❤ BLOGILATES ❤

Scroll to Info & Navigation

SWEATING IS SEXY.: Muscle soreness & its relation to life»

My lil sis Jackelyn from my POP Cardio vids finally started a TUMBLR BLOG! WOOT WOOT!!! You need to follow her. She’s more of an elaborate writer than I am and loves talking about life, working out, love, relationships, and all those types of things. I am really loving this post she did on how muscle soreness and recovery is just like going through a break up and getting stronger. Check it. And follow it.

jabcrosshookup:

I talked to my sister about this concept some months back and I’m pretty sure she wrote about it on her blog, but I wanted to elaborate.

So, let’s talk about working out. You’re doing those first sets of burpees/tuck jumps/push ups and it’s just absolutely painful. Your muscles are screaming at…

YOUR FIRST EVER FULL LENGTH POP KICKS cardio kickboxing routine!

Turn on you fave music and let’s do this! Get ready for a fun body blasting routine that will help you melt fat and tone up quickly!! Do this routine 3-4x!

Have fun and tell me if you like it. Let me know if you’d rather have me edit music into the video or if you’d rather play your own stuff. Was it easy to follow? Do you have suggestions? How did Jackelyn do?

Running My First Half Marathon

Hey guys! How was your Labor Day weekend? Hope you’re enjoying your day off if you’re in the US and well if not, Happy Monday to those overseas! So after getting some good rest, I am able to write this post recapping my first ever half marathon. 

Back in January my little sister Jackelyn bought me an entry in to a half marathon for my birthday. I was like, umm are you CURAZAY!?!? But I agreed anyway since running has never really been my “thing”. I was more of a Pilates and weight lifting type of girl. Back then the only cardio I really enjoyed was kickboxing. Let me tell you that 8 months later, completing the race was not only a reality, but dare I say, “fun”?

Let’s take you through yesterday’s Disneyland Half Marathon in Anaheim, CA! This is a photo-heavy post so I apologize in advance if it takes forever to load. (I also filmed myself on my iPhone WHILE RUNNING, so collage video coming next!)

The night before we left for LA, I had only slept for 30 min. Yes 30 min. And remember that the whole week before, I was complaining that I had been going to bed at 4am? Yeahhh…not the best conditions for my first race…

5:15 am: sleep

5:45 am: wake up

6:20 am: leave for airport

8:00 am: fly to LA

9:20 am - 12:00 pm: get picked up from LAX, drop off luggage at hotel, and eat lunch

1 pm: One of the first things I saw after we checked in. So Disney. And so me!!! A glass slipper with treads.

We picked up our bibs which were very cute. Our names were printed on them which was a special treat! My sis who is the actual runner in the fam told me that this is not the norm - usually you just get your number. We were in Corral C which means we were in group 3 to run. I believe there was A-G. A is for the elite runners who are actually trying to win and G is for the mommas with strollers.

We passed a fake finish line to see if the barcodes on our bibs would work for tomorrow’s start and end timers. They worked.

Faking my super awesome speediness on a super fake track after completing registration!

3:00 pm: I didn’t get to even START my costume when I was still at home so I had to begin cutting PRONTO as soon as we got back to the hotel. I used an XL tshirt that my mom had laying around to cut my Pocahontas costume.

5:00 pm: The whole thing was made with no needles or thread. Just my hands and the scissors. My sister helped make the back contour to my shape for a better fit. I will post a tutorial on how to make my Pocahontas costume later. It was really easy and cheap! Didn’t finish quite yet but had to get ready for the Angels game!

5:20 pm: Next some friends picked us up to go see the Angels game! I am not a big baseball fan but it wasn’t too bad. Fireworks shot up every time the Angels made a home run. That was interesting. Then Ne-Yo came out afterwards to perform which made my sister very happy. He was great, but too bad stadium speakers don’t give a singer justice for his talent. We left around 10:45 pm. I was extremely tired.

1:00 am: I stayed up to finish my Pocahontas costume. I had the fringe on the neckline to do. It was the last touch and I didn’t even plan for it but I honestly think it “made” the costume. I was impressed by how much this tan jersey cotton looked like suede. Working with old tees is great because the fabric doesn’t fray - you can do so much without real sewing! I couldn’t wait to put it on in a few hours. Oh yea, and I also encountered a BIG PROBLEM at this time. My phone was not taking new songs from iTunes. WHAT!!?? I had 6 songs total on my phone at this point. Oh well. I was tired and hoped that Pandora wouldn’t use up my whole data plan!

