Fitness Fav on Friday (Gear)

Happy July 4th, everyone! :]

Tomorrow is my d-day the day I’ve spent the last almost-1.5 months studying for! If we want to get all technical, I’ve been studying for this exam since I started med school, because it pretty much encompasses everything I learned over the past two years (and much, much more ._.). I’m sincerely hoping that it goes well, and I would very much appreciate all the positive thoughts/energy/prayers anyone would like to send my way! If there were a way to cash in karma, I’d be all in for tomorrow. It’s kinda a big deal. ._. All my limbs crossed! Then I get to go home for about 5 days to remind my family/friends that I still exist, and have not in fact disappeared off the face of the planet!

On an entirely different note, July launches off a new Friday linkup over at Jen’s and this week’s topic is on our favorite fitness gear!

I whipped up a super-awesome collage on MS paint! (My specialty.)

• Apparel
  By the time I’m out of medical school, I’ll be in roughly a quarter of a million dollars worth of debt (this includes my grad school loans too). Said debt is assuming that I continue to keep my annual living expenses under $10k/year, because we are #2 (there’s no bitterness about the discrepancy between in-state and out-of-state; NONE AT ALL). Suffice to say, I love finding great deals and my workout clothes are primarily composed of free shirts that I get from volunteering, and on sale from Old Navy’s “Active” line (aka the clothes I would live in at all times if it were socially acceptable to do so). My favorite tops are their $3-5 rib-knit tanks, and my favorite bottoms are their slim boot-cut yoga pants.My favorite jacket is from Costco. :D It’s light but warm, super comfortable, flattering, has thumbholes (twas the first jacket I ever owned with thumbholes! :O ), and I am super-regretting not buying one in each of the colors they had to offer. (As far as I know, Costco doesn’t offer them anymore. I may try to snag em’ off ebay at some point.)
  

  I don’t take very many pictures of things other than food, but here’s me in said jacket! (I’m the one on the left.)

  I’ve already talked about my favorite shoes in a previous post, so in an effort to not beat a dead horse, click the link if you want to hear more about those! :]

• LiquidGrip & iTac2 (for powerlifting/pole dancing)
  I discovered the existence of the awesomeness that is LiquidGrip at my first national powerlifting competition last year. One of the things I love most about these competitions (yep, all two that I’ve been to >_> ) is that everyone is so encouraging and willing to help. One of the ladies there found out that I was there all alone–no coach, no friends…(etc.), so she offered to take pictures/videos for me so I could see how I was doing/could improve. She also gave me some LiquidGrip to try out before I did my deadlifts. Twas a glorious find. I don’t use anything (e.g. straps, gloves, belt) with any of my regular lifting, but this helped a whole lot. It’s reminiscent of the chalk I used to use back in high school gymnastics, except it’s not messy, and I pretty much never need to re-chalk. A little goes a long way, but since it’s me we’re talking about here, I only really use this for competitions or attempting-to-break-PR’s-days. ._. I suspect this would be equally as helpful for grip in pole, but I’ve mainly been using iTac2, so…I’ll report back when I’ve moved into my new apartment and my pole is no longer hiding in the basement!
  On the subject of iTac2, I use this exclusively on my thighs and/or knees when I need extra grip for tricks/holds. (It’s a little too grippy/powerful for my hands, so I’d pretty much never be able to do any spins without getting stuck and looking even less graceful than usual.) This is especially helpful because I can’t usually get to a studio anymore (two times out of the year :[ ). I love the Platinum Stage poles at Bel’s studio, but the portable one I own is, quite unfortunately, super slippery. :[ I’m not sure if it’s an issue with the weather or the humidity, but it’s never been this difficult to stay on, and as such, this makes being able to practice anything infinitely more difficult. Fortunately, iTac2 does usually help to remedy this!

