Bringing Fitness Home

While doing research for our September supplement, “ An Exercise in Fitness,” we came across some fun workout DVDs to take the monotony out of exercising. Here is a sampling:

• Losing It and Keeping Fit! This 60-minute DVD features Valerie Bertinelli and celebrity trainer Christopher Ross Lane. It offers a beginner’s routine, a bikini-ready workout, and a bonus abs sculpting segment.

• Tara Stiles Yoga Anywhere: The New York Sessions From tunnels in Central Park to the famous Flatiron Building, Stiles goes on location in The Big Apple while teaching viewers yoga basics, as well as more advanced moves in this 60-minute DVD set to rock music.

• The Pursuit of Happy Hips Featuring routines varying in length from 25 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes, this DVD from Canadian yoga instructor Eoin Finn features a series of alignment-based yoga moves for hip and shoulder opening, core strengthening, and breathing and centering practices.

• Exhale: Core Fusion Thighs and Glutes Five 10-minute workouts demonstrated on this DVD by Core Fusion creators Fred DeVito and Elisabeth Halfpapp focus on lifting your buns, toning your legs, and trimming your waist.

• Black Belt Golf: White Belt Lesson Martial artist, golfer, and certified fitness instructor Ryan White teaches viewers some guided meditations using martial arts to help improve their golf game by helping them warm up, stretch, and increase stamina.

Be sure to check out other fitness tips and trends in our September issue, which you can view digitally here.

The Standard NYC Debuts Sky-High Yoga Classes

Yoga is anything but standard, thanks to Standard Yoga classes offered at The Standard hotels in South Beach, FL, and New York City. The program got its start in Florida and has now debuted at the Manhattan outpost of Andre Balazs’s hip brand. There, $20 classes are being held throughout the hotel, including the High Line room, the 18th floor Relax Pool room, and outdoors on the High Line Terrace and Roof Top Terrace, which offers inspiring views of the Hudson River and the trendy Meatpacking District. Classes will also soon be available on the west coast at The Standard, Hollywood and The Standard, Downtown LA. For more cool yoga classes being offered worldwide, be sure to check out An Exercise in Fitness, a supplement to our September issue that offers tips for whipping your spa into shape and provides a look at the latest fitness trends, clothing, equipment, and more.

Liven Up Your Workout With Two New iPhone Apps

As a former couch potato, I know the challenges of getting motivated to exercise. For me, music plays such a vital role in getting me pumped for a workout, whether it’s spinning or yoga. So I was excited to learn that PS Ventures Limited has created a way to integrate music into fitness programs with the release of two iPhone apps. “Music Interval Training Tool” and ”Workout Music Timer” are now available to download for the iPhone and iPod Touch. These two apps use the principle of managing listeners’ state of mind throughout their workouts by allowing them to create play lists for exercising at different levels of intensity.

The Music Interval Training Tool is a countdown timer designed for interval training, allowing the user to create a custom play list for low to high intensity workouts with music automatically changing through each phase, while the Workout Music Timer is a more conventional stopwatch, featuring three different intensity music play lists. Listeners can move between play lists at the touch of a button and track down how long they have been exercising at each intensity level. It’s the perfect motivation for making working out feel like less work and more fun. Click here to check out available apps.

Yoga-Paws Redesigns the “Yoga Mat Your Wear”

Although I love doing yoga, it is no secret that I am not coordinated at all. So when I originally learned about Yoga-Paws about five years ago, I was so excited. Touted as the “yoga mat you wear,” Yoga-Paws are lightweight mini-mats worn on the hands and feet to provide slip control so that yoga can be practiced safer and more comfortably (and mat-free, if you choose). Originally launched in 2003, the company has recently compiled feedback from fans and instructors and invested in research and development to improve the product. Available this fall, the new Yoga-Paws hand units will feature eco-friendly TPE material with a curved ergonomic design and external seams, similar to driving gloves, for added comfort and mobility. The foot units will feature a heal strap to prevent movement, as well as a smooth, Lycra-spandex material that adjusts to provide a closer fit for various foot sizes. With accessories making it this easy and comfortable, there is no excuse not to say “om.” Check out the products here.

Spa-goers at Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa
Take a Hike with The Biggest Losers

This weekend, guests at Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa (AZ) can find new inspiration for achieving their weight-loss goals thanks to the three-day Take a Hike package (starting at $994). Hosted by Bill and Jim Germanakos, twin brothers from the reality weight-loss show “The Biggest Loser,” the program includes three nights accommodation, a welcome party, morning workouts, yoga, two hikes with lunch, two seminars, and a closing dinner. The Germanakos will share their personal stories to help motivate spa-going participants shed unwanted pounds and attain their own weight-loss success. Having visited the property years ago, I’m sure many will be paying a visit to The Spa at Sedona Rouge to recover from their outdoor pursuits. It was definitely a highlight of my visit to Red Rock Country.