4:15 am: Woke up! Made some oatmeal in a mug and sliced in 1/2 a banana. So yummy and perfect carboliciousness before the race. Makeup and hair in 45 min.

5:20 am: My sis and I walked outside to wait for the shuttle to take us to Disneyland. It was still dark. I wasn’t tired at all suprisingly! 3 hours and 30 minutes of sleep in 2 days? Crazy and NOT at all healthy but I was SUPER excited to run! I think dressing up helped make the experience THAT MUCH MORE SPECIAL. (That’s why I like wearing nice fitness clothes to workout!) I’m wearing a Lululemon jacket, Nikes, some volleyball booty shorts, and a Lululemon sports bra under.

5:50am: In our corral waiting to move. Still dark. Sister is a pretty fitness fairy. I bought her that tutu yesterday before the race. So cute right!!?? It matched PERFECTLY with the pink sports bra I gave her from ALO. It’s one of the tops I got from ActivewearUSA for my Fashion of Fitness review videos (the one on this bra is coming soon in a “How to Dress like Jillian Michaels” edition). It’s $36 but honestly, the design on the back makes it worth it. You can see it here. I am happy that we can fit into each other’s clothes because it’s like having a double closet.

6:15am-ish: Finally A and B left and it was C’s turn! Running!!!! Yay!!!! There were lots of bright colors, running skirts, tutus, princesses, and Disney characters. Oh and lots of Lululemon. HA!

Yes I am holding my phone in my hand and not listening to music. Pandora was being a B****! It kept playing slow songs even when I pressed on my Top Hits Radio station! My Britney station! My Bruno Mars station! Everything they were playing was Enya status. I’ll never know why but I really didn’t think I would have to thumbs down a song WHILE running my first ever half marathon. Sigh. I eventually put my buds back in but did take a ton of video during the race.

One of the COOLEST parts of the run was when we ran onto the actual Angels baseball field!!! I never looked at the route so this was a surprise to me. I am thankful that our friends took us to the game the night before. It was like everything came full circle. My sister also said that right as we got into the stadium a Ne-Yo song started playing. That’s pretty awesome!

Here’s a really unattractive shot of me as I was reaching for my phone to record a vid but instead took a pic. Don’t you think that with the blue sky background and my braid flapping in the wind, I look ultra Pocahontas?

Also throughout the race random spectators yelled “Pocahontas!!!!”, “Go Poca!!!!” It was sooooo motivating!!!! I didn’t expect this but it definitely added a magical element to the experience that only Disney can provide :)

8:35 am-ish: DONE!!!!! 13.1 miles!!!!! I didn’t stop. Miles 1-11 were fine. But at 12, my ankles started to ache. At 13, my calves felt like they were about to become Charlie Horses. I had to curl my toes for the last mile while running to keep from cramping. It was the longest mile ever. I wish I could have sprinted the last 10 seconds but there was no way. I’d be limping for days if I did.

Coronation.

Celebration!

Time to eat!!!! This is the Cheesecake Factory sweet corn tamales. I love these things. Not exactly healthy though. It’s 1590 cals for 3 sweet corn cakes. EEK!! I ate 2 cakes and saved the third for later. I think it’s all the cream sauce that makes the calories add up. I want to try making these. Maybe next week.

I also ordered some Thai mushroom lettuce wraps. These are shiitake mushrooms in a butter lettuce leaf filled with some veggies and noodles. They weren’t very good actually. There was no flavor. Took 2 of the wraps home for dinner later.

And of course we had to celebrate with sweet potato fries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And tabasco sauce.

Today is a day off from working out. My hamstrings and calves still hurt. I am walking like a duck. Hahaha. I wouldn’t exactly say that I love this soreness. I don’t think this is the “good kind of sore” :P

Turns out my sis and I finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 22 min! Not bad! Like I said before, I had no time goal - just wanted to not stop running. And I did just that. I feel very accomplished and have my sis to thank for signing me up. I love her!!! Running with someone made it 20 billion times easier. Plus running a race with tens of thousands of other people give you a certain energy that you can’t get from just nutrition, sleep, and exercise. Haha, guess that’s why I was able to run a half marathon on 3.5 hours of sleep, bad music, and (my period). Maybe I will try another one on better conditions later. 

Much love! Enjoy your Monday!!! Any of you thinking of signing up? And to those of you who ran with us, comment! I wanna hear your experience too!

Cassey

Partner workout!

