Gevvy vs Gym: on the playground

I'm sure all of you think your workouts are hard, but may I give a suggestion? I recommend that if you want a "new" definition of the word hard, you must take a class from Marie Purvis. I'm not talking about the typical class, where you stretch, do some cardio and then some weight. Oh no... I'm talking about an intense workout that by the looks of it you might think the inner child in you might come out (and at first it totally will) until you start working muscles you have never thought existed.

So how did my workout go? At first I was extremely confident in my training because "failing to prepare, is preparing to fail," so that was out of the question, however when I trained with Marie I developed a new sense of appreciation for what my body can do once it is trained properly.

I fell in love with Marie the instant I met her and knew that she was going to really push me past my comfort zone. I thought the workout was going to be manageable considering my strict running schedule, but boy was I wrong.  We both bonded instantaneously and of course she took me over to warm up right next to a 75 lbs tire. Mind you, my upper body is weak, but I still said to myself, "no biggie." Guys... I cannot stress to you enough how DIFFICULT it was for me to squat and lift this object. I did it (slowly but surely)!

That obviously was not the only thing Marie had in store for me because she took me straight to the volleyball courts and made me do foot work in the stand. The most challenging part was definitely sinking into the sand and trying to find that stability using your core. There was a moment where I was exhausted but I couldn't tell if it was me just allowing my body to take over or not. I find that most of the times, particularly in my case, we give up quickly when we are tried and that's because, we're comfortable. We're allowing our bodies to take over when it should be the other way around--mind over body. I did just that, I ignored the pain and exhaustion and said "Marie, I'm comfortable." She pushed me and I did it.

The word "finished" was no where in Marie's mind, so off we went to a park where my inner child came out, despite the intensity of the work out. Get this, she made me stand over a swing in a plank position with my hands on the swing. Then made me write out the alphabet with the swing seat while remaining in plank position. How about that for the greatest workout ever?  For those of you park goers who have kids running around the playground, now you definitely don't have an excuse.

There was so much variety in terms of exercises, terrains, and textures that my entire body was challenged. There was no muscle that went unnoticed. After taking this training session from Marie where I even did workouts on a TRX band, I realized how grateful I am to have had a workout with Marie. I was clearly not pushing myself hard enough. But most importantly Marie taught me that there is no excuse to neglect one's body from a good, challenging, healthy workout!

A sore reporter,
Gevvy

Kristen Kjellman: Can You Say Tewarraton?

Have you ever played a sport or done a hobby that no one knows about?

Being on the rowing team, it was very common for me to be that person who played a sport that no one really knew about. It became second nature for me to explain in great detail what rowing was all about.

Before interviewing professional lacrosse player, Kristen Kjellman, I felt as if she might be in the same shoes as me in terms of always having to explain her sport to people. She had to teach me the ins and outs of lacrosse and was really genuine and sweet.

Kjellman is the first lacrosse player (male or female) to be the Tewarraton Trophy winner in back-to back-seasons. Sound intimidating right? Butshe is really just your total girl next door who is willing to kick back, relax and chat.

After she was done with her photo shoot, (which reminded me a little of my photo shoot) Kristen gave me the 411 on lacrosse, including how she mentally and physically prepares before each match and how preparation allowed her to win a gold medal in the Czech Republic.

Having recently moved from Chicago to New York Kjellman gave me some fashion and music suggestions, which I’m very grateful for! It was a great experience to talk with a stellar athlete who I could relate to on so many levels; especially playing a sport that is not very common.

It goes to show, there is so much talent out there and there are athletes who are making a difference in their own niche! You can to!

-Gevrina

Hope Solo says BOOM!

Hey Nike World! If you were wondering where this fantastic job has taken me, well let’s just say I flew across the country and made friends! That sounds odd I know, but hear me out. I started the weekend by flying to Philly, city of cheese steak sandwiches and the “Rocky” steps.

Sunday came and I was pumped, I mean who wouldn’t be pumped to be on a Nike commercial TV set with the one and only soccer Rock Star Hope Solo?

When I arrived I noticed the heat was unlike the sunny California weather I’m use to, but that didn’t matter because I was about to interview Hope Solo.

Boy was I wrong neglecting the weather because as I waited for Hope to finish her photo shoot, I got a bloody nose. A man came up to me and said, “You must be from California?” I was going to leave it out of my blog post, but I said to myself, “This is a once in a lifetime experience and I got a bloody nose before the interview? What is this?”. It was total comic relief; I felt great and just made the best of it.

Hope was great! Super charming and has a great presence on and off camera. We made our way onto the field and we both mocked each other for wearing the hottest clothes for that day. Apparently we didn’t get the weather memo.

Aside from the 200+ extras that were there, the cameras, the TV set, the heat, and Hope (of course), the coolest thing that I really enjoyed was when I spoke to Hope about how she bounces back from a mistake that she might make during a game. She answered that she simply tears a piece of grass from the ground and tosses it in front of her saying, “just let it go.”

I took this to heart and now any time something doesn’t go as expected, I simply say, “I’m just gonna let it go”. So Hope, thanks for that piece of advice!

-Gevrina