• Best Thing Ever,  The Dailey Method,  Working On My Fitness

    The Day I Became One Of The Radio City Rockettes

    I have had what are some pretty fantastic experiences in my life, some due to the existence of this blog and some for other reasons, whether I’m in the right place at the right time, I “go for” something, my sister “goes for” something, or because of other miscellaneous and wonderfully serendipitous events. I am always grateful for anything special that comes my way regardless of the reason, but some experiences make me geek out 100% because they are a perfect fit for my interests. Last year at the BlogHer conference, I had one of those experiences. I was lucky enough to do a workout with Bob Harper, Personal Trainer…

  • Review,  The Dailey Method,  Working On My Fitness

    Still Doing It (Almost) Dailey Method

    This is the third of three posts I am writing about my month-long trial of The Dailey Method. (Read the first one HERE and the second one HERE.) I am so excited to be able to share my experience with you! I have always felt comfortable in a fitness-related environment. Wait, let me make a change there. I have felt comfortable in a fitness-related environment for almost twenty years now. Would it surprise you regular readers to know that before the age of twenty-four I did not exercise or participate in ANY sports outside of gym class or goofing off with friends, ever? My biggest accomplishment in fitness up until…

  • Review,  The Dailey Method,  Working On My Fitness

    Doing It (Almost) Dailey At The Dailey Method

    This is the second of three posts I am writing about my month-long trial of The Dailey Method. (Read the first one HERE.) I am so excited to be able to share my experience with you! Addicted. That’s me. Not one to ever take an opportunity for granted, I am taking my “Unlimited Month of Classes” at The Dailey Method very seriously: In the past fifteen days I have enjoyed ten classes, and have already made reservations for eleven classes for the next fifteen days. Though I lost five pounds in the first week, a couple of those came back. I’m not stressing about the number though, to be honest.…

  • Food,  Random Thoughts,  The Dailey Method,  Working On My Fitness

    Good Posture And Blueberries

    I know. Quite possibly my most bizarre title ever, in more than five years of blogging. Chalk it up to laziness more than creativity, but you clicked here, didn’t you? Score one for laziness. This morning I took my sixth Dailey Method class in eight days. Today is the day I (my brain and the rest of my body) got it. It clicked. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t any less difficult than it has been. Today I didn’t get as many pose corrections from the instructor as much as I did in the five previous classes, I knew what she meant with her cues, and for the first time…

  • Review,  The Dailey Method,  Working On My Fitness

    The Dailey Method To My Madness

    This is the first of three posts I am writing about my month-long trial of The Dailey Method. I am so excited to be able to share my experience with you! I love working out. I’m not an exercise addict by any means, but I really love it. Many people (especially those who don’t make exercise a regular part of their routine) think I’m a weirdo. I’m not. It’s just that over the years I have found activities that I enjoy, and because I enjoy them I have a higher level of motivation to exercise. If you’re a regular reader, you already know that Zumba is my most recent love.…

  • Working On My Fitness

    Weight.

    I used to love my arms. I used to train with free weights on a pretty regular basis, and my arms had some really nice definition. They weren’t arms of a bodybuilder or even what I’d call a “gym rat”, but they were just…nicely toned. I don’t even have a problem embarrassing myself by admitting to you that I used to gaze at my arms in the mirror just because I liked the way they looked. Unfortunately, I haven’t been very disciplined over the past four or five years about resistance training. Wait, scratch that. Let me rephrase. I GAVE UP resistance training about four or five years ago. I…

  • Music,  Working On My Fitness

    My Favorite Festive Workout Music Shall Be Your Favorite, Too. (Well, Maybe)

    I find that most people who exercise regularly are often on the hunt for good workout music. People who know me personally ask me about it pretty often (in fact, Heather, did I ever send you that CD or is it lost on my kitchen desk??), and I love talking about workout music possibilities with anyone who will listen. It’s been a while since I posted one of my group cycling (also, Spinning) playlists here, and thought that now would be a good time. (Technically, it’s probably not a good time: it’s probably too late. Oh well.) On the two Wednesdays before Christmas, I pull out and play my holiday…

  • Working On My Fitness

    Time For Fitness

    I get this a lot: “OMG Melisa! You’re so busy, and yet you still exercise! How do you find time??” Answer? I don’t find time. I MAKE time for fitness. You can too, if you really think about it. If it’s something you truly want to do, you’ll do it. Oprah does it, and she’s a pretty busy lady. (Just sayin’.) If you’re the type of person who gets up early for work or kids, and then you’re goinggoinggoing all day long until dinner time, when you have to feed your family and then help kids with homework or clean house or have a social life, you could get up…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Family Fun,  Fun in Chicago,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Working On My Fitness

    Lazy (River) Is Relative.

    My family just returned from a night away at Keylime Cove, a fantastic water park resort in Gurnee, Illinois. Like all good water parks, Keylime Cove has a lazy river. For those of you who don’t know what a lazy river is, you’re totally missing out. A lazy river is basically a shallow pool (only about three feet deep) that winds through a water park much like the river it’s named for. There are underwater jets that are pointed strategically so that the water flows in one direction. The lazy part comes in when you sit in an inner tube and…well, you just get carried away on your inner tube…

  • Amazing People,  Working On My Fitness,  Zumba

    So, Three Older Gentlemen Walk Into A Zumba Class…

    They were in their late sixties or early seventies, I’m sure. I didn’t notice them immediately because I dance in the front row, and it wasn’t until we did a pivot step to the back of the room that they came into my line of sight. There is a class for seniors, you see, in the gym right after Zumba is over. The older folks who arrive nice and early (I think that’s most of them!) usually stand outside the door, but today was different. Maybe it was the music. Maybe it was my adorably perky instructor. Maybe it was the desire to just move. Whatever “it” was pulled them…