Long Legs and other Personal Problems

2022 Goals (besides surviving)

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Let’s talk goals. January is almost over, which means the year is 1/12th over. 1/12 of my goals should be completed right? Not exactly. I’m in the middle of a course to become a Certified Salary Negotiation Specialist, and the other day the instructor said, “if an employer says yes to every one of your requests, you didn’t actually win. It means you probably left money on the table and should have asked for more. You want to actually get to ‘no’ because it means you got everything they had to offer.” That’s the approach I’m taking to my goals this year. Yes, I want to achieve my goals and I want them to be achievable, but I also want them to be a reach. If I achieve every single one of them, then I probably didn’t set them high enough. It’s ok if I don’t cross off every single one of them as long as I’m working toward them.

So what are my goals? As usual, I separated them into categories: Health, Work, Relationship, Finance, Other, and of course the all-important: Social Media.

For some reason, the health ones come easily to me. Maybe that means I’m not aspiring high enough. I don’t believe in calorie-counting or “dieting,” so my goals are generally more about fitness and wellness. My first goal: get 8 hours of sleep at least once a week. I kind of assume I will not achieve this. But I can try! One less Netflix binge-a-thon a week. Will that episode of Too Hot To Handle be there tomorrow? Yes. This sleep goal is even less likely to occur later in the year if I succeed in getting pregnant. More on that later.

Also related to health, last year, I set a goal not to order in food more than twice a week, which fits well into my finance category. Last year, I found it was an easily achievable goal, so I didn’t even mention it this year although it continues to be an ongoing goal. Sometimes when I come home from vacation and the fridge is empty, I fail here, but I have learned to stock up the freezer before I go, and first thing when I come home, I move chicken/salmon/turkey burgers etc. into the fridge.

With fitness goals, I love to work out, so I tend to do well in this area. But I set some serious reach goals here. This year I am setting the goals of 100 Orangetheory classes, 200 Peloton cycling and strength classes, and a 52-week Peloton streak. That’s right, I want to do at least one class every week on Peloton, but this streak includes sleep meditation and stretching. Even so, as for the 200 Peloton cycling and strength classes in addition to Orangetheory? That may be a reach. But I often do a 30 minute class and a 5-minute cooldown, and that counts as 2, so ya never know! I also set a goal to “try” yoga. I should have probably been more specific there. It’s January 28th and I have not yet “tried” it. I hateeee yoga. I’m so inflexible. Which makes me hate yoga. And I am so inflexible because I hate yoga. It’s a vicious cycle.

My work goal, as I already mentioned, is to become a Certified Salary Negotiation Specialist. I am happy to report that I am well on my way there. Considering there is a course deadline of February 17th, that is good news.

As for finance, I have a lot of goals. Many of them are based on retirement savings. I would like to max out my 403B and my Roth IRA. I may need to move some money around to do that, but I am going to try. I don’t have many other savings goals because I’m getting married this year, and even with a small wedding, it’s likely to make a dent in my net worth. My other finance goal is to understand American Express Points. I know this seems like a weird, small goal, but I want to be able to maximize or at least use them wisely. For years they have been pooling in my account, and in theory, if I can use them well, I have over $5,000 of points in there. I am trying to convince Chris to talk me through this whole concept, but he knows too much and I seem to get confused easily. Hopefully by the end of the year I will understand.

My relationship goals are BIG. I mean BIG. Like the biggest that a relationship goal can be. Wedding, kids, the whole thing. Well maybe not multiple kids. Actually, probably not any kids this year, because #science, but I would like to start attempting to have kids. That’s the fun part, right? Not necessarily the easy part, but I do need to take some initial steps, like taking my IUD out. Remember when that sucker disappeared? That was a fun blog post. Anyway, it’s still in there now, so that would be step #1. My other relationship goal is to have at least one date night per month. We failed on this one last year, but this month we already went to see Come From Away, which was a lot of fun. There’s nothing quite like grabbing a $10 cab to Broadway, ah, New York City life.

