Personal | Dori's Shiny Blog

When I published my post last week, I expected some backlash, but I can honestly say I did not expect the anger. I really don’t want to harp on this, but I did want to clarify a few points that I don’t think I expressed well last week, if at all:

I took Core Fusion (and tried numerous other barre classes) regularly for about 10 months, from January, 2010 – November, 2010, at which point my hip injury was diagnosed. I was no longer able to do that type of workout. I’ve been taking Refine Method for about 14 months, from December 2010 – February, 2012, at which point I wrote last week’s post. I know it seems like I jumped from one bandwagon to the next, but I gave it more than a year to see if I could heal, see if I could reclaim my love with the barre. Ultimately, I couldn’t. And I felt that I should share — had a responsibility to share — my own personal reasoning since it was clear I switched, but it wasn’t clear why.
One commenter mentioned I lack integrity for praising one method so passionately, and now praising another. Another called my reviews fallible. And while all reviews written by human beings are fallible to an extent, I think it is more a reflection on my personality than my integrity. When I love something, I want everyone else to love it too. Or at the very least, to try it for themselves in case they might realize they love it too! I also trust that people will read about my experience, and then make their own decisions on what they’d like to do with that knowledge I shared.
On that note, all workouts have the potential to be dangerous. The founder of Refine Method (which, like any exercise program, carries that same potential, which is why it has a very small class size) has told me countless times that she doesn’t think running is safe and has seen many injuries from runners who take her classes. I listened to what she said, and I decided that while her points were valid, I still wanted to run a marathon — so I ran a marathon. If you read my blog to learn about fitness classes, I Â hope that you can do the same. I’m sharing my experience, but what you Â ultimately decide to do should be your own choice.
I didn’t mean to imply that everyone who takes barre classes will get an injury. I got an injury. One I will have for the rest of my life. I know how I got it, but that doesn’t mean I think you will too. We all have different weaknesses, body types and susceptibilities. But that doesn’t mean that every word I wrote in every post about Core Fusion isn’t true — it is. I expressed my love for the class and how it made me feel at the time; how it got me through major life events; my progress and improvements; my successes and achievements. I captured an entire year of transformation. A year of my life through this exercise method! A couple of people demanded I take down my old content, but my blog is a progression through my life, and I can’t imagine removing so much information about my life just because my opinions have changed. We learn through experience, and I feel fortunate to have that experience archived here.

For a much more clear and eloquent post from someone who made the same switch in exercise methods as I did, please check out Cameo’s follow-up post to mine.

I didn’t want to write this post today. I wasn’t planning to. I was actually going to write, well, a class review actually,Â but once I started typing a quick note to acknowledge last week’s post it turned into this rambling. So here we are. I don’t think I need to defend myself and that was not my intent here.

I think I feel better now.

I used to like one thing and now I like another. Let’s move on to happier things, like pickingÂ a new winner of theÂ ellasport giveawayÂ -Â the original winner coincidentally just did a giveaway for the same brand on her own blog.Â Congratulations toÂ j. at kissing-frogs.net! J. likes the yellow Gramercy Park workout tank. I hope she wears it well, it is a fabulous top.

Return to normalcy next week? Yes. See you then kids.

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So, the Superbowl. I watched it — and I mean really and truly WATCHED it — for the first time on Sunday.

I’ve been exposed to it, of course. It’s been on in my presence but I can’t say I ever really paid any attention to that whole football part. This year was different.

It’s funny, one of my most vivid memories of my dad, who died when I was five, was watching the Giants in the living room of our house, with my dad pointing out Phil Simms #11 to me. And for most of my life, that is all the football I knew — and I was proud to be able to spout off “Phil Simms #11” when any football-related conversation came up. Long after Phil Simms was relevant in that way.

And it always impressed the boys. Hello boys.

Watching Phil Simms #11 was one of my few clear memories of spending time with my father (you can read about a music-related memory here) and even though I did not particularly understand or care about football, I considered myself a Giants fan because of that memory. Because my dad loved them and I wanted to preserve that.

My little brother is two years younger than me and was too young to share that Giants memory. He became a Jets fan and even then, I remained aligned with my dad and his Giants. When the Giants won the Superbowl in 2008, I was alone in my apartment with the game on in the background. I was not very cool. But I remember paying attention at the end and I feeling absolutely elated when they won. I called my mom and said “Daddy would have loved this.”

And when I walked past the parade setting up on my way to work that day, I felt pride.

This year was different. I happened to fall in love with a boy from Boston. A boy who happens to be extremely into sports. A boy who works at a well-known sports organization. A boy who desperately wanted his Patriots to win. A boy who has the biggest man-crushes I have ever seen a straight man have — on Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Seriously. For months, all I’ve heard is how handsome they are.

And while I semi-watched football with my boyfriend all season, for the first time on Sunday, I actually paid attention to the entire game. No Kindle. No computer. My focus was on the TV and I was surprisingly able to follow it and understand most of it.

I rooted against my dad’s Giants. And I may have worn Patriots pajama pants (please don’t hate me, every person I know).

The Giants win is bittersweet for me, but the emphasis is on bitter. But I want so much to see my boyfriend smile, see him happy, celebrate with him. It hurts me that he is hurting. I can’t describe the sadness I feel when in the middle of the night, he wakes up and says only “Poor Andy” before going back to sleep.

I think I know how he feels, because I felt that way after the NYC Marathon.

Because I’m not a girl who ever legitimately cared about sports, I don’t feel like I’m a traitor (my mom tends to disagree – hi Mom!). How can I be a traitor of something I never really cared about? I love my dad, but given that the extent of my Giants knowledge before this year was a player who retired almost 20 years ago, can I really be considered a traitor? Yes, I’m from New York, but really, what is it to me what teams I root for? I never cared much on my own. I always wanted New York teams to win, but again, what is it really to me? I don’t follow the players or the teams. I just wanted them to win for the sake of winning.

And now — if they’re playing against Andy’s teams — I don’t.

And I cannot believe I just wrote an entire post about football. I think next week I’ll talk about my shift away from barre classes. I am still me, after all. Just with a few new alliances.

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Archive of ‘Personal’ category

A Follow-Up

A Topic I Never Thought I’d Blog About: The Superbowl