Early morning workouts are usually not my thing. I like to go to the gym in the afternoons, or sometimes the evenings. Usually, I go to a gym for a quick hour workout after I finish work. Light cardio and weight machines are my go-to. The overall goal is to keep my heart rate up, get my steps in, and trying to work off whatever sweet treat I had during the mid-afternoon funk I fall into. The gym for me is all about keeping in shape and preventing weight gain due to sitting at a desk for eight hours and studying for classes and all of the stress that comes with college. This event was also different because it was held at Riverside Park. I never had a full workout on the grass before, and although it was a bit wet from dew it was enjoyable.

To say I’m not a morning person is an understatement, so it was different going to the Saturday Sweat Session at 10 a.m. I had never worked out at Applied Fitness before, but I heard good things from co-workers about their circuit so I was excited to try something new. There were five stations at which you did two different workouts. The first exercise would last 45 seconds before making a quick rotation to the next one for another 45 seconds, and this went on for six minutes with a rest of three minutes in between each station. It was a full body work out between weights, squats, push-ups, running, and other sweat inducing work outs. Overall, I loved the experience of circuit training and was ready for a good cool down.

I love yoga, whether it be in my living room from YouTube, or hitting a class at Oakland University’s Recreation Center. It’s a great way to work on stretching while still being active. UpDog Yoga provided a fantastic instructor that led the group through a cool down. It was the perfect thing for me since I’m not flexible. Our instructor, Kelsey, was attentive to the needs of the class and made sure to provide options for those at every level. Kelsey even helped stretch out my back through some of the poses. Once again, it was a great experience.

After all of that, I was looking forward to a well-earned snack, which came in the form of smoothies and healthy cookies from Live Clean Nutrition. There were three choices, all of which were delicious and helped restore all of the nutrients I had lost during the workout and also provided hydration. The smoothies were all prepared with organic produce like apples, mangos, and spinach, and featured coconut water. Even the Kalelicious green smoothie tasted amazing.

All in all, I was happy that I woke up and came to this workout event. I think the event was made better because it was outside and offered families a chance to come and workout together and allow them to spend some time on the playground afterward. I’m hoping we can fit another event in before the weather starts to turn colder, but there will definitely be more next year during the spring and summer.

Madison Kubinski, Downtown Event Specialist