia, Kiera, and everyone on the City Fit Girls team, including the great sponsors and vendors, for such a wonderful event! It was well-run, a fantastic workout, and it’s always great seeing so many women come together all in the name of fitness and wellness! You bet that I will be back next year!
Have you been to a fitness/wellness retreat?
