Gift Guide: Valentine’s Day

February 10, 2017

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and I could not resist doing a fun little gift guide for it! The following are a little collection of what I think will make amazing gifts for Valentine’s Day. Most of the following are products/services I have already tried in the past and which I think you will love. The beauty about this Valentine’s Day gift guide is that you can sneakily share it on your social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and etc) in the hopes that your beloved other half will get the hint and buy you one of these 😉

Or, you could be like me and be straight up about it. “Hey, so I would like you to get me (x product/service). Thank you, love you!” haha.

valentine’s day gift guide

1. Tru Melange Aromatherapy Candle
I recently bought the ‘litsea & lemongrass’ candle and I love it so much. It gives off such a gorgeous smell and is very calming.

2. ClassPass Giftcard
I have tried ClassPass before and think it is a fantastic way to try out new workout classes around your city. They operate in a huge amount of cities, so I am sure your city is probably included!

3. Inspiralized Cookbook
Inspiralized is an incredible food blogger who specializes in ‘spiralized’ vegetable dishes. I have made a few of her recipes and cannot wait to try the recipes in her cookbook!

4. Paderno Vegetable Spiralizer
Has enabled me to eat mass amounts of zucchini in the form of spaghetti. Need I say more? Incredible little invention.

5. Scattered Crystals Ring – Pink Peonies Collection
Pink Peonies (a Salt Lake City based fashion blogger) recently launched a line of jewelry and I absolutely love this elegant piece.

6. Four-hand Massage
I have never had a four-hand massage at the Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco before (I would LOVE to), but I have had one in Thailand before at Oasis Spa, Phuket. It was an incredible experience and even better because I had a couple’s four-hand massage with my honey. If you want to splurge on a gift, this is it.

Want to cook something for Valentine’s Day?

Simply click on the photo and you will be redirected to their recipe 🙂

Perfect Four Ingredient Pancakes

Healthy Blueberry Coconut Muffins (with chia seeds)

Raspberries covered in dark chocolate

What do you all think of my picks? The pancakes are truly so easy to make and extremely tasty and delicious. Think I might surprise my honey with some of them in bed …

In regards to the gift guide, I would be happy with any of these (although I already have the spiralizer and pre-ordered Inspiralized’s cookbook lol) but I would die if I were gifted the four-hand massage. They are truly a wonderful and relaxing experience.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

Fitness

TRX Training Center Review

September 18, 2014

Thanks to my wonderful one month ClassPass membership (read more about ClassPass here), I had the opportunity to try out two TRX classes at the TRX Training Center. I decided to write a TRX training center review for any of you who may interested in taking a class there. I use TRX exercises occasionally in my workouts but I had always wanted the experience of doing a class. Even though I can work up quite a sweat on my own, there is something about having someone push you to your limits and telling you to do “JUST ONE MORE!”

The first class I tried was the ‘TRX Circuit Training’ class. I completed Kayla Itsines bikini body guide (BBG) a few months ago (read my review here) and since her workouts are circuit based, I thought this would be a really fun class to try.

Ah, if only I were as fit as I was when I was doing Kayla’s program … I really got my butt kicked at the TRX circuit training class!

The class is a mixture of strength moves done on the TRX and cardio based moves such as jump rope and burpees. The class was essentially structured so you would do a few sets of exercises on the TRX (which were timed) and you would then take a short break and do some cardio based moves without the TRX (also timed). Every part of your body gets worked out in this class; upper body, core and legs. My core is definitely my weak point and the TRX really challenges you because you use the whole weight of your body to support you. The instructor for the class was Miguel, and he was fantastic! I feel as if most instructors do not check on their students form much, but he was great at making sure my form was on point. I would love to take another TRX circuit training class with him (although a little scared haha).