Try this with your friend, husband, bf, or whoever else is lucky enough to be in your vicinity. Instead of going out for drinks, why not ask someone to come workout with you? There’s just 3 moves:

1. Clapping pushup

2. Russian twist w/ partner assist

3. Back 2 Back squat up

There’s also a guest appearance by my kickboxer sister Jackelyn! She will be making more appearances with cardio blasts planned just for you later.

Enjoy!

Cassey

POP Pilates and Eating Disorders…apparently.

So recently my Inner Thigh Gap printable workout was featured on the College Candy Body Blog. On Tumblr, this post got nearly 3,500 reblogs/likes which is pretty cool. I constantly get emailed about how to achieve the “inner thigh gap” so I thought it’d be a resourceful thing share with you guys. However, the positive reaction that this post received on Tumblr WAS NOT mirrored over at College Candy.

It all started with this comment:

Miss Anonymous (who was the only commenter who was anonymous btw) received a ton of feedback on her comment on how the Inner Thigh Gap workout promoted eating disorders. 40+ comments later we got people saying things like:

Courtney: “Oooh, I think I get it. Working out is “bad” because it means you aren’t happy with you. Forget that it might be healthy, give you energy, and boost endorphins (making you even more happy with you). No we just don’t want to upset the defeated people, so we’ll defeat the confident people and make it an even playing field.”

Leiahna: ”Dear ‘Anonymous’: If you really have enough time to sit around and look for ways to twist words and meanings to the total opposite of what they are actually saying, maybe you should first of all, do the workout cause someone so defensive about this subject obviously does not have the inner thigh gap, and then take your two cents to someone who really cares.”

Allison: “I love how every time a fit woman is shown, people are quick to call it an ‘eating disorder’. Seriously…some people are ridiculous. Stop trying to hide behind your laziness. I do yoga and I jog, and I’m in very good shape and I have this gap. I can assure you it has nothing to do with an eating disorder, and everything to do with taking care of myself. ;)”

Casey: “Since we come in all shapes and sizes, naturally big, naturally small, naturally in-the-middle, how is a picture of a skinny girl exercising promoting an unhealthy image? Or telling people how to tone their legs unhealthy? Why is a picture of a heavy girl eating a hamburger not promoting an unhealthy image? It is, but no one’s actually going to say it because you could damage her self esteem, (apparently skinny girls don’t have self esteem issues) If that picture was posted and someone said, “she needs to put that down and eat some celery” that person would be vehemently attacked. It’s the same thing as calling a skinny girl anorexic, or saying she needs to eat a cookie, but since they’re “skinny” that’s ok, because apparently they already have a leg up and we need to knock them down to size. You know you’ve seen it, we’ve all seen it, skinny girls get put down to raise larger peoples self esteem and it’s just as wrong as calling someone fat.”

Robyn: ”What is an inner thigh gap?? Just when you stand up with your feet hip distance apart and your thighs don’t touch? If that is it, that is so silly! I have curvy (but toned thighs, thank you hot yoga!) and guys love them!”

WOW.

I did not expect that much controversy on such a small workout post. There seems to be a very fine line between motivating people to look/feel their best and promoting an unhealthy body image.

Obviously, I did not make this workout to say “hey you need to workout to get an inner thigh gap because that’s the only way you can be beautiful.” I made this because I wanted to teach you something, I wanted you to learn something, I wanted you to have the tools to create change/gain strength if you wanted, and lastly…YOU ASKED FOR IT!!! :P

Plus…even if it’s just in the title, how is “How to get an inner thigh gap” any worse than “Muffintop Meltdown” or “6 pack Abs”? Remember…let’s be real here…the title is for catching your attention. What you do with it is up to you. My hope is that you do the workout to build strength.

Even though I was kind of surprised/appalled by the comment Anonymous left, I’m glad she did because it brought awareness to my responsibility as a fitness blogger. I get emails asking me for things ranging from lower belly pooch workouts to how to tone your face (yes really) and now I need to more carefully evaluate what’s right to post for our community. I have a responsibility to influence you as positively as I can.

Yes I do post a lot on food substitutions and exercises for so called “trouble zones”, but I am in no way trying to say “hey, you need to lose weight.” I want to be here to encourage you to live a clean and fit lifestyle. Fit to feel good. Fit to have confidence. Fit to be vibrant. Fit to live longer.

Anyway, tell me what you think? Should I be more careful in titling my workouts? Or who cares!!??