My Social Media goals are pretty lofty regarding my braiding business. I want to work on my TikTok skills because everyone says that is the best way to grow an audience. That means both posting regularly, increasing my followers, getting better at video transitions, all of it. I am in my 30’s so this is not easy. Just this week, I pulled something in my neck making one. I am clearly not the demographic of content creator they had in mind. But it’s kind of fun so I plan on continuing to try. My goal is 500 followers and posting at least once a week. I gained 9 followers last week, so I’m off to a good start. I also want to gain followers on Instagram (5000 would be ideal, but a reach), which means posting more reels. Everything is about video these days! I also want to continue to post on my blog more. Ideally twice a month. January is going well, since this is my third post, but I tend to fall off on posting later in the year. I’m going to work on it! You all need to comment and keep me accountable.

My last category of goals is “Other,” which means leftovers. And not necessarily the good kind like lukewarm pizza or cold Chinese food. My first miscellaneous goal is to make the bed every day. Especially now that the Peloton is in the bedroom, I HATE getting on the bike and seeing a mess. Plus, I’m hoping that getting into a made bed will entice me to sleep earlier, helping me reach my 8 hours of sleep goal. Another random goal: go to 3 Broadway shows. So far, I’ve been to one and it’s January, so it’s going well! I keep entering the lottery to get cheap seats and I win probably 10% of the time. Not bad odds! I also have a goal of traveling to two new countries. Considering the amount of weddings I have this year, and the hope to get pregnant, I’m not sure if this will happen. Maybe we will go on a honeymoon? But maybe not. We’ll see. My last goal is to make $2000 braiding hair. Considering I was supposed to have my first 2022 client tonight and she canceled because she has Covid, it’s not looking good. We’ll see.

Those are my goals! Do you have any lofty or not-lofty ones you want to share? Let me know in the comments.

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Fitness

My OTHER Pandemic Addiction: Peloton

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I am officially addicted to my Peloton. How addicted? Well, I’m currently on a train to Philadelphia and not only am I typing a blog about it, but I’m thinking about how much I miss my bike already. I made sure I did my core workout and cycling class before I got on the train. And I’m already excited about showing my mom all of the classes on the app. Also, I almost switched my trip because I found out it was Peloton Homecoming this weekend and I was going to miss it.

  • My Peloton arriving at my door!
  • It has welcomed me since Day 1.
  • Me, sweaty on my bike (and shirtless as always)

Even if you are not a pelo person, unless you live under a rock, you definitely know about it. It’s every other commercial on Youtube and Hulu. And you probably know the age-old joke, “how do you know someone has a Peloton? … they’ll tell you.” However, it didn’t always used to be like that. I started going to Peloton class in 2016 in person in the studio! This was WAY before the pandemic and I loved it even back then. In fact, I even wrote a blog about it! Actually, I wrote two from when I rode in the showroom in LA on a work trip. A lot has changed since then. It’s become much more bougie and the production value has increased. The instructors wear FULL makeup and matching Peloton clothes now, and they have bulked up and multiplied. Hundreds of thousands of more people have bikes. But the main reasons I fell in love with it still stand: the bike is super high quality, the community’s motivating, and the playlists are FIRE.

Pre-pandemic, people asked me if I’d ever buy a bike and I said I would never buy one in NYC but maybe if I moved. This was because of the availability of high-quality classes within proximity. But with Covid and studio closures, I really missed spin class. When I got my bike in February, it had been 11 months since I had been on a bike!

