I subbed John's class tonight and used a new playlist. His class just lit up when this 66 rpm hill came up! It's a great funk tune (Re-recorded and Remastered) from a Cleveland based 80's group. It has that ‘I recognize this' familiarity that our classes love.
Simply setting leg speed at 66 and asking them to stay just under AT, I just let them go for 4:43 (the Re-recorded/Remastered Spotify version).
Here's hoping you and your class have as much fun with Dazz's ‘Let It Whip' as we did tonight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7lLPvDJI5M
And a really cool free download re-mix from Soundcloud – they moved the link to the bottom of the player:
Here's a great free download mash up from Soundcloud:
Eyebrows. They make us look younger, frame our eyes and we need them to make our facial anatomy look right.
Guys- just a quick word and then you can b(r)ow out :). If you have exceedingly bushy, or wiry brows, you can easily groom them with a manicure scissors. My dad has eyebrows the consistency of fishing line. He simply cuts the wild ones with a little manicure scissors in a mirror he has on the wall in the garage (access to good mid-day lighting.) He's been doing that since I was a little girl. He stays looking well groomed, yet very manly.
Okay, onto girl brows. I've heard four specific brow challenges from instructors:
1. No brows: never had them, over-plucked them, just noticed they lost them. In addition, nothing they put on seems to stay on, especially during and after teaching a good, sweaty class.
2. Sparce brows: aggressively plucked since middle school, they have a few miscellaneous hairs in the vicinity of their brows, but definitely need supplementation. Whatever they use to supplement their brows doesn't stay put all day, let alone during and after a good sweat.
3. Light disappearing brows: they have great brows, but nobody can see them. Their brows are either blonde, or that other light color that comes in 50 shades.
4. Too many brows: brows, brows everywhere. Unruly and they grow like weeds.
Before we talk about the four brow challenges, I want to look at brow shaping and color:
You can see the three brow shaping points in this picture.
-Brow shaping: An easy way to shape your brow is to take a pencil and hit three points. 1. straight up from your nose is the brow start point 2. from your nose to the middle of your iris is the top of your brow arch 3. from your nose to the outer corner of your eye is your brow end point. When in doubt, you can always get a brow shape/wax at your salon. Ulta now has a Benefit Brow Bar. A wax is $20.
Our eyebrows are sisters nottwins. They will never be identical, as hard as we try. So don't try that hard!
-Brow color: As a general rule, our brow color should be one shade darker than our hair. Please trust me on this. As we age, our eyebrows get lighter, until they all but disappear. We look SO much younger with brows. With the exception of the little old ladies that draw in their brows way too dark, most have none at all! (Take a look the next time you are out and about and let me know what you see.)
So, it's important to have brows with color and it's just as important to have the right color. Many pencils/ gels are simply too warm toned, or red. 90% of the time, I find a taupe pencil or gel is right for my client. Please make sure you have a good, neutral tone on your brows unless you truly have auburn hair.
Challenge Solutions:
Wow- do you recognize Angelina Jolie without her eyebrows?
1. No brows:
2. Sparce brows:
Both these challenges fall into the same basic solution category. A permanent solution is eyebrow tattooing. If you're considering brow tattoos, I'd strongly recommend having a brow shape and color you've worn for awhile and love. Find a reputable permanent make up artist that uses non-metallic ink and will work with you regarding color and shape.
My favorite non-permanent solution is Tarte Amazonian Clay Waterproof Brow Mousse in taupe, medium brown and rich brown. It wears for at least 12 hours, just like it says! It's $28 and it comes with a perfect double ended angle and grooming brush. I've been using mine for 6 months and have hardly made a dent in the jar. Make sure to put the cap on tightly after each use because it will dry out if left open.
I like Clarins Pro Palette Eyebrow Kit for its versatility. It comes with three shades, so you really can get the perfect customized eyebrow color. Then you ‘lock it in' with a wax- so it's extremely long wearing. The kit also comes with a magnifying mirror, tweezers and double ended brow brush. At $37, if you have a hard to match hair color, or are prone to changing your color often, this one's for you. Customers tell me the kit lasts up to 5 years!
Prefer a pencil? The best one I've found (since Bath & Body Works quit making their ‘Earth' eyebrow pencil- at $6, this was the best taupe pencil around!) is Lancome's Le Crayon Poudre Powder Eyebrow Pencil in Taupe $25.50 . Be sure to buy a Lancome sharpener. The Beauty Specialist isn't giving you a line when they tell you to get one. The pencil is very powdery and encased in a plastic lining that needs a specific sharpener.
Once again, I must call out elf- Eyes, Lips, Face and their Professional Studio Eyebrow Kit in Ash. At $3, this is completely worth a try. Opposite of Clarins, the directions read to use the wax first, powder second. Disclaimer: I've not tried it. Have any of you?
3. Light Disappearing Brows: Blonde or uhm….gray, there really are two solutions: get them dyed, or Lancome's Modele Sourcils Brow Groomer. In Taupe, Brunet, or Chataigne (reddish brown), this mascara-like color for your brows is an easy answer for women with brows that are simply too light! Back in the day, I sold this to more than one man as well. This product also helps keeps brows in place. Thus the name ‘Groomer'.
