Popular content
Sacred Sweat
Does the Pope Sweat?
It's Day One of a new papal regime. This got us to thinking: What's the Pope's daily routine, and does he go to the gym? Dawn Patrolers will recall that we also covered the daily routine of the Dalai Lama. Call it the Sacred Sweat series.
It's early to know how Pope Francis will spend his days, but we do know that he will not be running any marathons. Turns out Francis is working with only one lung, having had the other removed due to dangerous teenage infection. Outgoing Benedict wasn't much of a cardio fiend, either. He limited his daily exercise to a 10 minute walk around the Apostolic Palace, but he also kept a strict and healthy schedule: Up at 5AM after six hours of sleep, a Mediterannean diet, sans alcohol, and plenty of prayer.
The public record suggests that fitness, in the conventional sense, has not been a major preoccupation of the Vatican. True, Pope Pius XII, a controversial pontiff who presided over Catholicism during World War II, used a rowing machine in his youth. By the time he was Pope, however, Pius' routine was strictly 15 minutes of "knee bends and arm flexes" timed with a gold Swiss watch.
More...
juice help!
so i don't like tomato juice but want to do the juice fast....any ideas on recipes/what to drink? i am terrible at these sort of things. sigh.
Practical Eating
Skyr Vs. Fage: Yogurt Deathmatch
All yogurts are not created equal. Some are champion snacks or even meals, and others are sugar-soaked goop. One serving of my childhood favorite, Western Family lowfat blueberry yogurt, contains 44g of sugar, versus 9g in an equally if not more delicious serving of Total Fage. So no more Western Family for me. Which brings us to the topic at hand: yogurts' nutritional content, specifically high-end, thick-style yogurts.
More...
Yoga Studios
Laughing Lotus Is A Sparkly Pink Yoga Palace
Laughing Lotus is one of the city's major teaching studios, and you can feel it. The vibe is friendly, but also a little clubby. As if half the people know each other. Cause, actually, they do. It's also a bit more girlie than other studios.
New York
SUPPORT PLEASE!!!
Well let me give you a little background. last year i gained 25 pounds and i decided to regained my body again. I decided to go with the motto "NEW DAY NEW WAY" but i have only lost 10 pounds. with the holidays here i decided to go on a horrible sweet binge for the past couple of days, AND NEXT THING I KNOW I GAINED 5 POUNDS BACK. However, I made a bet 2day of $500.
More...Runners Alert
Last Minute NYC Marathon Sign Ups Happen Now!
It's running season! Even hardened spin teachers looked at their students funny when the weather is this nice. "What are you doing here?" Jamie Morales screamed at us on Saturday afternoon at Equinox mecca. Good question. Well, for the clever runners out there, here's some critical intel:
- Today is the last day to get in on the lottery for the New York City marathon in November. Want to spice up your Monday? Fire off an application!
- For those already on the plan, this past Saturday was the NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix. Congrats to all who finished! Our sources at the 11th Street Cafe said it was a big success, but also reported that by mile six, their nifty Nike+ was saying they were on mile seven. Doh! Nothing quite so demoralizing as discovering you're a mile behind where you thought you were....
- Meanwhile, New York Times gadget blogger Danielle Belopotosky is training for the marathon, and has done a round up of local and online running clubs. It's not exactly comprehensive -- misses SW faves like the Bridge Runners, the Jack Rabbit Sports training programs as well as some good virtual sites like Runner+ -- but it's worth a browse.
Enjoy the weather!
Health Clubbing
Think polished concrete floors, and raw metal railings, and decadent, fur-covered ottomans: Equinox MePa is as close to night club as a gym can get. And that's not necessarily a bad thing...
Free Yoga
TeleYoga Wants You and Your Friends to Do All the Minutes of Yoga You Can Muster
In a mere week, the Million Minute Month begins! To cheer us all along, we've gathered powerful forces for good in the form of Spirit Guides. Today, a big welcome to Spirit Guide Christine Miller, Founder of TeleYoga, whose sweaty minute encouragement begins...now. On the line: A free private TeleYoga session. All you have to do is rally a few friends as fellow challengers. Here's how it works:
More..._0.big center.jpg "Christine! photo by David Pexton")
Events
Last Chance To Sign Up For The Warrior Dash
Here at Social Workout HQ, we take regular stretch breaks during which we touch our toes, do pushups, and awkwardly lunge around the office. Yesterday's stretch was all aflutter with talk of the upcoming Warrior Dash. Seems a number of our cool Flavorpill officemates are doing the dash, which involves, mud, flames, rock walls, cargo nets, old tires, swamps, planks, tunnels...you get the idea. In sum, it's 3.23 miles of dirty mayhem. And this is the last weekend to sign up. The details:
More...