Before I took the plunge (the bike is $1800 plus $39/month subscription cost), I did a lot of research. I never take any purchases lightly, but even more than the cost, I wanted to love it. I had a few friends who went the alternative route, buying a regular bike from Amazon and then getting the cheaper Peloton membership at $12/month and riding that way. But the instructors teach to the Peloton bike specifically, using a “resistance” number that is based on their bike. When you take a class on demand, it pops up on the screen where your resistance should be and the bike also shows where you are within that range. That helps for me because sometimes I zone out on what the instructor is saying and I miss the cue. Ok, that happens a lot because I’m singing and dancing. Pretty much every class. I absolutely LOVE the music! I pick my classes by instructors who I know have the same taste in music as me. But Peloton also lets you preview all of the music beforehand. Most times I like a quick overview of the artists but I like to be surprised by the full playlist. They also have artist series, which is so fun. Last week I did the Usher ride and was jamming out the whole time. I’ve done Lauryn Hill, Beyonce, Monica v. Brandy, and many more. I have a favorite instructor (#TeamCody), but I dabble with a lot of others depending on my mood. I even did a barre class recently because it was a hip hop playlist. I usually hate barre but I sort of forgot because I was busy jamming to Trina.

  • My fav instructor #XOXOCody
  • Club Bangers with Alex, always a hard class.
  • Not my favorite instructor but sometimes I switch it up.
  • Back when I could spin with my friends IRL!
All photos from 2017!

Another reason I’m obsessed with Peloton: the STATS! Peloton keeps track of every one of your workouts, your averages, your PRs (personal records), and you are constantly racing yourself. I am a huge stats nerd and this is one of my biggest motivators. I love to see how well I can do in a class. I am not a competitive person, but when I’m having an off day and I’m feeling unmotivated, seeing that I still burned 300 calories in a low impact class gives me a great sense of accomplishment. 300 more than zero!

I have also found that the different class lengths have completely changed my mindset around workouts. Pre-pandemic, I felt like I wasn’t getting in a good workout unless I did at least an hour at the gym. But sometimes now I am not motivated, or my legs are sore, or I’m just having a bad day. I can hop on the bike for a 20-minute low impact ride between meetings or at 5:30 and I’m still showered by 6. Also, I always feel better after. Just yesterday I made a call for work. He said he couldn’t talk but asked if I could call back in 15 minutes. I said sure, popped on a 10-minute core workout, then called him back.

Speaking of core workouts, I never used to do them because I was scared and intimidated, but the app has so much content that I have been tempted to try a lot of new things. Last month, I did a challenge with Matty Maggiacamo called March Maggic, and it was 5 days of 20-minutes strength workouts all month, with different muscle groups every day. The 20-minute workouts seemed very easy to fit into my life (sometimes after a cocktail, oops), and I did 400 minutes of strength that I never would have done. In April, I did a program called “Crush Your Core” with Emma Lovewell. Did I feel like I crushed my core? No. I crushed my ego and I felt weak as hell. But I did do 2 1-minute planks on Wednesday and I definitely couldn’t do that a month ago.

The main reason I got a Peloton versus a “faux-loton” is because I wanted to spin with my friends! I miss my gym community SO MUCH. And since the pandemic, a lot of my old cycling peeps have gotten Pelotons. I have multiple group chats on Facebook and Instagram where we plan to take certain rides together, or do a long 100-minute ride on a Sunday. I love seeing my friends “on the leaderboard” and giving them incessant high fives. There’s nothing better than being there to witness a friend scoot by you and achieve a PR. (#HighFive!!!) There is even an option to video chat while the class is going on, but I haven’t quite mastered that yet. Plus, I’m usually wearing a sports bra and no shirt (why bother, I’m in my bedroom!) so I don’t love my friends checking in on my sweaty self.

  • Can you guess which day in February I got my bike?
  • An example of a Sunday Stack with friends. Many classes in a row! Lots of cals burned and high fives given.

The weird thing about my Peloton obsession is, I got the 3-month free trial of the Peloton app when I was in Texas and I only did 3 classes in 3 months. Now, it’s normal for me to do 3 classes in a day! I’m not sure what changed, but I love the variety. I also feel a bit more like my normal life living in my own apartment, so I can prioritize my workouts more than I could in Texas when I wasn’t living in my own space. I’ve done 206 workouts since I got the bike on February 9th: 112 cycling classes, 50 strength classes, 39 stretch classes, and a few outdoor runs and walks.

