Fitness Fashion – Page 2

Black Friday Fitness Gift Ideas – 2014 Holiday Gift Guide

November 10, 2014 4 Comments

Happy Monday gang! The holidays are just around the corner – can you believe it? That means it’s time for my annual Holiday Gift Guide blog post! I’m super excited about the products that made my list this year. If you need even more gift ideas, check out last year’s Holiday Gift Picks list and my 2012 list. I hope you love everything as much as I do – happy shopping!

Living One Love Headbands ($16) – I discovered these headbands at IDEA World fitness convention in August. I met the owner of the company who personally designs them and she was super sweet. I like these headbands because they are wide (to cover my giant forehead) and come in TONS of different prints and colors. I wear one to every single class I teach – highly recommend
1-yr Membership to Dallas Grit Fitness & Dallas Fit Body Boot Camp ($TBD) – In the spirit of self-promotion, I must include a shameless plug for my new fitness studio opening January 2015! Over the past 3 years, I’ve visited over 100 different fitness studios and reviewed so many classes. Now, I’m able to offer all of my fav fitness formats and at a single studio – so excited. We are having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday pre-sale for 1 year memberships. Stay tuned for details! (dallasgritfitness.com)
Lorna Jane Inspirational Sports Bra ($63) – Lorna Jane is another brand that I’ve become a fan of just recently. Now that I’m 30 and more confident about my body, I rock sports bras and leggings to teach my classes (no shame showing midriff). Lorna Jane is my go to for sports bras that provide enough overage, support and style to be worn solo as a top.
Nike Free Train Sneakers ($150) – Nike Free sneakers have made my list 3 years in a row – I’m officially an addict. The reason is that these provide the best support for group fitness classes. Notice I’m not recommending the Nike Free ‘Run’ sneakers, but rather the training version. They come in so many super bright colors and styles – perfection.
You are a Badass ($10) – We read this book in my book club last Fall. It changed my life. Ladies, if you are trying to make it to the next level in your career, relationship or simply boost your self-confidence, this book will provide the encouragement you need all while making you laugh out loud. It’s a wonderful affordable gift for your girlfriends.
Lululemon Vinyasa Scarf ($51) – This scarf is everything. It compliments any outfit and can be worn a variety of ways. I wore my black vinyasa scarf in a recent Fitness Fashion Friday post, and you seemed to love it as much as I do. I’ve been searching for the berry/heathered bordeaux (red) color and can’t find it anywhere 🙁 Let me know if you find it. And if you do, buy it!
Vitamix ($300-$500) – I’ve been wanting a Vitamix for the longest. I became a fan back when I was doing the Dr. Oz cleanse which required preparing 3 smoothies every day. I tried to depend on my basic blender, but it took too much time and my smoothies weren’t as smooth as I liked. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and buy a Vitamix.
Peleton Bike ($1,995) – I’ve always been into cycling, but now that I teach BEYOND Pedaling, I’m really into it. I just heard about this start-up company in NYC, Peleton, who created this narley home bike that has a live screen to stream classes from your favorite instructors. How cool is that? It’s not cheap, so I’ll have to depend on Santa to get this one to me.
Sociologie Wine Pack ($20-40) – First off, how cute is this wine bottle? The bottle alone is enough to make me want a Sociologie Wine Pack. Better yet, it comes in 3 refreshing Sangria flavors. I just tried Socioliogie wine last year and immediately became a fan. You can buy Sociology at most liquor or wine stores in Texas. Sorry if you’re out-of-state, Socilologie should be expanding your way soon!
Onzie Two Tone Leggings ($65) – I just got these leggings as sample from the Onzie Winter collection – I’m obsessed. I’ll show them off on an upcoming Fitness Fashion Friday. Meanwhile, go get you some. They are affordable, fit well and look amazing!

What’s on your 2014 holidays wish list?

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #10: Elegant Athleta Energy

November 7, 2014 4 Comments

Image: Kelly Green Infinity Scarf (Nordstrom), Black cross back tank (Athleta), Black leggings (TJ Maxx)

Happy Fitness Fashion Friday. Coming to you today in a simple black ensemble. I added my kelly green scarf and fuchsia Nars lipstick for little pops of color. I like this outfit so much I don’t wanna get sweaty in it, hehe. Maybe I’ll wear it to dinner instead of to the gym. What do you think?

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #9: Athleta & Onzie Combo – Boom Boom Pow!