Lululemon Outlet Rampage! Yes. There is a Lululemon Outlet. It is like the sale racks of all nationwide Lulu’s combined into one store. Address: 636 Bluebird Ct, Central Valley, NY 10917, New York There are supposedly 4 Lulu outlets in total. I am so happy to have visited this one last weekend when my little sister Jackelyn and I were on our way to Manhattan. We were BEYOND excited when we finally found the red and white omega sign! I had to stop and take a memorable photo.Before photo, empty handed.When we walked in, we were greeted by sales girls that told us that Women’s sizes 2-8 was located to the left of the store while 10-12 was on the right. Men’s was in the back. Some regular priced stuff was in the middle front. I saw a shirt that I got on clearance a few months ago still for the $34 I paid a while back. I would have expected it to at least have gone down to maybe $24 or something? Nope. It was still $34 and they had it in all colors! Sweatshirt hoodies were $69 compared to their usual $98. Pants were around $54-$69 versus their usual $98+. Bras were $29ish, cheaper than the regular $42-$58 pricepoint. Jackets were $79-$89 versus the familiar $108+. My sister and I ended up buying the following things: -Everywear Gym Bag, orig $98, now $49 (50% savings)-Alignment Bra, orig $42, now $9 (79% savings) - we got 3!-Resolution Jacket, orig $148, now $89 (40% savings)-Define Jacket, orig $108, now $79 (27% savings)We were very happy with our purchases, although they did not let us use our Instructor Discount which was a bummer because normal Lulu stores allow it on top of clearance buys. Could have saved me some good money. Oh well, the whole experience was super fun but I won’t be back anytime soon. If you’re on your way to NY, stop by. But don’t go crazy over it. The store is pretty small and the deals aren’t that insane. On the way out…did some damage.

Lululemon Outlet Rampage!

Yes. There is a Lululemon Outlet. It is like the sale racks of all nationwide Lulu’s combined into one store.

Address:

636 Bluebird Ct, Central Valley, NY 10917, New York


There are supposedly 4 Lulu outlets in total. I am so happy to have visited this one last weekend when my little sister Jackelyn and I were on our way to Manhattan. We were BEYOND excited when we finally found the red and white omega sign! I had to stop and take a memorable photo.
Before photo, empty handed.

When we walked in, we were greeted by sales girls that told us that Women’s sizes 2-8 was located to the left of the store while 10-12 was on the right. Men’s was in the back. Some regular priced stuff was in the middle front.




I saw a shirt that I got on clearance a few months ago still for the $34 I paid a while back. I would have expected it to at least have gone down to maybe $24 or something? Nope. It was still $34 and they had it in all colors!




Sweatshirt hoodies were $69 compared to their usual $98. Pants were around $54-$69 versus their usual $98+. Bras were $29ish, cheaper than the regular $42-$58 pricepoint. Jackets were $79-$89 versus the familiar $108+.





My sister and I ended up buying the following things:

-Everywear Gym Bag, orig $98, now $49 (50% savings)
-Alignment Bra, orig $42, now $9 (79% savings) - we got 3!
-Resolution Jacket, orig $148, now $89 (40% savings)
-Define Jacket, orig $108, now $79 (27% savings)



We were very happy with our purchases, although they did not let us use our Instructor Discount which was a bummer because normal Lulu stores allow it on top of clearance buys. Could have saved me some good money. Oh well, the whole experience was super fun but I won’t be back anytime soon. If you’re on your way to NY, stop by. But don’t go crazy over it. The store is pretty small and the deals aren’t that insane.


On the way out…did some damage.

Health & Fitness Podcasts I’m into right now

Hey guys! Sorry for the major hiatus due to my west coast trip. I’m all disoriented but am coming back full swing this week, hopefully answering most of your questions and getting a pop pilates video posted by the end of the weekend.

Vegas was awesome - I was going to film a cardio video with my sister (Jackelyn Ho) who is a kickboxing instructor and a writer for College Candy, http://collegecandy.com/author/bumblefish/ ,  but we ate too much good food and couldn’t move. Haha.

The tradeshow was also great but I am not sure if I will show in August since the buyers there are more clothing and accessories buyers. There wasn’t a specific section for yoga and activewear so it might be hard to get orders at MAGIC. I am going to look into getting a booth at a yoga/pilates conference. Need to do a little more research here but right now, it seems the right way to go. The sourcing part of the trip was great - met tons of factory reps from Hong Kong, China, and India.

Okay, and now the podcasts!

I am in love with Quick & Dirty Tips! My faves are Get Fit Guy and Nutrition Diva. They are quick little segments on a whole range of health, fitness, and nutrition topics. A lot of the things you guys ask me can be answered in depth in their podcasts. Here are the links. Subscribe, it’s free, and really enjoyable to listen to:

http://getfitguy.quickanddirtytips.com/

http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/