Sunday in NYC: Body Space Fitness + Westville

Sunday morning started off very similar to Saturday-with an intense interval style workout!

Kat and I went to Body Space Fitness for a “Warrior workout”. We weren’t sure exactly what to expect, but went in with really high expectations, thanks to its incredible reviews. There were supposed to be seven participants in the class, but we ended up only being a group of four! Talk about a great instructor to student ratio.

We completed 3 rounds of 3 mini circuits and one finisher at the end. Each mini circuit was composed of 3 exercises with no rest in between, which kept my heart rate high and my mind engaged.

There were a few things that were very special that made the “Warrior workout” live up to its incredible reviews:

1. Our instructor killed it. Our trainer, Kelvin (who’s also the owner) was upbeat, positive, and knew when to challenge us more. I really appreciated this, because it forced me to not slack off, and motivated me to actually want the harder variations.
2. We did novel, interesting, and strange exercises. This was not your typical pushup/situp/jumping jacks/squats type of workout. We used treadmills for sprints, ladders for speed work, “booties” for core work, and ropes for arm strengthening.
3. Each exercise was only 30 seconds. Just long enough you have to sustain something for longer than you want to, but not too long that you’ll dip into the “aerobic” zone.
4. The class size was small. We were able to get enough individual attention so it felt almost like a personal training session, but we had each other for competition.

If you know of somewhere where I can find a similar type of workout in Philadelphia, please comment below! Functional/circuit training is so much better in groups, and I could use a change from my usual solo lifting.

Lunch

After the Warrior workout, I grabbed a Quest bar and an Iced Americano and met up with Hadley for a little at her place.

After showering and chilling for a bit, I headed out to grab brunch with Rachel at Westville!

When I told Hadley that Rachel and I were going to eat at Westville, she literally jumped out of her chair, and exclaimed: “WESTVILLE!?! THAT PLACE IS AMAZING!!!” She then proceeded to tell me about their unique “Sides” section of their menu, where you can choose 4 sides for $15! If I was a little less hungry, I might have opted for that, since they had about 20 farm-fresh vegetable sides that sounded divine.

Rachel ordered a mimosa to start, and our waiter surprised us with a complimentary Mint Honey Lemonade!

I’m not usually a huge fan of mint, but this drink was the definition of refreshing. It had the texture of a slushie, thanks to the ice, and was perfectly tart yet sweet, due to the mixture of lime and honey. Sadly, I don’t have a blender with me in Philly, but as soon as I have access to one, I’m recreating this baby!

I was very hungry by this point, and wanted something nice and filling. I ended up selecting the Westville Breakfast, which consisted of two poached eggs, smoked salmon and roasted red pepper aioli on whole wheat bread.

The poached eggs were the highlight of the meal, because the runny yolk became another sauce for dipping! I must learn how to poach eggs in the near future.

It was an absolute perfect weekend in the big apple, and I really loved being able to see the city as more of a local rather than a tourist. Plus, I am so happy I got to see a ton of people, and got to try new workouts to boot!

Hope your weekend was a success, and have a great start to the week!