• Polar FT4 HR Monitor
  This is for back when I actually used to run (3.5+ years ago?), but this heart rate monitor (and running with friends) is largely how I motivated myself to train for my first/only race/run. My goal at the time was to finish the half-marathon without dying, so in that regard, I did rather swimmingly! The Polar FT4 HR monitor is very, very simple to use. I mulled over a ton of different ones and read a good number of reviews and comparisons before I finally decided on this one. I really liked having something to keep track of how hard I was working, so to speak. I’ve only ever used it for running, because taking it to pole class didn’t work out so well. (I was scared I’d break the monitor during a caterpillar mishap [or some other such accident].) I haven’t used in the past couple years because I stopped running, the battery in the watch finally gave out, and I’ve been busy with higher education and repeatedly moving across the country (sigh). Once I unearth all the pieces necessary and fix it up, maybe it’ll get me to start running once more? At the very least, I’d like to start doing intervals again!

That’s all I’ve got! :]

What would be on your list for favorite fitness gear?

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Come join in on Fitness Fav Fridays! :]

(Also, while I’m still on the subject of fitness, there’s a @MoveHappy challenge going on for the month of July with different prizes each week! :] More information can be found below!

Spill It, Sundays

I’m aware that it’s not actually Sunday yet, but I have another post reserved for tomorrow and this doesn’t actually have to be done on Sunday, soooo…

I’m joining in on Spill It, Sundays, which is a weekly linkup to get to know more about different food/fitness/healthy lifestyle bloggers outside of those aforementioned parameters. Arman is a fellow Recipe ReDuxer, and you can find out more about Spill It, Sundays over here!

98% of the pictures on my phone are reserved for pictures of food (that I’ve made, others have made, etc…basically food that I’m eating), so I’m horrible with this whole selfie thing. I’m going to leave you instead with an adorable Toothless bank I found at Walmart. I want a pet dragon. I’m also including a disclaimer that most of the posts I write are written and scheduled into the future, so most of this was actually written halfway through the week. :x

The last….person you spoke to?

• I pretty much live in my study room right now (see here for the fully mapped out picture of said study room), so I really only interact with my housemate (I really only see her on weekends because she’s always working and I’m always studying) and my friend Pixie, who studies in the room across the hall from me. We communicate by way of dry-erase markers on our respective windows, so as not to disturb each other’s study-progress.

I took a break over the weekend to study at home so I could tend to the billions of things I was cooking up to feed myself throughout the week, and this is what happened. :O

Mike has returned to the catacombs so he drew a pair of boobs on my window (…). When he angled himself in the right way, it’d look like they were on him. Pixie came by the morning after and transmuted them into amoeba-racers. I promise that we haven’t completely lost our minds, although we are getting close to that point.

The last…sweet food you ate?

• Sasha bought this super fancy Congo Vanilla Nib 65% dark chocolate for Pixie, who gave most of it to me because she didn’t want to eat all of it. :O

The last…savoury food you ate?

• I made a tuna salad to put on my bagel this morning. Recipe will follow in a couple weeks…(I schedule everything into the future, haha.)

The last…blog you visited?

• Mommy’s Getting Strong. She’s on my GGSA team and had a recipe for grilled chicken and mango avocado salsa that looks absolutely amazing. <3

The last…blog you commented on?

• Suzlyfe! She’s hilarious and I love her posts (and food pictures <3)!

The last…recipe you tried out?

• I’m half-assuming that this means trying out a recipe that someone else made…so that would be Sweet & Spicy Dijon-Encrusted Salmon! (Made by another fellow Recipe ReDuxer!) It’s been a while! I’ve been branching out and coming up with my own stuff from scratch lately (:O!!!)!

The last…item you pinned on Pinterest?

• Honey Ginger Glazed Chicken with Green Tea Jasmine Rice! :O It looks amazing.

The last…TV show you watched?

• I am hopelessly behind on all the TV shows in the world, except perhaps Game of Thrones, because my friends and I make it a point to clear out an hour on Sunday evenings to gather around for dinner/the show before we get back to our respective study hovels. It’s super srs bsns in that we don’t allow any conversation to take place while it’s playing, hahaha. I haven’t seen the season finale yet since one friend couldn’t be there last weekend, so we are waiting on him to watch it together! (Our “Leave No (Wo)Man behind policy.)

The last…trip you took?

