Indo-Row, Lululemon Featherweight Socks & Run:Empower Crop

I was planning on going to the Lululemon run club tonight, but they had different Indo-Row classes going on in the store all night instead.  So I decided to give it a try.  I guess it's a new exercise thing that's come onto the market somewhat recently.  The guy who created it Josh Crosby was teaching it.  He comes from 3 generations of rowers and is a world champion rowing competitor himself.

I know nothing about rowing myself, having only tried out the rowing machine at the gym once or twice.  I never thought it was a very heart pumping kind of work out and didn't see the point of it, so I was willing to learn more about it.

Indo-Row machines use actual water inside the machine itself to simulate the motion and sense of being in a real boat and rowing in the water - you even hear the sound of the water which is relaxing.  The machine doesn't need to be connected to any power source.  The water and your own efforts provide energy and resistance.  It's very interesting and the machines are light weight and very portable - the guy did get all these machines in a uhaul and took them to the Lululemon store after all!

I was glad to learn the right form of rowing from the expert.  You basically use your legs, core and arms to pull, then going back the reverse way.  It definitely got me sweaty after some intervals of going at really fast speeds and competing with others (our team won by the way!).  I can see how it would be good for strengthening the back, legs, core, and arms.  It's a low impact cardio work out that's easy on the joints.  So there are definite benefits and is probably perfect for some people.  And you can make it as hard or easy as you want to go.  But I don't think this is for me.  I got rather bored with the same one motion after a while - the class was 45 minutes.  It's kind of like spinning in a way - you are working your butt off but not going anywhere.  Except in a spin class, you can go up and down on the bike and there's positions 1, 2, and 3!  I always get super sweaty in spin classes and feel like it's a much better work out.  But if he's willing to bring the machines back to Lulu some time again in the future then I'm game to go back.

Anyway, so I arrived at the store a bit earlier so I had time to shop and try some stuff on.  Lots of stuff on the sales rack, but all the same things I've seen before.  But I did pick up some Featherweight Socks that came in a 3 pack.

They come in the above 3 colors of the thumbnail pictures - coal, white and black.  I have a few pairs of their Ultimate Running Socks which I like for running, but had never tried the Featherweight socks.  They are much thinner and would probably be cooler and really good for working out at the gym, such as taking a spin class, weight lifting, etc.  These are basic colors to have in socks, though nothing exciting.  I kind of wish at least one pair would have been a bit funky!  The Ultimate Running Socks always have different color blocking and designs that are fun to look at.  But realistically it doesn't matter at all since they will always be covered by my shoes.  The 3 pack was $24, and a single pair is $9, so you get them for $1 cheaper per pair if you buy the 3 pack.  I don't know why that sold me to get these instead of just getting one pair to try out first.  Probably not a smart move.  But I have a feeling I won't be too disappointed by these socks.  Could socks really be disappointing?  

I also finally broke down and got the Run:Empower Crop in Coal/Heathered Coal Wee Strip/Passion.  I've tried the Empower Crop on before and have seen so many different colors and designs in them, but I always thought that they were too long on me.  They can't be altered because they have special designs around the hem.  They are actually about 2-3 inches shorter on me than they are on the model pics below (I'm 5'5, the model must've pulled them down a lot), but I usually like my crops right below the knee. 

I've always liked the feel of these crops when I tried them on.  They are really comfortable, feels like second skin.  The rise is good - not too high like grandma panties, and not too low that they'd slip off.  As other run crops I have, these also have a draw string on the waist so I can adjust it.  The waistband is comfy, no digging.  I got my regular size 4, fits pretty well.  Though I think this color combo fits tighter in the legs than the coal/angel blue ones I tried on before in the same size.  Not sure why.  These don't feel as stretchy.

These are also lighter than my other all power luxtreme running crops from Lululemon because the whole entire area on the back of the knees and calves are made of circle mesh material rather than luxtreme.  That makes them more breathable.  I like the different lines and color blocking designs on them.  That gives the crops a unique look and not like anything from any other brand.  I'm slowly getting used to the idea of having a slightly longer crop.

Got them for a good price - $65ish after everything, compared to regular retail price of $86 before taxes.  That was a big deciding factor in getting me to give these a try.  I think these crops have good technical fabrics and features that are worth the money.  Who knows, maybe I will become hooked.  I also really like the color combo of these crops.  I've been loving my coal colored luxtreme bottoms (I only have one pair and wear them all the time) to work out in and neglecting my black ones.  I don't know why, I think I just got tired of all black bottoms all the time.  And I feel like coal looks nicer with a lot of different colored tops I have than black.  I mean I know they both pretty much go with everything, but I'm just liking coal better nowadays when paired with more vibrant colored tops.  Plus I can wear black tops with coal bottoms, whereas black on black is too depressing for me.  Because of all these reasons, I'd been keeping my eye out for another pair of coal run crops.  So, now that I have them, I will just have to go out and try them!