Credit:dorishinyblog.com

This is the first installment of my month-long Core Fusion project. For the month of February, I’ll be taking unlimited classes (which for me will probably translate to 4-5 per week) and meeting with Exhale Spa health counselor Catherine Hesse every couple of weeks. We’ve taken my measurements pre-February and will compare the results at the end of the month. Wish me luck!

I have to tell you guys something. I’ve been doing so much Core Fusion I unlocked the GYM RAT badge on Foursquare. I know. Anyone who knows me knows this is, like, mythical. I was the kind of exerciser who works out once a week at BEST.

But something changes in the course of my Core Fusion journey and the pivotal point is when I decided to invest in the The Socks from Exhale Spa. I’m an official sock-wearing member, the Exhale Spa equivalent of a card-carrying member of any other club. The socks actually really help keep you from slipping, which aids in your ability to balance in different positions to help you strengthen your core.

Though with each class the various exercises get easier (and I get stronger and more flexible), I maintain that many of the repetitions are total core-poral punishment, as effective as they are. Most challenging for me are pretzels (don’t mind the innocuous nomenclature–pretzels are a totally diabolical exercise where you sit with one leg bent in front of you, the other bent behind you and lift your back knee up repeatedly. Sounds simple. Is so not), use of the ball and/or foam block (it seems these instruments of torture are not limited to Physique 57) and the final abs set where you lift just your upper back off the floor and do multiple arm lifts while using your core to stabilize you. My favorite class is Core Fusion Co-founder Fred Devito‘s 4:30pm Open one at the 77th and Madison location.

My transformation process also included a meeting with Exhale Spa health counselor Catherine Hesse, a delightful doll of an individual who’s provided me with a bevy of great nutrition tips. “Can you just tell me, like, everything you eat?” I asked her. She did! Catherine has sent me Word docs filled with tons of meal and snack ideas I’m dying to try out.

Some initial tips of hers I’ve been implementing with good results:

• Don’t eat three hours before you go to bed
• Do eat within an hour of waking up to nourish yourself so you don’t overcompensate throughout the day
• Invest in Wheatgrass pills, a multivitamin, and fish oil supplements
• Carry a water bottle around with you–if it’s heavy and annoying, DRINK it so it’s less so 
• Bring carrot sticks and hummus to nosh on pre-beauty events so I don’t fill up on mini crab cakes for dinner (which I WAS doing, like, every night)

Those are my week one observations! Stay tuned for more next week.

Core Fusion co-founder Fred DeVito has generously offered to provide the classes and meetings with Catherine gratis for the month of February for editorial consideration. 

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