#2 The Mailman:

- He brought me these (maybe one day I can have that bakery job).

- And our first Christmas party invitation of the year (yes that’s the back, I couldn’t share the personal details or I’d get uninvited)

- And last, but not least the mailman also brought me the cutest invitation to my nephew’s first birthday party:

Despite the fact that this is a long week for me, my Tuesday is finishing up to be quit good! I hope your Tuesday was just as good! I’m off to figure out what recipe to try first. Hmm… I think I feel a cold coming on. I’ll clearly need to stay home and bake cupcakes while watching Christmas Vacation for the remainder of the week.

I feel honored and privileged to enter into peoples lives in this way.  Its the heart and soul of why I do what I do.  Without being overly dramatic, I want to state that working out is important. It’s obviously a huge part of who I am.  The fact that I have the opportunity to impact people to live a healthier life day in and day out is living a privileged life.

Honestly, I don’t always feel this way.  There are times when I complain about the challenge of energizing this many people.  It can be overwhelming at times.  Since the fall rush began, I’ve been running around like a crazy person trying to keep up with all of my clients and classes.  I’ve been overly tired and a week behind on everything else.  Moments like the one I had tonight remind me that at the end of the day its worth it because I’m helping people grow affection towards something that will enhance their lives.

What makes you feel like your living a privileged life?

Last week’s spin class at the gym was outstanding.  One female class participant proclaimed that according to her heart rate monitor she burned 455 calories in 45 minutes!  I ended up cutting the class one song short as they had had enough.

Here’s a sampling of last week’s class along with the general instructions (i like to think its more intense when I’m yelling at you, but probably more enjoyable when you don’t have to listened to me nagging you about your resistance level not being high enough).  Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.

- Stayin’ Alive (Radio Mix): Warm-up with easy intervals in all three spin positions

- Waking Up in Vegas (Katy Perry): During the verse of the song fast paced flat road, during the chorus increase resistance to sprint out of the saddle in 3rd

- American Boy featuring Kanye West (Estelle): Seated climb increase resistance every minute until you can’t keep cadence with the beat.  When you can no longer keep the cadence while seated take it out into third

- I do not hook-up (Kelly Clarkson): Seated flat road, sprint in third during the chorus.

- Closer (Ne-Yo):  Climbing in third with ten seconds of pushing the pace every 30 seconds

- For the Girl (The Fratellis): 1 minute run seated (pace should be right below a sprint); increase resistance maintain pace as you ride out of the saddle in 3rd.

- The Sweet Escape (Gwen Stefani): Straight forward climb.  Match your cadence to the beat and crank up the resistance.

- Stronger Workout Remix (Power Music Workout): 1 30 second sprint, 1 45 second sprint, and one 1 minute sprint with 20 seconds of recovery between each interval.

- Seasons Song (Kaiser Cartel): Recover and cool down.

Feel free to use the same workout structure with your own song selection.  You can even adapt the workout to the elliptical machine or another piece of cardio equipment.  Just crank up the resistance for hills and slow down your pace.  For sprints always have light resistance.  Remember that you want your legs to do the work, not momentum.

Have a great workout! What did you do today to sweat?