I was nervous I wouldn’t get my money’s worth, but that is certainly not a worry anymore. I put the bike in our bedroom so it is literally the last thing I see before I go to sleep, and the first thing I see when I wake up. The real question is, will I continue to use it after the gyms open back up? I’m not sure but I definitely think so. It’s so easy and I love it. Also, I can ride with my friends all over the country. Do you have a Peloton bike or work out on the app? Drop your LB name in the comments!

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Fitness

How much is that Peloton in the Window?

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As you may remember, the only Spin class I will pay for is at Peloton (usually). I’ve written at length about the experience of riding live in the studio, but I had never had the experience of being an “at-home rider.” That all changed last Friday. I wasn’t at home, per se, but I was in the window, for many passersby to see and wave at me, and I did get to watch Emma Lovewell LIVE from 2,783 miles miles away. That’s an exact number.

Last week, I traveled to Los Angeles for work (more on the trip later), and on my first day there, I stumbled upon a Peloton Showroom. If you did not know, Peloton has only one studio, in Manhattan, but they sell their bike worldwide, and they livestream the classes from New York all over the world. They currently have more than 25 showrooms in the USA, where they sell the bikes and apparel. When I accidentally came upon the showroom in Santa Monica, I absolutely had to go in, but not before taking a photo to post on my Instagram story.

When I walked in, I met Deano, the nicest salesperson I’ve ever met. He laughed about me taking a photo for my insta-story, and we chatted for more than 30 minutes. I knew it wasn’t just a sales pitch, because we discussed right away that I wasn’t buying a bike. I told him I lived in a New York apartment, and therefore it was the size of a closet, and therefore a Peloton bike would have to take the place of like, a couch or a table or both. He motioned to the corner of that store and was like “haha yea, your apartment is probably like, this big.” HAHAHA. LOL. SO FUNNY. But for real.

Anyway, Deano and I talked about how the company was a unicorn, and how it somehow grew rapidly by finding a niche hole in the market that needed to be filled. I told him that I only had the experience of riding in the studio, and how I had never ridden the bike with the big screen. (The bikes in the studio have littler Ipad mini-sized screens, since they don’t have to show the video of the instructor.) He told me I should come in to take a class live in the window. And I knew I had to, simply because of the blog. And also because of snapchat. And Instagram. Oh, and also because it was my favorite price: FREE!

Two days later, I popped into the showroom, and Justine and Christopher (equally as nice as Deano) were there to fulfill my window-riding dreams. They gave me spin shoes in my size, a water bottle and a towel, and Christopher promised to take many Instagram-worthy pics. I was ready to roll. I logged into my account (LongLegsBigCity, DUH), and I was off! I took Emma Lovewell’s live DJ ride, where the DJ spins the tunes and we follow Emma’s cues. It was so fun, especially because people were walking by the showroom windows the whole time, pointing and gawking, and I just waved to them like a princess. A very, very sweaty princess.

Pros:

  • I got an amazing workout.
  • I got to feel famous riding in the window.
  • I got bombass pics for Instagram.
  • I had an awesome experience I could blog about.
  • I got a free Peloton workout!

Cons:

  • My knee has been bothering me a lot lately, so I couldn’t pull the big numbers on the leaderboard that I am accustomed.
  • Emma is a relatively new instructor and I hadn’t taken her before, she isn’t my favorite. How does she ride with her hair down and not get sweaty?? It’s very irksome.
  • I don’t love riding with headphones on, it’s one of the best parts of group fitness, feeling unencumbered and still having loudddd music.
  • I realized, after sweating buckets, that I had never once ridden a spin bike in full light before. Not only were the lights on, but the doors of the store were open, I was in the window, it was afternoon, AND the bike had spotlights on it because I was in the window! It was SO HOT. I was chugging water the rest of the day to rehydrate.

