The City Skinny Fit Day Part 1
I am still glowing from the success of The City Skinny's first (of hopefully many to come) Fit Day on May 9th. Fifteen participants met at 8 am in Covington to grab a quick breakfast of coffee, fresh fruit and homemade sweet potato muffins to give us some quick energy before heading to our first of four classes for the day.
The ladies were given their gift bags filled with coconut oil, The City Skinny water bottles and canvas totes, and deodorant and face wipes to freshen up throughout the day. The gift bags also carried Lululemon headbands, generously donated from Hyde Park Lululemon, and Lorie Yarro's Energy Bite samplers, which gave everyone great energy throughout the day. Her energy bites are incredible, nutritious and raw and you can see all of her recipes on her fantastic blog Be Whole Be You. If I had to choose a favorite, I would have to say it would be a tie between her Cinn-ful bites and the oatmeal raisin cookie dough bites. Thank you, Lorie!
Gift bags and yoga mats in hand, we all jumped in the group passenger van (driven by our handsome chauffeur) and headed to Woodland Mound park for ELMNTL Fitness with Kevin Wimmer. My readers are familiar with Kevin and ELMNTL at this point because, as I stated before his class on Saturday, there simply is not another class in Cincinnati like ELMNTL. Everyone should give it a try. And bring your dog!
The weather was perfect for our 9 am class at the bottom of a half mile hike, where the majority of Kevin's classes take place. Kevin ran through the proper technique and all the different modifications for each of the 10 exercises we were given. Jeni Houser (who introduced me to ELMNTL and also instructs some ELMNTL classes) flawlessly demonstrated as he explained.
Log jumps with backward uphill run x 3
Monkey bars up and back x 3
Tree walks (plank to handstand) x 3
Kong walks
Walking push ups with hands on logs - 3 lengths
Ape swings- 3 length
Single leg ring rotations- 12 reps
Standing rotating rows on rings - 9 reps
Dragon lunges with heavy rock- 9 each side
3 rock transfers
The thing I loved about this ELMNTL session is that, performed in this setting, it creates a sense of ease that you won't find at the gym. The fresh air and team support makes if feel fluid and whimsical. We conquered a challenging, full-bodied, well-balanced workout and it was a very "moving" way to start our day.
New friendships were formed, friends had a chance to catch up, and former ELMNTLers and "newbies" both came away with smiles on their faces and a sense of accomplishment- which they all deserved! We gathered our stuff and headed up the hill for yoga.
This is the perfect time of year to get outside for your workouts. First time ELMNTL sessions are free for the month of May and Memorial Day weekend features "Donate for the Dog Days"-donation classes that benefit local shelters.
ELMNTL reminds the trainer to continue to educate themself on how the body works, the student to challenge themself, the newcomer to trust him- or herself and all of us to get more fresh air and find more strength. Thank you, Kevin, for being the first leg of our powerhouse line-up!