October 31, 2014 No Comments

Image: Sheer black workout tank (Athleta), Geoographic capris (Onzie), Sports bra (Nike), Grey & purple with patent leather trim sneakers (Nike Free)

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoyed my Spooky Shoulder Sculpting workout. As usual, I’m excited to present my activewear outfit of the week on Fitness Fashion Friday! While I’m not rocking my black and orange today, I am sporting vibrant workout capris from Onzie along with a sheer black tank from Athleta. I wore this outfit to my teach my spin class this morning and now I’m rushing to the airport. This weekend is my best friend, Leslie’s, wedding. I have to give a speech at the reception, which I’m a little nervous about. If you have any advice for giving a good maid of honor speech please share! The wedding is in Nashville, TN and I’m so excited! I’ve never been to Nashville, so I’m really looking forward to my trip.

Enjoy your Halloween weekend and I’ll catch up with you on Monday! Lots of luv, Brit

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #8: Lululemon Vinyasa Scarf & Baby Blues

October 24, 2014 8 Comments

Happy Fitness Fashion Friday! Coming to you today in a simple, yet fun ensemble from Lorna Jane and Lululemon. First off, I’m obsessed with this Lululemon Vinyasa scarf. I wear it at least 2-3 time per week. I can even unbutton it and wear it as a vest. In LOVE!

I paired the scarf with the super comfy Lorna Jane racer back tank. It’s strategically “worn out” which makes it super soft. I really like the long racer back opening that that shows off my arms and shoulders 😉 It comes in a ton of colors – think I’m gonna get some more soon! My leggings are oldies but goodies from TJ Maxx – I got them for $15. YES!

Last but not least, it wouldn’t be a legit Fitness Fashion Friday without showin’ off my backside – HEY! The long fit on the this racer back tank covers my bum and but is still fitted to maintain a sexy look. What do you think?

Happy Friday and I’ll catch up with ya next Monday!

Fitness Fashion

Fall Activewear Style Haul: My Favorite Workout Clothes from Target®

October 20, 2014 2 Comments

Fall is fully underway – yay! I’ve filled my house with pumpkin scented candles and brought my scarves and boots to the front of my closet. One of my favorite things to do this season is revamp my workout wardrobe! Of course I made a stop at Target® to check out the Fall C9 Activewear collection (never lets me down). I can’t beat the prices and I’m always impressed with the trendy styles and bright colors.

Excited to see lots of Fall leggings w/ cool patterns and darker colors on the tanks and running shorts.

During my visit to “Tar-jay” I immediately fell in love with the printed leggings (above on the left). Typically I have to search shops online for leggings with cool funky designs and I end up paying close to $100 for them. I was thrilled to find several prints of leggings all under $35. I threw a few pairs in my shopping cart and continued on my quest…

It’s critical that I keep a giant stash of sports bras because I teach 7 fitness classes per week – I can never have too many. Lately I’ve been putting together some cool looks with bright neon sports bras under sheer tanks, so I picked up a few of the C9 Racer bras to try on along with my leggings.

Before I headed to the fitting room, I also checked out the cute matching tank and tights sets. You guys know I love to match. I also saw the layered tank and running shorts combo that I bought earlier this Summer, now offered in darker colors. I wanted to try on some of the C9 long sleeve, dry-fit running shirts as well, but I ran out of time. I love these long-sleeve tops and actually put them on my holiday gift picks list 2 years ago. They are still a personal favorite.

Filling up my shopping cart with plenty of C9 goodies to try on!

Once I got into the fitting room and tried on my pieces, I immediately fell in love with the leggings. I’m super picky about how my leggings fit. They need to be snug enough to suck everything in but not so tight that I have a love handle rolling out of the top. These passed the test. I like C9 printed leggings so much that I bought 2 pairs (blue & gray – seen below). Naturally I took some selfies because I was happy with the way I looked. Hey girl hey!

I also tried on several sports bras to go with the leggings. C9 has many types of sports bras that provide different levels of support based on bust size and type of activity. Regardless, most of the C9 sports bras are reversible, which I love. The one I decided to get is solid coral on one side and has a coral/purple pattern on the other side. I paired it with the blue patterned leggings for the perfect color combo. I prefer bright colors over darker ones – I think they look better on my chocolate skin (wink wink).

I’ve decided that the sports bra + leggings combo is my signature style this Fall. I usually add a big infinity scarf or an oversized tank top for a layered look. I especially love to rock this look when I’m teaching indoor cycling. It keeps me cool in the sweaty cycling studio.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchases and excited to “Fall into Fitness!”

