‘The Body’ Class Review and Best Dressed at the Derby!

I was very excited to try yet another Lotte Berk Method based, barre style class on Saturday. This time, The Body, conveniently located a few blocks from my apartment. I had walked by and wondered what it was but never remembered to research it. Then when Melissa found out where I live, she told me it was just like Physique 57 and offers a free class for your first visit. After that, I started to try and glimpse in the windows whenever I walked by, which was almost every day. I spotted a barre and a bin of playground balls. Once I caught a class going on and saw some plies going on.

All pics from their website:

A little description from Time Out NY:

Of course, I had to try it. So Missy, her mom and I made reservations for Saturday’s Beginner class. I walked in and saw Missy sitting in this adorable waiting room:

We went into the locker room and found that it was even more adorable. As you can see, they have a great color combination of dark brown and hot pink. Love it.

As we would learn, however, adorable also meant little in this case. More on that later.

Missy’s mom arrived and we all got ready to go to the class. But first, Missy and I had a little giggle over her mom’s outfit. We walked in to a really nice room with brown carpeting and took spaces together at the barre. We got weights for the upper body portion and I opted for the 3 lbs. At the last minute, I grabbed a set of 2 lbs as well just in case. Just in case my arms were about to fall off.

I absolutely loved the upper body portion. I felt like it went on longer than Physique 57 and Core Fusion. My arms were burning toward the end, but I didn’t need to switch to the 2 lbs! I am officially stronger than I was when I began strength training back at the beginning of the 30 Day Shred.

During this time another person walked in to take the class. She took a spot at the barre that was perpindicular to mine. As a result, things became tight. She kept knocking into me. I began modifying MY workout to avoid collision with her.

Simply put, the room was too small.

Eventually things got so unbearable that she moved to the other side of the room for some of the exercises. But there wasn’t enough room for her to stay there the entire time. I did get an amazing workout despite that situation. After upper body, we went to the bar for thighs and honestly, I thought that nothing could ever burn thighs like Physique 57.  I was wrong. This burn was even more intense. I had to stop and stand a couple of times and I heard little cries coming from my mouth. I would not have been surprised if flames erupted from my legs. While some of the moves were similar to Physique 57 and Core Fusion, there were others that I’d never done before. At one point I wasn’t doing something right and when the instructor positioned me correctly the burn was so unbearable I had to gasp and immediately stand for a second. It was a strange combination of refreshing and painful.

We did the requisite stretching after thighs and it was back up to the bar for tush. Again, we did both similar and new exercises. I really liked that there was some variation at The Body — it is not simply a carbon copy of its predecessors. They are innovative and employ new techniques. We went to the floor for more tush, more new moves. Stretching, pushups, planks interspersed. And then abs.

Abs were really great. I felt like we worked on this a bit longer than the other studios as well. We did a wide variety of exercises, and when I was doing something incorrectly, the teacher would come and correct me — and the pain would increase bigtime.

The time flew by and before I knew it we were finished. We went to the locker room to get changed and encountered another problem — there is not enough room for everyone from the class to be in the locker room. We couldn’t even get to our lockers because other people were changing in front of them, and had to wait to be able to get in. Maneuvering around the locker room was tricky and cramped. I got my stuff and moved out of the way to change — and it wasn’t comfortable.

And that is my only complaint about The Body. Not enough locker room or classroom space. Otherwise, it was fantastic. I definitely recommend everyone try it out. There’s a good chance I’ll try an Open class there, since I am curious about that one! According to the description, it is more of a fast-paced cardiovascular workout. So, like Core Fusion, I intend to go back at some point for a fast paced version.

These classes really make me happy. I look forward to them and obsessively review their class schedules. While I would love to join one for a month to see the results, it just can’t happen because of my existing gym membership. I had considered putting it on hold, but there are a number of factors that make this impossible for me.

That doesn’t stop me from continuing to pore over the schedules. Any advice for me? I am the type to keep obsessing about this until I figure out a way.

Anyway. On Saturday my friend Melanie had a Kentucky Derby Party! There was a southern preppy dress code and prizes for betting on horses and for best dressed. The boy and I got there just as the race was starting — perfect timing!

I was thrilled to win the Best Dressed prize!

