Day 6: 30 Day ClassPass Blog

Sometimes your dog looks up at your with those eyes and they just beg you to take them on a hike. I typically take my dog, Toby, hiking at least twice a week and then to the local dog park twice a week. He is spoiled rotten.  

He has been getting a little neglected this past week with all of the ClassPass action. He doesn't love ClassPass like me.

While I did do 5 classes this week, I decided my pup needed a little TLC and I also wanted to give my elbow one more day of recovery before I hit one of the hardest Pilates spots tomorrow, Pilates Plus Studio City. Lisa is killer, yo!

Toby isn't quite sure about the steep incline

One of my favorite spots to go hiking is Fryman Canyon, located at the bottom of Laurel Canyon on the Studio City side. While parking can be tricky at the peak hours, there is a small parking lot that you can sometimes snag a space in, or street parking- just carefully read signs. You walk through a ritzy neighborhood at the end (or beginning depending on how you start) and they really don't want any old hiker joe just clogging up their streets with cars.  

This hike is an easy to medium difficulty. My dog likes it because there aren't too many steep steps like there are at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood. He has short legs so I end up having to pick him up there once in a while. A lot of the Fryman Hike is paved, however, a few months ago I found a "secret" way which is mostly all dirt, and then opens to fields and a spectacular view. Most people do not know about this way, I usually only pass one, maybe two other people this way. It's very peaceful, and easy on the joints too. 

Empty and Free! That's Tyler, my man. Also, this used to be green. Los Angeles drought!

To find this special way, when you enter (parking lot) way, just look to your left and almost immediately you will see a clearing that leads to a dirt path. This is the steepest incline of the whole hike, it's quite tough and a little slipery but it will really get the heart rate pumping. Then you will come again to the main path. Walk a little longer on this and then look to your left once again and you will find another dirt path. This will take you the detour that I am mostly speaking about.  You won't regret it! 

Eventually you will meet up on the main path, this is where there are some benches and water fountains for humans and dogs. Then we head down the mountain and the rest of the hike is pretty easy peasy. Once you hit the neighborhood- the first house to the right is George Clooneys! Also, I should note- I have seen more "celebs" on this hike than at Runyon Canyon. If you're into that kind of thing.  

me and my little goober face

Again, I will reiterate, this is not the toughest of all hikes but it's extremely enjoyable without all of the weirdos and showoffs that seem to take over Runyon Canyon. I think the views are spectacular here as well. If you enjoy a more solitary spot then check out Fryman. I have included a snap of the Fitbit so you can see about the distance and level of difficulty of the hike.  

I hadn't ever FitBitted this hike before, and was a little surprised that it was only 2.2 miles. I parked in the parking lot today and sometimes you have to treck a little bit so that is one of the reasons why.  Oh, also, be careful of rattlesnakes! I did not thankfully see one today, but I have seen them before. Just be safe and get the hell out of their way. 

I have a happy pup and it felt great to get outside. Bummed that I did not also make it to a ClassPass today as well but sometimes you just need a little fresh air. 

Day 1: 30 day ClassPass Challenge

The ClassPass app is incredible. I am super addicted to it. I scroll through it like it's a Facebook feed of only the people I care about. You can type in the area you want to search with distance perimeters, types of classes, and times. You scroll until you find a class that really gets your goat.   Some of the more popular classes (such as reformer classes where there a limited amount of spots) fill up more quickly so you have to become a bit of planner with smaller classes.  However, if you want to take a Cardio Barre class for example, I have literally signed up while I was at the studio already and poof I am in the class.  

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So easy and pretty. 

I typically like to take classes in Studio City because that is where I live but I'm always zipping around town for auditons.  If I have an audition and I am feeling ambitious, I take work-out gear along and search for a class around that area.  I love having the ability to take class when or wherever I happen to be at that very moment, any time of the day.  It could be an indecisive's person worst nightmare though, because there are literally so many options.  

I had an audition today at noon and I had to wash my hair before.  Therefore, I knew that I needed to take a class early in the day because it will be a cold day in hell before I wash my hair twice a day. I looked at the handy app and decided 8 am would be a time where I could still actually drag myself out of bed and just enough time to bathe afterwards.

I chose to take CorePower Yoga Sculpt.  I tried a new studio that I had not visited before.  I went to the Studio City location, I've only been to the Sherman Oaks spot.  Like most Core Power studios, it was super clean, posh, and beautiful.  It also has really lovely natural light that comes in through the patio windows.   The negatives? Parking is absolutely terrible.  You either have to park at a meter or park in the underground structure which charges $1.50 every 20 minutes.  The meters did not start until 8, which means you cannot put money in them until the clock strikes 8 am which means I would be late for class.  I REFUSE to pay 4 bucks to park for an hour so I found street parking like 6 blocks away and hauled ass to class.  I'm very Los Angeles now, so parking even two blocks seems ridiculous to me even though I could count the "walk time" as part of my workout.   So I feel like I got extra points today for my efforts. 

Core Power Sculpt is no joke.  It's really hard, y'all.  When I go toCorePower I like to take the Level 2 or Fusion classes.  I like the fusion classes because when I am super hot after the first half hour I can just lay there and sweat and sweat and it still feels like I did something.  But sculpt is like half yoga class, half bootcamp class, in 102 degree temperature.  Our teacher today (I forgot her name, I will need to get better at this) was really into squats.  I must have did 100 squats.  It was not fun.   I liked this teacher yogi lady though.  CorePower is sometimes hit or miss for me with their teachers.  Sometimes they can be rather cookie cutter, and classes can get monotonus but this gal today really seemed to vary up the routine.  She also gave a lot of individual attention, there were only 6 people in my class.  By the way, this is the smallest class size I have ever had a CorePower, they tend to pack them in.  Sometimes I am sweating and touching the sweaty person next to me, which is generally less than ideal.  She also gave me a little back massage when I was stretching.  That was neat.  

In the end, I rated my class 5 stars.  Parking is a nightmare but the class was excellent and the studio is fancy and I feel very rich when I take class there.