What’s your favorite fall activewear? Do you have a signature “gym style”?

My C9 selfies in the fitting room – loving my look!

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Target® C9 through their partnership with POPSUGAR Select. While I was compensated to write a post about Target® C9, all opinions are my own.

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #7: Minnie Mouse

October 17, 2014 3 Comments

Image: Red Tank and Matching Headband (Lululemon); Black shorts with white polka dots (Lorna Jane)

Happy Fitness Fashion Friday! I think the title of the post pretty much sums up my look. Any Minnie Mouse fans in the house? I wanted to rock these polka dotted shorts before it gets too cold. I’ve worn them with several solid color tanks and really dig the look. I was hesitant about buying them initially because I thought they looked a little immature, but I’m glad I went ahead and made the purchase. There’s nothing wrong with unleashing my inner child. Have a wonderful weekend – I’ll catch up with you on Monday!

Love the cross back of this Lululemon tank. I have it in yellow too. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Fitness Fashion, Just for Fun, Lifestyle

Fitness Fashion Friday #6: My Lorna Jane Obsession Continues + Product Giveaway!

October 10, 2014 25 Comments

Yo yo my friends. Yay for the weekend. You know what time it is – Fitness Fashion Friday! In case you can’t tell, I’ve been really into Lorna Jane lately. I just discovered the Australian activewear brand this Summer when I was in California for IDEA World Blogfest. I won a $500 Lorna Jane gift card while I was there and I’ve been hooked ever since. This brand has the quality and luxurious feel of Lululemon and the vibrant, inspirational spunk of Nike – perfect balance. I’ve been spending way too much time at the new Lorna Jane store in Dallas, so I figured I’d make a blog post out of my latest shopping experience and styling session….

The friendly stylists and vibrant store decor making shopping at Lorna Jane a wonderful experience!

So I stopped by Lorna Jane after work on a Friday afternoon and was instantly greeted by Angelica’s bright shining face. Angelica is part of the the management team at Lorna Jane Dallas North Park and she is wonderful! P.S. I love the saying on her shirt (above) – Why Not? That’s very gritty – I like 🙂

So much cute to stuff to try on! Decisions decisions…

Angelica helped me pick out 5-6 complete outfits to try on. I love that many of the styles are coordinated so you can mix and match pieces without being too “matchy matchy” (although I have a guilty pleasure of overly matching my clothes). I also like the inspirational quotes and sayings that are printed on the Lorna Jane tops and even on the bottoms. As a fitness instructor, it helps me stand out and energize my group when I have big bold words like “Run Girl Run” on my clothes. Also the Lorna Jane basic black tights are amazing! They fit super snug and are made of a really thick material that sucks everything in (in a good way). In fact, my fellow fitness blogger, Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers, included the Lorna Jane pants on her list of favorite workout capris/tights. There’s nothing like a killer pair of tights to make me feel super sexy and fit!

How can you not feel energetic when you have “energetic” written in silver sparkles down your leg?

I tried on so many cute outfits in variety of colors and styles including this cute cut-out lime green tank top (above). I ended up buying the black cut-out tank instead, but it was a hard decision.

During my styling session I was impressed to learn that Lorna Jane leads cool community building and philanthropic initiatives like “swap shop.” Swap Shop allows you to bring old clothes back in the store and donate them to the salvation army. In exchange, you get a store credit. How cool is that? They also host “Active Living Day” where they sponsor free, high quality workouts all over the nation. Lorna Jane hosted free, on-site spin classes from Beyond Pedaling in Dallas this Fall.

Vests have officially made a come back #trust

When it was time to decide on my purchases my stylists, Angela and Angelica, gave me their honest opinions on what looked best. I appreciated having them around because they got me out of my rut of “black capris and bright tank top.” For instance, I bought these cute polka dotted booty shorts (see below). I ended up spending my entire $500 gift card and I’m so happy with everything that I bought. Obviously I’m an activewear junkie and I love almost all activewear brands, but I’ve officially become a HUGE fan of Lorna Jane!

Posing with my Lorna Jane stylists, Angela & Angelica (AKA the A Team)

And now that we’ve come to the end of today’s post, what better way to kick start the weekend than with a giveaway?! Today I’m giving away this adorable Lorna Jane inspirational note pad + blue leopard print headband. To participate, just post a comment sharing how you “work hard and play hard” in your everyday life. I’ll pick a winner next Wednesday, October 15th! ENJOY 🙂

Post a comment to win this adorable Lorna Jane headband and inspirational notebook!

