Cross Fit & Lululemon Run:Jog Skirt

I had heard of Cross Fit work outs before and had been curious to try it out.   But I watched some videos of people doing some of the work outs online and definitely got scared!  I mean theses people are doing like 100 pull ups at a time.  I'm in above average shape, but I definitely cannot do that!  In fact, my upper body strength is my weakest part I think.  Anyway, so the Santa Monica Lululemon store had a new ambassador from the Cross Fit gym in Culver City, and he was holding a free class this morning at the store, which is pretty much right on 3rd Street Promenade.  So I got my butt up bright and early (for a Saturday - 8 am!) to go give it a try.

There were tons of people there already when my boyfriend and I got there.  They also had some sponsors there too with free stuff, like some flavored vitamin water and pop chips.  Once everyone got signed in, we headed over to the middle of the Promenade to do some of the exercises.  Of course this was before all the shops opened, so we were able to do it there.  Tons of Cross Fit trainers and regulars showed up to watch us suffer too!

So we warmed up by running around the block first, then they showed up the correct forms to do push ups, sit ups, squads and burpees.  Then what we had to do was divide into 4 groups of people, about 20 people in each group (I know, tons of people showed up to get tortured bright and early right?!).  Each group was doing eight 20 second sets of either push ups, sit ups, squads, or burpees, with 10 second rest in between sets.  Once the 8 sets were done, each group switched to the next work out until everyone completes all 4 exercises.  20 seconds doesn't sound like a long time, but let me tell you, after about the 3rd or 4th set, you are DYING!  Because you are doing these as fast as you can, it really takes it out of you.  The burpees were the hardest for me.  I was out of breath pretty fast!  But it was a really good work out of course, and it was very time efficient.  I guess Cross Fit is exactly designed to give you the best work out in the minimum amount of time possible.

So I think I will be visiting a real Cross Fit gym soon!  There are a few around here.  They said that the first class there is free to try out.  Not sure how much it is afterwards, but might be worth it.  We'll see how sore I get tomorrow!  Highly repetitive exercises always get me.  Plus I'm already sore from the kettlebell class and 5 mile run I did yesterday.  So excited!

Update:  SO SORE the day after!  Especially my arms and obliques.  I guess I'm not used to doing 80 pushups in 2 minutes!  Back of the calves are a bit sore from the squads too, but it could also be from kettlebell.  I don't feel my tummy sore or anything, but it's probably because I do so much stomach exercises regularly.  But I'm glad I feel sore because it means that my muscles are building and this new work out is definitely working for me!

Lululemon Run:Jog Skirt

Of course, as I mentioned before, Lululemon does these free classes so that you come by, then shop there afterwards.  And of course it works like a charm!  I had been thinking about getting a run skirt, and one of the employees that worked there was wearing one and it looked so cute on her, so I went ahead and bought one too!  The one I bought is the Run:Jog skirt in Coal, exactly as pictured above.

These fit pretty cute, it's got bunched up, sort of ruffled look on the sides, so they don't flare out which I like.  They are short too, but also come in long length.  I got the regular length because I'm average height and I like it short!  They have built in shorts under too.  Not like little underwear - they are real shorts.  They are tight, of course, and longer in length.  But not so long that it shows under the skirt.  And they have the slipless sticky band all the way around so that they won't ride up the leg.  Very cool!

I decided that this skirt would be very cute as a tennis skirt.  Even though I don't really play tennis.  But it could also work very well as a golf skirt.  A polo shirt would look very cute with it.  Though I also abandoned my golf habits and have not gone golfing in over a year.  But what a good motivation to start again!  Hehe... and of course I could also use it as its intended purposes as a run skirt.  I just don't know how I feel about running in a skirt though.  So we'll see how much I actually use this item!