The best three parts about the at-home rider experience vs. the studio:

  1. They track your best output in real time, so you can constantly chase your own best numbers on the leaderboard. For example, at 10 minutes in, it showed my best output at 140, and I was hovering at 80. I told you it was a rough ride. Anyway, it’s very motivating to chase your PR throughout the class.
  2. When you ride at home, you are on the leaderboard with hundreds to thousands of riders at a time. It’s awesome! In the studio, you are only on the board with the 60 people in the studio. Peloton literally is a noun that means “the main field of cyclists in a race.” And the point, according to their website, is for “riders in a peloton to work together, conserve energy and perform better because of one another.” This is easier achieved when you know you’re in it with 1000 other people!
  3. Beyond the ride! They had a 5 minute post-class stretch, and they have other classes like arms and abs classes that you can’t see in the studio, but you can see at home. I tried to do the stretch, but it was a little cramped in the window space. Maybe next time.

Yesterday I got back to New York, and of course I had to take a Peloton class in the studio with Cody. I got the big numbers I didn’t manage to get on Friday, and I feel like some of that is because I feed off the energy of those around me. Also because Cody is the BOMB. Long story short: It’s an awesome experience if you don’t live in NYC, and it’s incredibly unique, but if you can get yourself to the studio, DO IT!

Check out the photos below, Christopher did a great job!

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Fitness

Peloton

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Peloton is my new spin-obsession (spin-session?) I have officially been teaching fitness classes for 11 years, and I don’t plan to stop any time soon. What that means is, I am VERYYY picky when it comes to the exercise classes I attend. Why should I pay $32-$40/class when I get PAID to do exactly the same thing? Plus, I have a gym in my building. This is especially true when it comes to Spin classes. You will RARELY see me pay to Spin since I teach 2-3 Spin classes a week, and don’t even get me started on SoulCycle and what a waste of money it is. So why, you may ask, did I drop $100 last week at Peloton, and attend 5 classes in one week in addition to my normal gym routine? Because Peloton is AWESOME. That’s why. Also, because I completed their Summer Fit List challenge and got TEN CLASSES FOR FREE. More on that later. But first, let me tell you about the bike, the concept, and the studio.

Peloton has their own bike, and it is a “cutting-edge” piece of equipment that “combines the very best of fitness and tech.” I stole those words from their website. But I can vouch for them, too. Each bike rides incredibly smoothly (made of carbon and steel), works with Delta-clip spin shoes (they are free to rent with each class), and there is a massive iPad-like screen on each bike to track metrics. The home bikes have huge screens, like a TV (photo below). They sell the bike to people all over the world, and it comes with a hefty price tag ($1,995 plus a $39 per month subscription fee). But then, you get access to unlimited live-streamed OR on-demand classes. When you ride in the studio, they constantly shout out to people who are “at-home riders,” and it adds a sense of larger community. Examples: “Hey Sven in Copenhagen!” “Alex in Moscow, congrats on 100 rides!” “Sarah in LA, Happy Birthday!”

When you ride in class, you have the option to ride as a guest or sign in. The iPad (a much smaller version of the big screen they have on the home-rider bikes) then tracks metrics such as cadence (revolutions per minute), output in watts, and resistance. Also, it tracks your total output in KJ on the leaderboard. The leaderboard shows how you are doing throughout the class, as well as how everyone else is doing throughout the world. My goal is always to be in top 15 during class, but I don’t always succeed. Also, keep in mind that hundreds of riders take the class after it is live, on-demand at home, so my ranking usually drops drastically afterward. I have mentioned before that I’m not so big on competition, but I do love seeing how I compare against myself, and sometimes, I can compare myself to others to give myself an extra push. You can always “hide” the leaderboard from your screen if that’s not your thing. The tracking is eerily accurate, unlike some other bikes. Also, after the class is over, you can log into the site and see all of your stats from past classes and compare your progress. Even my one class from 2015 is still up there. You can also follow your friends, like on twitter, and see their workouts, compare performances etc.