Me dying in the TRX circuit training class

The second class I tried was the TRX Body Blast class. Although this class was just as hard (I had to pause and catch my breath multiple times), it was more of a strength based class. You do get cardio in as you are moving at a fast pace but you are not doing dedicated cardio based moves as you would in the TRX circuit training class. Again, this class worked every inch of my body and left me feeling extremely sore. This class was much fuller than the TRX circuit training class and I have to say, I felt a little intimidated at first! I had nothing to worry about though as everyone was really nice and welcoming.

“Bottom line: TRX is an incredibly

effective and challenging workout”

I feel so lucky to live in a city with a TRX training center! I hope to try out some more classes in the future. I was particularly interested in trying out their TRX rip training to see what that was all about. It will have to wait however because next week, I plan on restarting Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide and then continuing onto the bikini body guide 2.0 … I am SO nervous. I did the legs workout from her free week of workouts downloads and today my legs are so incredibly sore and stiff. I forgot how intense the workouts were!

So wish me luck 🙂 Also, how many of you have ever tried a TRX class before? Let me know if you have or if you use it at your local gym. Would love to see some of the routines you guys do with TRX.

Honestly yours,
Alice

(featured image via http://yubfit.com)

Fitness

Barry’s Bootcamp & ClassPass SF Launch

August 7, 2014

Talk about a supreme fitness event!

I was invited to a series of launch parties for ClassPass (of which I could only make one sadly) who offer access to the best fitness studios in the city. Currently they offer classes for those living in or near to Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. They just recently expanded to San Francisco and to celebrate they held three launch parties. I attended their launch party at Barry’s Bootcamp on Tuesday and I was so excited!! I had heard a lot of great things about Barry’s Bootcamp (primarily how HARD the workouts were) and I was excited to learn more about ClassPass. I am always up for trying new things, and trying new fitness classes is high up on my list of fun and new things to do.

I arrived to Barry’s Bootcamp (located near the SF Giant’s stadium) and of course I was late … SF traffic + a Beyonce & Jay Z concert at the Giant’s stadium, what can I say? Luckily I had actually arrived juuuust in time, with about 5 minutes to spare before class. There were SO many people that had showed up for the launch party! The energy was contagious and I started getting really excited although still nervous because of how hard the workout was supposed to be.

Source: http://www.peanutbuttered.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/img_6626.jpg

For the workout, they split us into two groups that would be switching between treadmill intervals and strength training intervals. For those who know me well, they know that I am nottt a fan of running. I was petrified haha!! The instructor announced that we would be doing a leg and butt workout, and the next 50 or so minutes consisted of countless lunges, squats and sprints! They made us use a resistance band to do some butt exercises and I loved that, because I think that resistance bands are very underutilized in most fitness classes. Also, the cool thing about Barry’s Bootcamp is that every class is different so you don’t know what to expect. Although I hate running, I really enjoyed the workout; the music was great, the workout was intense but fun and the room had some awesome lighting going on. My one criticism is that as a first-timer to the bootcamp, it can be a little overwhelming trying to follow instructions on what to do since the instructor does have to switch back and forth between the groups. I highly recommend this workout for those who want a real challenge and are looking for something new and engaging. Pluuuus, a bunch of celebrities such as Jessica Biel, Kim Kardashian and Jake Gyllenhaal are avid fans 😉

I had to rush a bit after class to avoid getting a ticket for parking for too long (SF problems) but I did manage to sample some yummy juices from Urban Remedy and receive a goody bag from ClassPass! I received so many amazing treats including a ClassPass top, EOS lip balm, a birchbox, water bottle, a gomacro bar and some peppermint vanilla gum.

I am really happy that ClassPass has come to SF and allows people to try out a variety of different fitness studio’s. Variety is the spice of life after all, as they say 😉

Have any of you ever done a workout at Barry’s Bootcamp before? I would love to hear what you thought about it, we can swap stories of how sore we are 😛

Honestly yours,
Alice

classpass

Gift Guide: Valentine’s Day

valentine’s day gift guide

Want to cook something for Valentine’s Day?

TRX Training Center Review

“Bottom line: TRX is an incredibly

effective and challenging workout”

Barry’s Bootcamp & ClassPass SF Launch

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