4. Too many brows: Unkempt, overgrown brows can make women look heavy eyed, older, and even angry. A permanent 2.5 to 3 week appointment with a good aesthetician for regular brow waxing will take care of that! Lancome's Modele Sourcils Brow Groomer also comes in Clear for keeping brows in place. Clarins makes a product called Double Fix that serves as a clear brow groomer AND makes regular mascara waterproof, so it's a two for one product at $23.
Peloton Cycle recently raised $307,332 through a Kickstarter project to help fund the design and manufacture their new Peloton Indoor Cycle. Awesome on its own, but they also have plans to live-stream digital classes directly to the user's home from the new Peloton Cycling Studio they're building in New York City.
And not just your garden variety Indoor Cycling classes. Nope. Their plans are to employee the very best Instructors on the planet and to recruit them, they're willing to pay these Rock Star Instructors up to $500.00 for each class they teach.
Sound interesting? You can visit their Instructor's Wanted page to learn more.
Here's the promo video they did for their Kickstarter project that explains everything.
Listen to my interview with Peloton's COO & Co founder Tom Cortese below and if you haven't yet, please .
Amy's fitness instructor professional liability insurance renewed this month. I offered to shop around to see if I could find the best / lowest cost annual policy – something more reasonable than the $170.00 per year charged by Markel Insurance who provided her coverage last year.
I did 🙂
We purchased a $3,000,000 Instructor liability policy from HPSO – Healthcare Providers Service Organization for only $112.00!We had a negative experience when we renewed 9/14 and have cancelled our policy with these people. Very disappointed by their customer service. Strongly suggest going somewhere else.
When Amy first started teaching Pilates at a local Catholic grade school, they required her to have a liability policy “just in case”. But in actuality the churches board wouldn't approve of using an outside contractor (Amy) without there being a policy in place that named the church as an additional insured.
That was about 6 years ago. We started with the insurance company recommended by IDEA – Philadelphia Insurance @ $170.00. But there was a catch to get their discounted rate… you needed to be an IDEA member. Fine if you already were, but, not knowing any better, we also purchased a year of IDEA @ $99.00 + the $170.00 for a total of $260.00. That's a lot and as it turned out, it ate up about a third of the potential revenue Amy had forecasted to earn over the winter.
Then we switched to Markel. Same cost, but without the hundred dollar IDEA membership.
Now what we found with HPSO is that she gets the same level of coverage, while saving $58.00. Not a king's ransom, but I know Amy and she'd much rather spend that on some cute yoga pants.
Feel free to share this with your Instructor friends.
*Different states require different types of insurance, as do the different formats you're teaching (at varying costs) so you'll need to check their site for the specific costs for where you live and teach.
This Friday brings a change of pace with a hard driving climb. If you enjoy a great bass line, this song will rock your socks.
A British alternative rock band, self described as ‘techno-pop punk rock', with a lead singer from Nigeria, this band originated in 1994 and was most popular in the late 90's. They reunited in 2008 and continue to perform today.
What's so fun about this song is our group vaguely recognizes it and we can use that to our advantage as we coach them through the 5 minute 65 rpm push.
‘Ready To Go' by Republica is just a great IC song- straight up! I've been known to play ‘Name that band' every once in a while and this is a great song to do it with.
I also say, “Are you ready to go?, because we are already gone”….that fires them up to work at AT.
I REALLY like the free download from Soundcloud. A Chris Chambers edit. I might even like it better than the original, so hurry and download it while the downloading is good!
When dancing years (and years and years….) ago in college, we had only one efficient way to remove calluses from our feet. We would sit around the studio after practice and use a single razor blade to cut them off. Thinking about it now, I am grateful I didn't get a nasty infection.
I continue to be a stellar callus maker and, since my college days, have sought the holy grail in (safer) callus removers. There's really nothing that ruins the look of a gorgeous pair of sandals and a nice pedicure like big rough calluses!
I managed to work up a good head of steam and increase my biceps size with the foot smoothers and pumice stones; however, my calluses remained in tact.
The chemical removers were just scary smelling and not very effective.
The handle version of the Ped Egg. Also available without a handle.
The the softeners only created a greasy mess.
BUT, the ‘As Seen on TV' Ped Egg is the holy grail. I love this thing! It has 135 stainless steel micro files and includes an emery board piece to smoothen after you file. The Ped Egg comes with, or without a handle (I like the handle version). It also has a little collector compartment for your foot shavings, although I've found this to be the least effective aspect of the Ped Egg.
At first use, I was a bit over-aggressive with the Ped Egg. I was so excited, I might have over filed a bit! We do need some callus to protect our feet while walking and running. I was quite sensitive for about a week, so be careful.
File and emery board refills are available for your Ped Egg in a three pack.
This is one ‘As Seen on TV' product that really works.
I haven't tried using a good foot cream afterwards, but I think it might extend the time between needing to Ped Egg again. Right now, I need to re-file about once a week.
You might ask why I just don't get a good pedi twice a month? Truth is- I'm super ticklish. Plus, when I DIY (do it yourself) I save a lot of $ and can justify spending it on something else :).
Questions, comments, suggestions? Something you love to use? Please comment or write me: amyjo@groupfitnessradio.com
I'd love to hear from you!
*I receive no compensation for writing this. Not even from John. I will happily let you know if I do in the future.
