Day 23: 30 Day ClassPass Challenge

Corepower Yoga 

13920 Ventura Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 91423 

One of my favorite moves to hold- Dancer Pose! 

Sometimes you just need to sweat it out. After a long weekend of drinking and eating shitty I was feeling like I might need to throw up. Since that didn't seem too appealing, a nice detoxifying yoga class would do.  

Fusion is my favorite class at CorePower. It reminds me of Bikram yoga  because you practice a series of the same moves and holds while in a heated room. What I like about CorePower's Fusion is that class is only an hour and it's also set to fun music and it's not as rigid as Bikram. 

Asked to go behind the desk because that's the only place I could find a sign! 

The Sherman Oaks studio is where I took my first hot yoga class. I have said it once, and I will say it again, you always love your first time. Well. Not always. But when it comes to hot yoga and barre classes- that has been the case for me. 

There are several reasons I love this CorePower Yoga- located in Sherman Oaks. 1) It's in a neighborhood and there is a ton of free street parking (but read signs after 6 pm!) I typically take class in the morning or early afternoon so it's not a problem for me.  2)This studio has immaculate bathrooms and fun soaps, mouth wash, and yummy things to use. It is always there for me when my building has to shut off the water. And because I live in an old building- this happens more than you think. 3) I love many of the instructors at this specific studio. Many of them have been there for years. Amanda L-M, Phillip, Yvvone are simply the best. You must take their classes. 

CorePower Yoga also offers a **free** week of classes to new students. Hear that- unemployed people? Or as I like to say- FUNEMPLOYED. Because then you have time to take advantage of free yoga.

Oh, let me add a 4th reason I love this place. There are classes about a million times a day starting at 6 am and going until 10 pm at night. There is no reason you cannot work out here. They have two studios and that means there is a class almost every hour of the day.  

They have a sign on the door "NO AUTOGRAPHS OR PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANYONE. PERIOD" Or something along those lines. A lot of famous people take class here. If you're into that kind of thing. Just don't ask them for a selfie.  

The larger of the two studios. New Floor put in two weeks ago. New Sweat! 

Lobby is filled with nice things I cannot afford  

This Sherman Oaks in particular always has a ton of insanely cute yoga clothes for sale. As well as mats, water bottles, towels, ect. You could get into a lot of trouble here. The good news is- they do have a sale rack where the clothes range from 15-75% off. I have been going to this studio for years and I always avoid the store like the plague because I really want to be the cute yoga clothes girl but I'm more on a Marshalls budget if you know what I mean. I bought ONE lululemon here once and regretted it for weeks. It was too small. That bra was not a 4!

The instructors name today was Natalie and she was real cute. She has a lovely speaking voice and had the perfect balance of speaking just enough but not too much where you cannot get your zen on. When we were twisting at the end of class she came and sat on me a little and cracked me; I felt like a million bucks.  

No matter how many yoga classes I take, I will always love CorePower. You get an amazing sweat, workout, and stretch in under an hour. Normally, I do not participate in classes that force me to wash my hair after but I always do it for you CorePower.  

Day 11: 30 Day ClassPass Challenge

Hot Pilates 

Address: 8604 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Instructor: Arielle McFadden

Class Type: YOGA-LATES

Pilates and Yoga in the SAME class you say? You had me at yoga-lates. LA is like the hybrid workout center of the world. They have half pilates/cycle, half cycle/yoga, half treadmill/tone. You can find a hybrid of anything somewhere but this is the first yoga-lates class I had seen, surprisingly.  Oh, it was also hot. Los Angeles also loveeees to make you sweat. As if it isn't typically hot as hell here in the first place.

However, today is was "cold" outside. It was 56 and raining which is basically as cold as Los Angeles is ever gonna get. It was the perfect day for a hot yoga class. I am not one of those people who can take hot yoga or hot anything all year round but some days just scream let's be extremely warm while I work out today.  

I was very brave, because I decided to go over the hill to Hollywood in the rain. If you don't have to be anywhere on rainy days in LA, it is best you stay wherever your part of town is, because people in LA treat rain as if it were a 2 foot snowstorm. Wrecks and idiots are everywhere. Luckily, me and my car arrived in one peice. I am not gonna lie, the fact that Hot Pilates had a parking lot had a lot to do with the fact I was willing to make the drive. Driving in the rain is one thing, but parking is a whole other beast. 

The asthetics of this studio impressed me. It was very modern, everything was white, and insanely clean. But not sterile. It was how I would choose to decorate a studio if I owned one. I absolutley loved the floor of the studio too. It was a grey dark wood. You one classy bitch, hot pilates.  

They sell Spirtual Gangsta clothes

Very clean, smelled NOT like a hot sweaty place

The studio was a little on the small side. We had 15 people in my class today and it ended up being a little tight. I wonder what their max class capacity is.  The bathrooms, while also super nice and stocked with yummy soaps and shampoos are also quite cramped. There is one toilet and two showers but actually getting ready after your shower would be very tricky because there isn't a lot of room in the sink area. It's immaculate though, with towels and ammenties provided. 

What I really loved about Hot Pilates is that they gave me two towels and also provided me with an expensive mat. I actually LOVE this because then I don't have more laundry to do (laundry is my very least favorite chore, so the less I have to do the better) and also my own mat doesn't get stinky.  

The instructors name was Arielle and she was subbing for someone today. She is on the regular rotation of instructors and teaches there a lot. I would say the class definitely leaned more on the side of yoga but there was some pilates thrown in at the end. And the ab routine was killer. It was a full song on non-stop abs. The class was a SLOW flow class. I really like fast vinaysa style classes so this proved to be extra challenging for me. We were holding poses for an excrusatingly long time. My hair was dripping sweat into my ears if you know what I mean. 

I wish Arielle would have done an adjustment or two on me. I like it when teachers fix what I am doing wrong. But I get it, we were really sweaty. I wouldn't want to touch me either.  

The class reminded me a lot of yoga at CorePower, but again, slower. I incorporated a lot of cardio into my rountine this week, so a yoga class was exactly what the the doctor ordered. I am definitely going to return to the studio to try their signature "hot pilates" class. I craved a little more pilates in my routine today so I look forward to a full pilates class in the heat.  

Mix and Match pattern Day! 

One more small gripe. Class ended 12 minutes late today. I would't always mind this. But today, I had a meeting to get to. I did not bring my phone into class with me, because I find that to be rude. There is no clock on the wall. So I am at the mercy of Arielle to let me know when class ends on time. If I had known that we were going over, I would have left early. I would have appreciated if Arielle had said "it is 11:45 now, if you have to leave, feel free but I am going to keep going for a few more minutes."

Compare this photo with the photo from after my hot cycle. My face is still pretty red, but damn did I enjoy this class so much more! Thanks to my friend Nicole who got sweaty with me today!