Training for a half marathon would have been impossible without my iPod. It made those training sessions fly by because I could sample new music every time I hit the pavement. But, for all my iPod gave me, I misused and abused it to the point where it no longer functioned.

How did I ruin it? Well, I hated running with awkward arm bands, and carrying it in my hand messed with my stride. I preferred hands-free and arms-free gadgets while jogging, and so I would…stick it in my bra. Obviously, I wasn’t that surprised when the device fizzled out after suffering too many sweat sessions. (Thankfully, after I completed the race.)

But then I found RhythmBRA. (more…)

Sometimes we Bostonistas wander a little further north of Boston than Cambridge. this past Labor Day weekend, we explored Vermont’s Northern Kingdom where, tucked up close to the Canadian border, is the fabled Craftsbury Outdoor Center.

This rustic retreat sits on a long, narrow lake, surrounded by verdant farmland, and is the perfect place to explore the rarefied world of sculling. Craftsbury offers an intensive program for experienced rowers or newbies, so we signed up for the weekend course, and mentally prepared to get our butts kicked by a corps of rowing zealots. (more…)

Bostonista seeks: Workout that can produce Jessica Alba pre-baby (or, hell, post-baby) abs with minimal sweat output. And: By the weekend. Thanks.

We’re not lazy. We’re just busy. We’ve logged plenty of hours of back-breaking, pre-dawn, gym-based masochism. But it’s just so easy, especially in the summer, to give our workout the brush off in favor of more compelling uses of our time. Like, say, bargain hunting. Or drinking our co-workers under the table.

But at long last our excuses have met their match. Jamaica Plain-based Boston Pilates has teamed up with diet.com and YouTube to launch the kind of workout series even we can’t argue with—that is, the quick kind. Note: This is, unfortunately, not the same thing as the painless kind. (more…)

You’ve always had a mean downward dog (and super cute yoga pants), but this summer there are even more options around town for getting in touch with your inner yogi.

On Wednesday afternoons throughout July, from noon to 1 p.m., perfect your pyramid pose at free outdoor classes in Copley Square. Weather permitting, all are welcome to slap down a mat in front of Trinity Church. Plus, participants can enter to win a year’s supply of SmartWater, a $100 Shaw’s gift card, and a $100 gift card to Back Bay Yoga Studio. (To sign up for this week’s class, drop a line to laura.smartwater@yahoo.com.) (more…)

An 8:30 a.m. Friday meeting is a tough pitch, even for a publicist to the stars. But we’re always game for trying a different workout, so we dragged ourselves to Equinox at an ungodly hour last week to check out what’s new. (Also, we understood smoothies would be involved.)

It was a rough morning—we arrived five minutes late, profusely apologized, and then realized that we were the first ones there. No one else showed up for another half an hour, so we eventually received what amounted to personal training.

The first class on the agenda was supposed to be Climb-Max, new to the Boston Equinox this month. However, the class was at 9. And we were still waiting for other people to arrive. So we kind of skipped it. But we’re not totally lazy: We picked up the phone to ask our Equinox-going New York friend, who has been doing Climb-Max there for a few months, what it’s like.

(more…)

Forget about the actual health benefits of aerobics, roller blading, and pilates. Workout fashion trends are rarely about the actual workout. What really matters are the fashions that flourish in sync with each exercise fad (e.g. leggings and yoga, unitards and aerobics, leg warmers and Jane Fonda).

While it’s entirely possible that the unitard phase was owed to the freedom of movement those (often shiny, often awful) garments offered its wearers, but we have a hunch they took off thanks to Xanadu’s thighs. But we need not embarrass ourselves and those sharing our sweat space by donning the latest in lycra or spandex in the hopes of appearing both chic and sporty. Legendary Finnish running brand, Karhu (it means “bear” in Finnish), has both function and fashion covered in their latest line of running shoes and accessories. (more…)

One wrong hand signal-less turn after another led me far from home this weekend (a quick apology to all drivers in Cambridge, Belmont, Arlington, and, quite possibly, Lexington: I didn’t intend to tackle the main roads for my first biking excursion since age 12, but I’m new to the neighborhoods).

A huge thumbs up to my new wheels, however: the well-named Big Easy by K2, now marked down at REI. I’m pretty sure its geeky-wide tires are the kind my fellow Bostonista warned against in her biking creed a few weeks ago, but back in seventh grade, I was known to take corners at a near-dead stop then wonder why I fell over like a sheet of poster board in the wind. No more. (more…)

As you may recall, Bostonista suffered through Healthworks’ bootcamp a couple of months ago. It was great, but—alas—met only twice a week. Meanwhile, we hit the managing editor’s candy bowl approximately twice an hour.

With summer fast approaching, we decided to up the ante by enrolling in the four-day-a-week Ultimate Bootcamp. The program is nothing new—if you walk to work through the Common, you’ve no doubt been regularly annoyed by big groups of bootcampers doing suicides and high-knee kicks in the middle of the sidewalk—and, in fact, we’re not the first Bostonista to try it out. But, we were curious to see how it compared to our all-girl gym class.

The verdict? Healthworks is definitely harder…but Ultimate Bootcamp is way more fun. (more…)