Work hard, play hard! xoxo, Brit

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #5: Inspirational Activewear

October 3, 2014 3 Comments

Image: Inspirational Leggings and Sports Bra from Lorna Jane (disregard my ugly corn on my pinky toe – I ain’t flawless)

TGIF! You know what that means, it’s time for Fitness Fashion Friday (FFF). This is a milestone FFF edition – post #5. I’m a sucker for inspirational quotes, so of course I love activewear that’s covered in motivational mantras. “Name it and claim it!” “Speak it into existence!” – these are just a couple of my mom’s old country sayings. If I could put them all on tank tops and sports bras I would. In the meantime, I’ve been rocking’ this inspirational Lorna Jane activewear. I wore the pink sports bra to teach my cycling class yesterday and I feel like it energized the pack – my class was jamming’! What do you think?

Before you head out for the weekend, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a black & pink GRIT tank top. Just post a comment sharing what “GRIT” means to you. I can’t wait to read your responses. Also, if you looking for a way to kill time this Friday, you can peruse through the first 4 Fitness Fashion Friday posts:

Hope you have a wonderful weekend full of goodness and GRIT!

Lots of luv, Brit

Fitness Fashion, Legs

Lucy Activewear: Product Review + Leg Workout

October 1, 2014 7 Comments

Image: Purple Feel the Beat Tank (Lucy, $59); Grey Dance Workout Capri (Lucy, $89)

Yo yo – happy humpday & happy October! You guys gave such great feedback on the Labor Day Leg Workout + Lucy Activewear Giveaway that I decided to put together another leg workout and review my new gear from Lucy!

First off, I’m obsessed with this Feel the Beat Tank. I love the look of strappy workout tanks but because I’m on the “bustier” side I always have to wear a sports bra under them during workouts – totally takes away the cuteness. However, this Lucy tank is super supportive and has just the right amount of padding so that I don’t nip out. I taught my PiYo class in this tank last Friday and felt comfortable, secure and sexy during the entire class. You can see a pic of me and my class on Instagram.

Next I got the Dance Workout Capris. These are my first pair of workout pants that aren’t leggings, fitted capris or booty shorts. Long story short, I love them! I’m planning to wear them again to Zumba this Sunday with a little crop top or sports bra that shows my belly. It’s crazy how the older I get the less body conscious I am. I would have NEVER shown my midriff when I was 23. Funny how self-confidence and security grow over time, especially when we learn to really love ourselves… Anyway, I digress. The dance workout capris are great because they fit low around my hips and have a nice wide waistband so there’s no “love-handle” action. While they are lose-fitting they aren’t baggy, which keeps a feminine look. Most importantly, they are made of an interesting, moisture wicking fabric that can handle my sweat as I shake around on the dance floor. Are you a fan of dance pants?

Love the “XY” design on the back of the Feel the Beat Tank (lucy)!

Last but not least, here’s your leg workout! I wanted to design something for the dancers out there, so this is my “Long Lean Legs Workout.” The purpose of each exercise is to build muscle strength through isometric movements (i.e. holding poses and/or making small tiny movements). If you’ve ever taken a barre class, you should know about the “little squeeze” or “tiny pulse.” This a quick and simple routine that you can to complete in 10-15 minutes. It’s a great follow up to a run or other cardio workout. I hope you enjoy the workout and treat yourself to some Lucy activewear!

Lots of luv, Brit

Fitness Fashion

Fitness Fashion Friday #4: Cozy in Coral

September 26, 2014 No Comments

Image: Willow Longsleeve Mesh Knit Sweater (Lorna Jane), Tilly Kick Shorts (Lorna Jane) , Neon Mesh Knit Sweater (Nordstrom), Smile (Grit by Brit)

Happy Friday friends! I’m gonna keep this one short and sweet. This has been an amazing yet emotionally exhausting week for me – lots of life changes on my end. I’ll fill you in later. But before I head out for the weekend, I wanted to share this outfit from Lorna Jane that really made me smile! I’m so excited that it’s Fall – prepare to see me in lots of scarves. Have a wonderful weekend! Best, Brit

Neon Sports Bra (Target C9) – I love that the sweater is just slightly see-thru and the shorts “kick out” right under my booty cheeks 🙂