cropped sweatshirt c/o // leggings c/o // active sneakers c/o // sunglasses

With March being Women’s History Month and the 8th being International Women’s Day, I wanted to share how I will be celebrating. As women we need to support and lift each other up. As a blogger I am constantly surrounded by incredibly smart, creative, driven women and I am only happy for their successes. I think it’s wonderful that women are really driving the force for equality in the workplace, as well as creating businesses of their own. There are a ton of ways to celebrate International Women’s Day: send flowers to the women in your life that inspire you, buy from women owned businesses, celebrate women in film and books, get together with your girlfriends, support local women’s movements, do something courageous and self loving. It does not matter what you do, it’s time to celebrate being a woman. As part of adidas She Breaks Barrier’s campaign, I am celebrating International Women’s Day by working out at women owned studios in the city.

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The most important relationship you will ever have it the one you have with yourself. You have to start treating yourself like you are your own best friend. This is the body god gave you, this is the life god gave you, it’s all that you have in the world that is consistent. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the comparison game or the wishful thinking of what could be or what you do not currently have. But don’t let it affect how you feel about yourself and your body. I am guilty of all of the above, as we all are. Showing self love is an everyday practice one must do. Even if it is for only 5 minutes, you owe it to yourself to express love to your mind and body. Here are 10 ways to practice self love.

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leggings

Although we are a few weeks into the new year it does not mean we missed out on starting goals, especially fitness oriented ones. It’s never too late to start something, a new lifestyle. Over the years my fitness goals have ranged anywhere from losing weight, running a 5K, finding a workout that I love, and trying new studios/workouts. Now I view working out as something fun to do, not as an agenda to reach some goal. It’s a lifestyle for me. Just like eating healthy and taking care of my mind and body is a lifestyle. Fitness is a lifestyle. Once you find something you enjoy, it becomes less about losing weight and more about staying active and healthy. Sure I think in the back of my mind, and if I am being honest, I have little goals while exercising; don’t die, lift heavier, run faster, don’t stop, do my best, etc. And as I sat down to write this post, I started to really dissect my fitness goals. I have figured that my goals are broken down into three categories; love my body, take care of my body, get back into HIIT workouts.

 My body is not perfect. My weight can fluctuate 10lbs up and down easily. I go through periods where I weigh more and my pants are too tight, and times where I look underweight and my clothes are too big. I have always had deep rooted issues with my body and my weight. It is something that I have been working on for years– accepting my body for what it is. As I get older I am starting to love my body more, but there is still some switching of the mindset that I have to do. I grew up dancing looking in the mirror all day, critiquing my body and movements. It’s hard to pull away from that mentality that has been embedded in me for my entire life. I started my fitness journey years ago to keep my weight down. It is still a goal of mine today, to maintain or lose weight. With that being said I am trying to accept my body for when I do gain a little weight. If I am working out and I start to criticize what I see in the mirror, I try to change my mindset into look what I can do. Look how amazing my body is that I can do this. It’s appreciating what my body can do instead of what it looks like. There will be a time in my life when I can no longer kick my leg up high or lift 20lbs or sprint at 9mph. So I need to appreciate what I can do now when I can do it. Losing and/or maintaining weight will always be a part of my fitness goals. I would be lying if I said I don’t have days where I see a picture of myself that is unflattering and want to cry, or I feel/ know I have gained weight and I am down on myself. Losing weight will sometimes be the main goal of mine, and other times it will be on the back burner. My weight will be an everyday challenge for me but as long as I love and appreciate my body, or at least try to, it’s a goal I will always reach.

Taking care of my body is another continual goal of mine. I know you may think it’s strange that a fitness goal is to, well, not workout. But for me it’s important to take care of my body. Look, I am no longer a spring chicken. I have aches and pains and muscle tears, I have back problems, knee aches, a slight shoulder and thigh tear, and chronic plantar fasciitis. It’s no walk in the park for me sometimes. In College I would get monthly massages to help with the knots in my back. After that I wasn’t really taking care of myself. I now foam roll everyday, go to yoga to stretch, go to the chiropractor and get a massage when I can. Anything to keep my body from falling apart. As much as I workout I have to have self care. Over the weekend, while I was at Dancebody, I noticed that my body was exhausted.  I had trouble keeping the weights and the band up, and I had no energy to jump around. In truth I should of have not been there. I looked at my calendar to see if I was due for a rest day and realized I was WAY over due. I had worked out for 13 straight days. This is not good. Although it was an honest mistake, I was very disappointed in myself for not taking better care of my body.  I didn’t intend to workout for that many days in a row, but it happened. My body needed the rest. It needs rest. As a goal of mine I want to take care of myself. Accepting that I may need to take a few days off of working out, and that somedays I need to not push myself so hard. My number one fitness goal is to take care of my body, otherwise I won’t be able to do any of the workouts that I love.

Speaking of workouts. My one, non-body/ self care goal is to get back into HIIT workouts. Lately all of my workouts have been tailored around dance cardio, yoga, running, and sculpting. I want to get back into HIIT workouts to challenge myself. When I lived in Columbus I used to go HIIT workouts all of the time and I was in great shape. I think my body is hitting a plateau with my current regime and I need more intensity. I have yet to find a workout that I truly love (Orange Theory I really like but it’s not on ClassPass and Barry’s is great but the credits are way too high for just one class #fitnessproblems). I will hopefully be trying Fithouse’s HIIT class soon and will see if it is something that I want to frequent. It’s good to challenge your body when you can. Although I love dance cardio and sculpt classes, and could do them all day everyday, there is something refreshing and rejuvenating about a challenge. Something that I know I will be the weakest link. Something I can aspire to conquer. A workout so rewarding, it starts out impossible and then begins to feel doable. I haven’t done a HIIT class in a while and it is something I am very nervous of trying again. Whether or not I have the stamina and the strength to do it. But I guess I will never know until I try.

To achieve my fitness goals one must look good. A dear friend of mine Christina, from my days in the New York Junior League, has started a new fitness line called Soulgani. It started on a hiking trip to Lares Trail in Peru where Christina got the idea to start a fitness brand. She saw the beauty of nature and thought how cool it would be to put a similar design on yoga pants. And that is how Soulgani was created. Soulgani means abundance of soul. Christina was sweet enough to send me a pair of leggings (the Lake Eyre of Australia) and I have to say they are amazing; High-waist compression and the fabric is moveable and comfortable ( made in the USA). I wear my leggings all of the time to workouts. Soulgani partnered with a female astronaut Nicole Stott, who took a picture of Lake Eyre from space and turned it into the print that’s on my leggings. The main reason I wanted to share Soulgani with you is because as a company they give back. They work with different charities, making a difference. Part of the proceeds to each purchase goes to a charity. Buy a cool pair of leggings, help with NYC Food Bank or the Space for Art Foundation. I love the idea of a company giving back to the community and helping others, and that I did a small part in helping. If you would like a pair use code Maggie15 for 15% when you’re on their website.

*Thank you Soulgani for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a continual fitness resolution from last year I am still trying new workouts and fitness studios here in New York City. With only a month into the new year I have already gone to two new workouts and loved both. The two new classes that I took have been on my list of workouts to try for a while. I either couldn’t find the time to attend them or didn’t want to give up one of my beloved classes. I have many different fitness studios and workouts that I love to go to that it’s hard to pick which exercise to do throughout the week. At this rate if I want to attend all of the workouts that I love, I may end up exercising all day, every day. Anyway, I really loved the new workouts and can’t wait to go back!

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