• I went home in early May for Mother’s Day and to reassure my family/friends that I was in fact still alive. It was awesome to be back, but in retrospect, I really should’ve just stayed here to study. :[

The last…time you spent money and on what?

Groceries! That’s about the only thing I ever spend money on anymore. :O It’s also the only thing (other than things required for school) that I allow myself to splurge on, because student loans suck. This was my grocery haul from last night!

• 1 Simple Truth container of organic mint
• 1 Simple Truth Organic 50/50 blend of spring mix/baby spinach
• 1 10 oz. tub Fresh Selections Baby Spring Mix
• 1 Fresh Selections Southwest Chopped Salad kit
• 3 10-oz. containers fresh blueberries
• 1 Homestead Creamery orange milk
• 1 Bear Naked Cranberry Almond bar
• 5 Yoplait Greek yogurts (Black Cherry, Tropical, Peach, Strawberry, Mixed Berry)
• 3 Kroger Greek yogurt (Peach, Pomegranate, Mixed Berry)

All for $21! :D

discounts

F: I got 7 lbs of bananas the other day for about $2. :D!
S: That is awesome.
F: Oh! There’s also gluten-free teriyaki sauce on sale! It’s next to the discounted fruit section in that huge bin?
P: Discounted fruit section?
F: Yeah, in the back-left corner of Kroger’s?
S: Thanks! I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’m going there on the way home today.
P: Is this fruit moldy and disgusting?
F: No! It’s just more ripe than the others.
S: Have you never been to the discounted fruit section?
P: No, I have not! It sounds scary.
S: What are you, rich?

polar vortex

Sucks to be in it, but very pretty to look at? :]

I’m more than a little proud of the fact that I managed to cut my January electricity bill to $14.31. Yes, that does indeed include the time spent in the polar vortex. (Last year’s January bill was $57. I’m doing well!)

kroger

I’m really upset that I didn’t realize until yesterday that I could have been earning 50 fuel points every time I filled out one of these feedback surveys. ;_; It is a-okay though! Better late than never, right?

I love shopping at Kroger for a crap ton of reasons (this may be biased because my only other option is Walmart).

1) They stalk what I buy, so I get personalized coupons in the mail for things that I would actually spend money on.
2) I spend about $100/month (food is the only thing I actually splurge on), so I get 10 cents off per gallon. :O! I fill up my tank about once a month, so this is perfect.
3) Manager’s specials!!! I walk the perimeter of the store whenever I go, buy the things I need and loot the sales along the way.
4) Shopping on the last day of a three-day weekend/holiday tends to be when everything in the world goes on sale. EVERYTHING.
5) Grocery shopping is the type of shopping I enjoy the most. :D Food everywhere!!!

My latest haul of sorts includes all of the following:

• 9 Carbmaster yogurts in assorted flavors (tis one of my favorite snacks ever :D 60 calories each with 8 g of protein :)!
• 3 boxes of Kashi cereal (2 berry fruitful, 1 honey sunshine squares)
• 1 bag of Kashi hummus crisps
• 1 bag of Bear Naked banana nut granola
• 1 box of some other kind of awesome-looking healthy-lookin’ cereal (I compared nutrition facts for a while, haha)
• 6 bags of gourmet veggie chips
• 1 giant tub of baby spring mix
• 4 containers of Blue Diamond almond coconut / vanilla almond coconut milk
• 1 container of Silk vanilla soy milk
• 3 Silk dark chocolate almond milks
• 1 container of vanilla oat milk
• 1 box of Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey granola bars
• 1 bottle of Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, 1 bottle of Samy moisture plus+ hydrating shampoo
• 5 containers of deli meat (roast beef, smoked turkey, rotisserie-seasoned turkey breast)
• 2 bags of plain popcorn (only ingredients = popcorn, sunflower oil + a little salt)
• 1 bag of ginormous ginger gold apples
• 1 bag of yellow nectarines
• 1 bunch of bananas

For $54. I am set on groceries for a very, very, very long while. This was me exercising a whole lot of self control. :/

I’m probably gonna have to wait a while before I get to making homemade granola too. :x