Friday Favorites: Sushi, a game and pants

Hello, friends. It’s Friday, and that’s a good thing. Am I right?

This weekend will be full of work and a little bit of play. I’m teaching BODYPUMP tonight, teaching BODYATTACK tomorrow morning, and Dave and I have plans for dinner and a show, before I head back to work on Sunday to train a few clients.

However, in light of it being the last day of the work-week for those of you with “normal” jobs, let’s get to the fluff … my weekly “Friday Favorites.”

My favorite thing to eat out: sushi

Hands-down. It’s actually a joke in our house that whenever Dave asks me what I feel like eating, the answer is undoubtedly sushi. I love sushi. I could probably eat it a few times a week and not get sick of it. My favorite things to order at a sushi place include hot sake, a seaweed salad, a ginger house salad, any roll with salmon and avocado and any type of sashimi, but I usually stick to salmon, tuna or mackerel pieces. Something about fresh delicious fish just makes me happy.

You know what makes me extra happy? When a sushi place offers brown rice instead of white. But I’ve found that isn’t likely to happen at the authentic places.

Last night, Dave and I went on a rare mid-week dinner outing because his sister was up visiting from LA. We took her to our neighborhood sushi spot, Mikaku, which we’ve been frequently lately.

While Dave enjoys some sushi too, it’s definitely more of my type of meal. We had it last night and already have plans to have it again on Saturday, so this week is a good one for me.

My favorite board game: Scrabble

This one is timely, because next week the fifth edition of The Official Merriam Webster’s SCRABBLE Player’s Dictionary will be released with 5,000 new words. The new additions include some questionable words inspired by pop culture, including the following:

• Selfie
• Frenemy
• Mixtape
• Vlog
• Geocaching
• Bling
• Hashtag
• Bromance
• Jeggings

And so many more, which will make you really worry about the way this world is heading.

Nonetheless, my family and I have been huge Scrabble players for as long as I can remember. We look forward to these games and make sure they happen every single time we’re together, sitting in the same spot around the coffee table in my parent’s living room.

Dave and I have continued that tradition and play from time-to-time. However, we’ve never used the official dictionary for challenges, and I think it might finally be time we do.

My favorite new sporting gear: Compression pants

Have you ever worn anything designed to compress? I certainly hadn’t until now. The folks at Opedix reached out to me asking if I’d like to try a pair of compression tights, called the Opedix KNEE-Tec Tights. These are not your average compression pants. They’re scientifically designed to reduce destructive knee forces, reduce quadricep fatigue, reduce knee pain during high-demand sports and improve dynamic balance.

And what venue did I select to test out these hard-core pants? Why teaching a one-hour class of Les Mills BODYATTACK, of course.

First of all, you know you’re trying some serious pants when they’re delivered in their own box with a set of instructions and background information. Everything about these pants screams high-quality design. They are super thick. The stitching is perfection.

The company sent me the x-small size and the small size to choose between. Having never tried anything designed to compress, I felt completely stifled in the x-small, so I selected the small. The pants were very tight around my knee joints, but comfortable everywhere else. The waist-band was higher than my normal workout pants, but I actually liked that, because it helped serve as a place for my instructor microphone belt/pack to sit under my shirt without touching my skin.

You can really feel how the fabric is holding in your knees. During class, I felt great. My legs seemed a little lighter than normal, and I felt like I landed all of my tuck-jumps a little softer as well. I was very comfortable during the workout in the pants and never thought about the tightness of the fabric on my knees.

However, the big change came after class. During my 25-minute walk home uphill from BODYATTACK my legs are usually dead. But this trip truly seemed better. I kept the pants on for a while, and when I finally took them off to shower, my legs were super tingly. It went away after about 20 minutes, and then they were fine. It wasn’t a bad tingle, just a noticeable tingle.

So overall, now that I’ve experienced a piece of Opedix’s “kinetic health gear,” I believe these pants have something in them that makes your muscles, alignment and blood-flow work optimally over normal pants. I definitely felt it. I’ve got to wear them a few more times to really see how they determine my performance, but recovery was definitely better. I’d venture to say, if you’re a runner or someone who frequently participates in impact activities, high-quality compression pants might be worth looking into.

Opedix can be purchased online, so check out the site. You’ll see the price is steep, but the company assured me that’s because the design is of supreme quality. And hey, you’re pants get delivered in their own box. And that’s pretty cool.

* Disclaimer: I received a free pair of Opedix tights to review, but these thoughts are completely my own.

That about wraps it up, folks.

“Friday Favorites” is a regular feature hosted by Heather. If you want to read more, here’s a look at my past editions:

1. A snack, a purse and a ritual
2. A delivery, a bra and a guy
3. A sweet, a wine and a read
4. A drink, a gadget and a plan 
5. A time, a bottle and a powder
6. San Francisco edition
7. Beauty edition
8. Beach vacation edition
9. Hidden meanings
10. Kicks, a book and a bowl
11. The very best sweatshirts
12. Party hosting and froyo
13. Fourth of July daytime activity
14. Beauty basics edition
15. Workplace edition
16. Shopping, sales and a show
17. The foods I always buy

Questions of the day

What’s in store for your weekend? Have you ever tried compression pants? What was your experience like?