That is me and Melanie! My neck is craning up in all the pictures because I can’t see under the giant wrinkly hat!  The hat spent the time from May 2008 to May 2009 being squished by any number of items in my roommate’s room (it is her hat). I wore the hat to the party last year as well, and was able to see since it wasn’t wrinkled:

And Melanie made the most delicious Derby Pie! It was filled with warm, gooey, oozing, delicious chocolate and had pecans and I don’t know what else in it — it was SO good. Did I mention she made FOUR Derby Pies??

She also made delicious peach sangria, summer salsa and homemade cornbread! Her boyfriend made mac & cheese and they brought in pulled pork.

Speaking of deliciousness, Jen is giving away doughnuts.

And on Sunday I made pancakes! Forgot to take pictures, but it was interesting because I had to make two separate batches of pancakes. I made whole wheat for the boy, who loves to be healthy. I too love to be healthy. But I can’t have whole wheat because of my tum. I found Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Pancake Mix. I chose it because it has 0g fiber and is made with organic rice flour. This way, I can feel like I am being healthier than Bisquick but not sacrificing my stomach for the love of whole wheat pancakes. Especially since I always eat more than the serving size when it comes to pancakes — which means I would be getting more fiber than the stats say.

With my new mix, 0g fiber doubled is still 0g fiber! AND the recipe called for honey, which I never would have thought to add on my own. Yum!

So I made two batches of strawberry pancakes. Batch 1 was my gluten free style. I wish I took pictures because they looked GREAT. When I finished that I moved on to Batch 2 – whole wheat for the boy. They also looked wonderful.

We DEVOURED our pancakes. There is nothing I love more than pancakes and french toast. I hadn’t had pancakes in a long time, so I was very happy — even though we ran out of real maple syrup and had to use this awful calorie free, sugar free, carb free, taste free alternative. The pancakes were so delicious that it didn’t bother me!

Speaking of foods I can and can’t eat, you might have caught on that I added strawberries to the pancakes. That is because I recently met with the nutritionist. She said that berries don’t have as much fiber as other fruits and recommended that I try incorporating them more, as well as veggie juice. I was at a Farmer’s Market and saw a little sign at Meredith’s Bread about spelt and how it has all the health benefits of the other grains without the fiber. I immediately bought a spelt muffin. I asked my nutritionist about this and she gave me the OK to try it out. This really helps with my lunchtime dilemma. I never know what to eat for lunch and I also don’t know what to pack, so I end up buying things I don’t really want and spending money and not being happy. Now I have been making turkey sandwiches  and PB&J with spelt wraps, spelt english muffins and Meredith’s spelt cinnamon bread. Meredith also makes really delicious UNSWEETENED jelly! So my sandwiches are as healthy as they can be while still being delicious. So far I have felt fine with the spelt!

The website doesn’t work well, but I also wanted to add that Meredith makes unsweetened muffins, cake and loaves if you don’t want the sugar as well as whole grain and spelt and regular muffins too. I often admire the unsweetened banana bread and all the pumpkin breads. Mmmm. The cookies tempt me every time. Every time I go to that booth is is jam packed and I find myself on line — so lots of people know how great these products are. The cinnamon spelt bread I used for my sandwich today was great!

My GI doctor wants me to see another GI doctor, one who specializes more in my specific problems. He recommended one in his office but I wasn’t able to get an appointment until July. Ridiculous! So he recommended someone else, and I am going there on Friday. (I am keeping my July appt for now). I need to get all my test reports organized in order to give to him — I hate how disorganized I am. I am glad to be going because nothing is changing and I really need to hear from someone who might know more. I also want to hear if this new doctor thinks surgery is my best option. I really don’t know, so it is good to have someone else that I can ask. I also want to ask the new doctor if he has any suggestions for managing my pain and nausea in ways that won’t make me tired, because I am stuck at work when I feel awful but can’t take the meds that make me fall asleep.

I quit hypnotherapy, by the way, which is why I haven’t written more about it. I was dreading my second session. Dreading it so much. I realized that defeats the entire purpose. Why should I participate in something, especially something so expensive when my job status is not currently clear, that will make me even more stressed? I was getting very nervous about the money. I wasn’t looking forward to going back. I am SO happy I tried it — and now I know that at this time, it is not for me. I’d rather spend the time eksusizing or relaxing (both of which I did on previous Mondays instead).

So anyway, my new GI appointment is on Friday. My knee MRI is today and my appointment with the orthopedist is Thursday. On an episode of House, they suspected Cynthia Nixon of having Munchausen’s because she had “multiple appointments with multiple doctors.” I looked up at the boy and said, “I have multiple appointments with multiple doctors.” Sadly, this is real.