Hey, friends! How was the week for you? Obviously, this was a stressful and strange one in the U.S. with the election. And at the time of publishing this post, I’m guessing we won’t have official results. 

But other than the election, we had to move through our regular activities, like work, teaching classes, workouts and the usual. It was a slightly annoying week in many ways, but there’s not much to report about that, because we’re going to keep it positive around here.

I’ve got a fresh set of favorites coming at you today. But let’s start with a picture of Brady before preschool, because I like to take his picture every morning before school, and he always has something random he’s grabbed from the house in the picture …

Current faves

Fun

Halloween 2020

In spite of COVID-19, I can honestly say that Brady had an awesome Halloween, and we did too. He had his parade at school the day before Halloween, and his little class made costumes to be “germs.” Their parade was short and sweet, and I definitely enjoyed it. Although it was actually pretty funny how short it was (I’m talking a grand total of one minute.) And because of the times we’re in, parents had to stay pretty far back, so we didn’t even get any good pictures. But I still somehow managed to shed some tears … #momlife

Then, on the day of Halloween, after asking about it all day, we finally put Brady in his costume in the evening, took some pictures, put on our masks and went to a couple homes in our neighborhood. We asked two neighbors ahead of time if Brady could come by, and they were both happy to have him knock on the door and give him some treats. Dave and I pulled together some very last-minute costume elements for ourselves as well …

(Wearing these leggings, this lipstick and these shoes in this picture.)

After that, we went to a friend’s house in a different neighborhood and sat on their driveway and watched people walk by in costume for a safe and socially distanced hang-out. The next day, Brady asked if we could go “trick-or-treating” again, so clearly he had fun. Good times!

Fitness

Trying out the Peloton Bike Bootcamp classes

I’m still using the Peloton app and Les Mills On Demand for many of my workouts each week, outside of the classes I teach. And last week, I was not really sure what I was in the mood for, and Dave suggested I try out the new Bike Bootcamp classes on Peloton, because he had been doing them. I wasn’t exactly excited about it, but figured I would give one a go. And well … I loved it! 

I did Robin Arzon’s 30-minute Upper-Body Bike Bootcamp on the first day, then I did Robin Arzon’s 30-minute Lower-Body Bike Bootcamp the next day.

Here’s how the two bootcamps I took went: You set up your mat, sneakers and weights next to the bike. Then, you put on your cycle shoes and start on the bike for a warm-up and some intervals. Then you have about 90 seconds to “go to the shoe store” as they say, and change into your sneakers. I actually decided to do the floor-work in my bare feet, which is something I’m conditioned to do, although I would recommend flat training sneakers if you’ve never done bare-foot training before. The floor-work was about 14 minutes long and was perfectly programmed so you felt worked in a short amount of time. The floor-work wasn’t crazy hard though, and there was no jumping.

Here’s the deal: For both of the bike bootcamp classes I took, the bike portion was INCREDIBLY hard. Like way harder than any other cycling workout I’ve taken on Peloton. In fact, even though you’re only on the bike for 15 minutes total during a 30-minute Bike Bootcamp, it was so darn hard I could almost not finish while keeping up with the suggested resistance and cadence numbers. One of the bike bootcamps I took actually had 26 efforts, with nothing but tabata training (which is a hard timed-interval format). Basically, you are making the most of the time on the bike, with not a second of fluff.

I was expecting the transition from bike to floor to be awkward and mess up the flow. But in standard Peloton fashion, they make it seamless. And we do not have the newer Peloton bike with the swivel screen, and that was totally okay, because I could still see and hear everything I needed to safely do the floor-work even without the screen moving.

Overall, I’m a big fan of the bike bootcamps and will definitely be incorporating more of them into my routine moving forward. If you are short on time, then I would totally suggest trying one for a cardio and strength blast. But as a note: The ones I did are not an easy workout. And by the way, you have to look under “Cycling” to find the bike bootcamp workouts on the app.

If you haven’t checked it out before, here’s my review of the Peloton app. 

Workouts

Weekly workouts 

Here are my workouts from last week …

• Monday: 30-minute BODYPUMP, 10 a.m., 10-minute yoga, 6 p.m.
• Tuesday: Taught 45-minute barre, 12 p.m., 20-minute cycle, 6 p.m.
• Wednesday: 45-minute weights circuit, 10 a.m.
• Thursday: Taught 45-minute barre, 12 p.m., 15-minute CXWORX, 6 p.m.
• Friday: 30-minute bike bootcamp with upper-body focus, 10 a.m., 20-minute yoga, 6 p.m.
• Saturday: 30-minute bike bootcamp with lower-body focus, 10 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

This past week I switched things up and tried the bike bootcamp classes on Peloton. I also fit in two yoga sessions and am feeling pretty proud of that. Overall, I’ve been having great variety during the week, so that I don’t get bored, and that’s a big win for home workouts. Maybe one day I’ll go back to my gym … 🙂

Discounts 

A few A Lady Goes West recommended products

You guys know I only share what I love, so here are some of the brands I recommend …

• Carbon38. The coolest activewear around. Get 15 percent off your first two orders of $100 or more using the code ASHLEYPITT. 
• G2G protein bars. I love these tasty and clean protein bars. You can get 15 percent off your order on the G2G Bar site with the code ALADYGOESWEST. 
• Organifi superfood supplements. I’m all about the Organifi Complete Plant-Based protein powder, the RED powder and the GOLD powder. You can get 15 percent off your order on the Organifi site with the code ALADYGOESWEST.
• Beautycounter. The best safe skincare and makeup. Send me a message, and I’ll share a 10 percent off code for your very first order.
• Les Mills On Demand streaming workouts. My favorite fitness brand. You can do a whole month of workouts during a free 30-day trial by using my special referral link here.
• Les Mills Coach program. You can get 15 percent off a 4-, 8- or 12-week guided coaching and accountability program with the code ASHLEY15.
• Four Sigmatic. These superfood coffees and teas are so good — I especially love the Cacao Chill and Lion’s Mane Latte. Get 15 percent off your order on the Four Sigmatic site using the code ALADYGOESWEST.

Best reads

A few things from around the web 

• Behavior change in fitness. I am so excited I was included in this great article in the “IDEA Fitness Journal,” which is all about how people get started in group fitness, especially as they work through the process of behavior change. Check out the full article here.
• The case against multitasking. I am guilty of trying to multitask too much. Over the last year or so, I’ve done so much better during my “work times” by focusing on only one thing at a time, and it makes a major difference. This article tells you why multitasking actually adds to your stress levels and should be avoided at all costs. I agree!
• “Emily in Paris.” I’m excited to say that I convinced Dave to watch this Netflix show with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed all 10 episodes, even if it was a bit fluffy. Watching it really made me want to travel and get dressed up. Let’s hope we all get to do those things again in early 2021.

And here’s the quote of the week from the Calm app, which I use to do my daily morning meditations …

A Lady Goes West favorite archives 

• Holiday shopping. Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about gifting. And I’d love to see you shop with me … “The best Beautycounter holiday gifts for 2020.”

• Healthy lifestyle tips. Are you doing these things … “Five things you should be doing in yours 30s for your life and health.”

Thank you for visiting the blog today, my friends! Be good, and I’ll see you back here next week!

Questions of the day

How was your week?

What are you up to this weekend?

When do you usually start your holiday shopping?