It’s finally summer! The honest to God, highly-anticipated and best time during a person’s life whilst they’re in school. Yeah, college is great but I count down the days to summer the moment I have to attend classes again. With summer comes the beach (if you live in Southern California, this is an almost guarantee) and seeing all your old friends (who’ve returned home from their respective colleges) as well as an endless amount of sleep. And as a person who has went 22 hours continuously sleeping, summer is the best time for this. Now, as part of the whole summer aesthetic, there’s also the attempt to get the perfect summer body.
It’s probably not going to happen because if we’re all perfectly honest, by the end of the semester/quarter—motivation is low and most people just want to catch up on sleep. Which is totally understandable. The first day after summer I slept for 18 hours straight in an attempt to catch up on all the sleep I missed during the actual school year. Sleep is important and hot summer days make the best conditions to find a nice sunny place to lay out and take a nap (or stay inside and sleep on your bed—either way…SLEEP).
But, exercising is important to your overall general health and not just a step you need to take (besides clean eating) to get a good summer body. I’m in the personal belief that summer is the best time to work out and get the body you want for the rest of the school year. It’s 3 months of uninterrupted days where you have almost no excuse to not work out because there isn’t school or any internships knocking on your door telling you that you have something to do. Unless you picked up a summer job but even those are just usually part time and you can totally work around them.
What I’ve taken to doing, now that I am in summer and actually have time to work out, is a mixture of different methods so that I never get bored.
Generally, I go to Corepower at least 2 to 3 times a week. There’s a great one in Westwood that’s located right next to a Whole Foods, which I go to after each class to buy a juice or smoothie. YUM.
The place, Corepower, is a little pricey but if you get the Student’s Black Tag Membership, you’ll pay a set price for 3 months (your whole summer) and have unlimited classes. It’s great and totally worth it.
Corepower isn’t like most yoga studios. While they do have normal yoga and heated yoga, Corepower also has a special little class called Yoga Sculpt. And Yoga Sculpt is literally the only class that I take there. It’s an amazing work out that will have you sweating so profusely with your muscles shaking after class and deliciously sore the next day.
Yoga Sculpt is a combination of cardio, yoga, and light weightlifting. Obviously, the class routines vary each time you go, but there is a general principal present of you’re probably going to feel the burn (not probably, most definitely). I 10 out of 10 would recommend for any person who is looking to get a really good work out with all the benefits of yoga put in as well.
Besides Corepower, I’ve also signed up for classes at my local CardioBarre. My first CardioBarre class almost made me cry with how much my muscles were shaking and burning. It’s a total workout and a perfect way to burn massive amounts of calories.
The premise behind CardioBarre is that you are basically doing ballet (without actually doing ballet) and lifting weights while you’re doing it. There’s more of a focus on your core/glutes and a lot of miniscule movements that last for several sets that will have your core and your glutes burning by the end. There’s a wonderful deal that they give to first timers of four classes for $35. Which is way cheaper than most places will ever give because each class is generally $25 depending on what studios you end up going to.
I’ve yet to try PureBarre yet in DTLA but I definitely heard some great things about it and so the studio (which is very similar to CardioBarre apparently) is on my list of exercising places to try. So is City of Angels boxing.
The third and final part of my routine (at least in the I need to pay for these-portion) is Bespoke Cycling in Downtown LA. It’s a cycling studio that I honest to god love way more than any other cycling studio that I’ve been to. Including the infamous Soul Cycle. The work out is amazing and the music is perfect and gets you so pumped up.
I don’t know if anyone has told you this or you know from experience, but the playlist that an instructor puts on during a work out is so important to the general vibe and amount of engagement that occurs in a class. Yeah, the instructor themselves have to be good but the music has to be better because it’s what creates the atmosphere.
Now, if you’re not wanting to pay for all these classes that’s fine. Corepower will let you try a week free and Bespoke instructors can sign in up to 3 guests (if you have a friend that already goes and knows them that would be helpful in this situation).
Furthermore, it’s summer. Go to the pool and swim laps. Swimming is one of the best ways to work out your whole body and you won’t even feel your sweat. Also, you’ll be getting tan the whole time because you’ll be outside so you know kill two birds with one stone. Running is a great idea to but your arms wouldn’t get as much as a work out that swimming can give.
If you want to be super pro/extra, go swim in the ocean. I did that a couple of summers ago and trust me when I say that swimming in the ocean and fighting against waves is one of the hardest ways to work out/ push your body. But you will feel amazing after (that’s if you don’t drown from exhaustion first).
Anyways, the whole point of this post was to motivate you (whoever you are) as I try to motivate myself (and it takes a lot to motivate me). But considering that I don’t want to look like a potato anytime soon, this summer would probably be a good idea to start on that venture. Summer is the time to work out, catch up with old friends, sleep, and tan (if you live in a sunny area). At least, for an unemployed college student it is. Travelling is great to and I have a couple trips planned that I absolutely can’t wait to go on, of which you will definitely be hearing about. Because as evidenced by this blog, I like to share experiences and I definitely want to hear all about your experiences. Give me work out suggestions people!!!
Ride those good vibes everyone!
And yes the title is the same as the Maroon 5 song, which is why I put it in quotes. Also, I love Maroon 5.