New York
Bike More Now
Google Adds Bicycle Directions to GoogMaps
The bike rennaissance rolls on, pushed forward by the techno, environmental idealists at Google. Effective immediately, you can now map your bike ride using the directions feature of Google Maps. Cool! FYI: According to Google, it will take me just four days and 23 hours to bike the 1,435 miles from Social Workout HQ to Miami Beach. Not sure if they're accounting for sleep, but I am sure the route would be scenic. Their route includes 962 directions. From the Official Google Blog:
More......we knew that when we added the feature, we wanted to do it right: we wanted to include as much bike trail data as possible, provide efficient routes, allow riders to customize their trip, make use of bike lanes, calculate rider-friendly routes that avoid big hills and customize the look of the map for cycling to encourage folks to hop on their bikes. So that's exactly what we've done.
Boot Camps
Stacy's Boot Camp
I am not a soldier, I don’t ever want to join anyone’s platoon, and Jillian Michaels makes me shiver. When you say boot camp, I think: Please, no. But boot camps are hot, and someone has to check these things out. So, I went to Stacy’s Bootcamp. And it was awesome.
Stacy offers three-week camps all around the city, all throughout the year. So there’s always one coming up. (Just FYI....) She teaches about 15 of the sessions herself. Trainer Mauricio Genore teaches most of the rest. I spent mornings with each of them, one session in Battery Park and another in Central Park at Bethesda Fountain. They were equally awesome. Both Stacy and Mauricio are the sort of people you actually want to wake up and start your day with. Not too perky, but very awake and in control.
There’s no yelling at Stacy’s Bootcamp. I had nightmare visions of Drill Sergeants’ with whistles. Nope. Stacy is all about straightforward, positive, though killer, encouragement to squat deeper, lift higher, and run faster. This sounds weird, but I felt a little like I was in The Horse Whisperer (with me as the horse, Stacy as Robert Redford). Stacy whispered what to do, and even though it was 6:30 in the morning and I was cold and grouchy, I did it, and it felt...majestic. That sounds over the top, but there's definitely an epic feeling that comes with pushing yourself.
New York
Ruby Streak is a beautiful space
Ruby Streak Trapeze Studio, Brooklyn, NY: http://www.natalieagee.com/rubystreak/index.html
ha! awesome! we all need juggling lessons!
" More comments...Profiles in Fitness
The Sarah Palin Workout
Sarah Palin may be the only person in a position of power willing to admit she doesn't like working out in the morning. In an interview in this month's Runner's World featuring seven page spread of the Gov. in spandex, with American flag, and unexpectedly tan legs, she says, "I don't like running early in the morning, although I'll do it if I have to. Taking a lunch-hour run works for me logistically as a mom."
We're relieved to hear a busy person acknowledge that 4:30 a.m. workouts aren't the only answer, though we sort of wish it wasn't Governor Palin. Anyhoo, turns out the Governor knocked off a sub four hour marathon in 2005, and, in so doing, cracked the code on training in sub-arctic (20 below!) weather: "Tons of layers and bigger shoes so [you] can wear two pairs of wool socks...[and cover] all the exposed skin on your face," she says. Great stuff, but not the best part.
The best part is that Almost-One-Heartbeat-Away leaks John McCain's favorite exercise: Wading. You know, walking around in water, like the ladies at the municipal pool in the late mornings. OK, the Senator has clearly earned his right to wade. Sure, it's a long way from Obama playing hoops with his bro-in-law, but McCain's wading might have had its own Presidential charm. Imagine him wading with Nicolas Sarkozy (shallow end); or Angela Merkel (one piece). Imagine him wading with Nicolas Sarkozy (shallow end); Angela Merkel (one piece); and Carla Bruni (Sunkini). The possibilities are endless. Short film, anyone?
Funny Fitness
Funniest Exercise Videos Ever
Like when crazy old ladies wear neon bike shorts under leotards, sometimes you just have to point and laugh at people. But it's way more polite to do it at home on your computer, that way no one's feelings are hurt. Here, a handful of exercise videos that make me point at the screen and howl:
More...
Online & Video
Warning: Table './sowoblog_live/watchdog' is marked as crashed and should be repaired query: INSERT INTO watchdog (uid, type, message, variables, severity, link, location, referer, hostname, timestamp) VALUES (0, 'php', '%message in %file on line %line.', 'a:4:{s:6:\"%error\";s:12:\"user warning\";s:8:\"%message\";s:337:\"Table './sowoblog_live/accesslog' is marked as crashed and should be repaired\nquery: INSERT INTO accesslog (title, path, url, hostname, uid, sid, timer, timestamp) values('Popular content', 'popular', '', '18.97.9.168', 0, '95af25ac2554f5a1ca588c1fe88f1fee', 25827, 1775859009)\";s:5:\"%file\";s:63:\"/home/sowoblog/public_html/modules/statistics/statistics.module\";s:5:\"%line\";i:63;}', 3, '', 'http://sowoko.com/popular', '', '18.97.9.168& in /home/sowoblog/public_html/includes/database.mysql.inc on line 135