GlobalFit Helps Promote Healthy Living

Living in New York City, it is sometimes quicker to walk places than it is to take a cab or the subway, which I realized is quite beneficial after reading an email from GlobalFit, an online provider of benefits for healthy living. The report listed a variety of popular foods, along with the number of steps it takes to burn off the calories, based on an average calorie burn for a 150-lb person, and the results were surprising to me Here is a sampling:

• One serving of mashed potatoes: 1,540 steps
• One serving of chocolate ice cream: 1,980 steps
• Large French fries: 6,000 steps
• A slice of pepperoni pizza: 4,560 steps
• A Cheeseburger: 3,840 steps
• 16 potato chips: 1,800 steps
• A mug of beer: 1,680 steps
• A chocolate chip cookie: 2,520 steps

Even foods that are considered healthy require a considerable amount of steps to burn off calories, such as:

• A banana: 1,068 steps
• A navel orange: 828 steps
• A hardboiled egg: 936 steps
• 14 baby carrots: 672 steps

Luckily, GlobalFit offers online visitors a variety of options to help them stay healthy and keep the calories offer through education, community support, and incentives, but the benefits are not available to the general public. An employer or insurance provider must belong to the network. If you are interested in offering your staff an added incentive to stay healthy, your company can become a GlobalFit sponsor by clicking here.

Sedona Rouge Guests Can Take a
Hike With ‘The Biggest Loser’

Fitness fanatics and those seeking to slim down can now experience the shape up secrets of the much acclaimed reality weight loss show, “The Biggest Loser,” for themselves and lose weight alongside former contestants while having fun in the sun. This summer, two of the shows most notable contestants, twin brothers Bill and Jim Germanakos, have teamed up with the Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa (Sedona, AZ) to bring participants a weight loss adventure of a lifetime through the Take a Hike program. This three-day weight loss program ($550 per person), which takes place Aug. 19-21, gives participants a chance to lose weight alongside the Germanakos brothers with Red Rock hikes, mountain biking, workouts, nutritional lectures, motivational talks, and social gatherings. The Germanako brothers have always listened to their father George’s advice, “The only way to get something done, is to get it started. Get it started, and you’re on your way!” For guests of Sedona Rouge, this powerful program can help them kick-start their wellness wishes and get on the path to better health.

Consider a Sports Massage to Treat Your Inner Athlete

While the NBA playoffs are almost over with just one or two more games left to determine who will claim victory in the battle between the Boston Celtics and LA Lakers, sports enthusiasts needn’t fret. The World Cup kicks off tomorrow in South Africa, guaranteeing another month of good-natured sports rivalry. For those who prefer to participate in more active ways than chugging yet another beer in their favorite sports bar, well, there are a host of spas ready to accommodate their every sore muscle with a therapeutic sports massage. Here are just a few we wouldn’t mind trying ourselves:

Exhale Mindbodyspa (national)

Exhale’s signature mind body therapy, Body Enlightening, incorporates yoga contact work, assisted stretching, relaxation, and body alignment. It’ll leave [you] feeling balanced, elongated, and spirited.

Ivy Spa Club (Minneapolis)

The spa’s Before Workout Massage lengthens and loosens muscles, increases circulation and nutrient flow, and helps sports fans gear up for activity…even voracious cheering. Ivy Spa Club’s After Workout Massage flushes toxins, increases nutrient flow, and helps weekend warriors regain muscle length and range of motion.

Red Mountain Sagestone Spa (St. George, UT)

A must for adventure-seekers, the Red Rock Hiker’s Massage focuses on the legs. A potent fusion of peppermint, menthol, and eucalyptus provides muscle and joint relief while a marine mud pack on the legs draws out toxins and improves circulation.

Spring Training Continues with Exhale’s
New Core Fusion Cardio Class

In my ongoing attempt to take my fitness regimen to the next level, I spent last Saturday morning in a Core Fusion Cardio class at Exhale mind body spa (New York City). A challenging workout to say the least, this 60-minute class builds strength, increases flexibility, and improves cardio conditioning. It incorporates moves from Exhale’s proprietary Core Fusion, Core Fusion Yoga, and Core Fusion Sport classes and gives them an additional cardio element to help burn extra calories. When all was said and done, I left the class feeling as if I had worked every muscle, which was pretty much every muscle that needed to be worked.

Snake Yoga Slithers Into the
Spa at the Sonoma Mission Inn

As you may have read early this week, I’ve most certainly got Wine Country fever. So when I heard about a fun new fitness offering at the Spa at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, I was thrilled to discover another reason to head west again soon. The spa is helping yoga aficionados shed their winter workout blahs with Snake Yoga workshops.

Snake Yoga is a practice that helps strengthen and lengthen the spine and is designed to energize the kundalini, or sacred life force, represented as the serpent in the spine. Le’ema Kathleen Graham, creator of Snake Yoga, will be hosting training sessions on April 24 and May 22 from 1 to 3 p.m. for $45 per person. Along with two hours of instruction, guests will also receive all-day spa privileges at the acclaimed resort including access to the indoor signature European-style bathing ritual and outdoor thermal pools.

“It is a great honor to welcome Le’ ema and her Snake Yoga practice to the resort,” says Sheri Claflin, director of spa operations. “The titles of her poses are changed from the traditional Sanskrit/English versions so that they may be seen from a new perspective. These names reflect her connection to snakes as creative beings, as well as to esoteric principles, symbols and myths from various cultures.”

Though I’m not a fan of slithering serpents, this is one fitness solution I think I’d like to sample.