Some people argue that they don’t like Peloton because the instructor teaches to at-home riders more than riders in the studio, and I would say that is true, it’s usually about 70-30 or 60-40 depending on the instructor. It’s a personal preference, but I don’t mind it at all. In fact, I like that the instructor gives you guidance on where your cadence and resistance should be and then lets you get in your own zone with the music. Maybe it’s because I am self-motivated in my workouts, but I don’t need the instructor in my face the whole time. I like the idea of 40% guidance and a slammin’ playlist, and I can challenge myself for the other 60% just by looking at my own stats (or some light competition with my peers on the leaderboard).

Peloton is an international phenomenon, but they only have one studio, and lucky for me, it’s in NYC. And it’s beautiful. They have a clothing showroom in the front, plus a few bikes to try out, then you can check in, receive your free shoe rental (COUGH COUGH SOULCYCLE COULD LEARN HERE), and then you go into this beautiful lounge area. They have couches, a juice/smoothie bar (for purchase), water that is infused with different fruits every day (for free), and a relaxing spot to wait for your class that is not a gross locker room. Oh, also, they livestream the current class (if one if going on) on the TV, so you can see what the at-home riders are seeing. You can even hop on the bike and ride along if you’d like. Pretty cool. The locker rooms are awesome too. They have showers with all of the fancy products, and they have pretty much anything stocked that you may have forgotten, from tampons to deodorant to flip flops.

The classes are amazing, too. They have metrics rides, theme rides, intervals and arms rides, low impact rides, etc. Like any gym, people will have their favorite instructors. So far, my favorite has been Alex, but that may be because it was a Y2K Hip Hip playlist, and any class that begins with Pass the Courvoisier has got my vote. But sometimes you can also be surprised. I went to a class subbed by Christine that was actually a canceled DJ ride, so I didn’t know what I was in for. It turned out it was a pop interval class, with songs by Little Mix and *NSync. I could not have been more pleased. It was also my second-highest overall output ever. So much fun! I highly recommend theme rides if you know the kind of music you’re into. I’ve taken classes by 7 different instructors, but the playlist is still my biggest motivator.

Now on to this challenge I just completed. Every once in a while, Peloton comes up with incentives for people to work out in the studio, and it definitely worked for me. This year, the #SummerFitList consisted of a postcard you needed to get stamped 10 times, for ten different things. If you’re thinking, “wow, 10 classes at $32 a pop is a LOT!” You are right. But they weren’t all classes, and with some strategic planning, I was able to complete the challenge in only 4 days, purchasing 4 rides. The ten things were:

  1. Take a 6 am class
  2. Take a Live DJ Ride
  3. Take 2 classes in 1 day
  4. Post a picture on social media with an instructor, tag @peloton and #SummerFitList
  5. Take an 8:30 pm class
  6. Take a theme ride
  7. Sit in the front row
  8. Take a 60-minute class
  9. Take a 20 minute class
  10. Bring a reusable water bottle to class

Now guys, I am a penny pincher, so I tried to get my money’s worth. First, I went to a 20-minute class and brought a reusable water bottle. The 2:30 pm classes are walk-in only and they are FREE so I got 2 stamps, no cost. Then on one day, I did a 6:30 am class (check) and an 8:30 pm class (check), which happened to be a theme ride (check), and also was 2 classes in one day (check), and I sat in the front row for both (check check) AND then I posted a photo with Alex on my Instagram afterward, with all necessary hashtags (check!). That was 6 stamps in one day, and only paying for 2 classes! I was able to pull off all stamps by only paying for 4 classes. And what did I get??? 10 FREE CLASSES. That’s right, $320 of free classes. Written another way, I paid for 4, and got 14. Not too shabby. Were my legs (and something else) completely sore after? YES. Did I miss out on a lot of sleep? YES. Did I get incredibly sick after? YES. Was it worth it? YES!!!

Good news is, the first class is FREE. BETTER news is, if you want to sign up through THIS LINK and take 3 classes, I can get a free class too. DO IT DO IT! We can take them together!! More Peloton!! I’m serious, check out those exclamation marks. Let’s get fit together 😀 If you take one spin class in NYC, this is the studio I would recommend (after my own classes)! USE MY LINK!

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