Climbing, CrossFit, Daily, FitFluential, Fitness, Photos, Reviews, Soccer

Let’s talk boobs

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That’s right folks. This blog post is going to be all about boobies — more specifically taming them.

For me, it’s difficult to make the time to do all the exercising activities I want to in the run of the week, and since I’m not willing to do it in the morning I’m left with working out after work, or on the weekends. I find that most people stick to what they love, whether it be running or going to the gym. Not a lot of people cross train, which I think is important to prevent injury. I learned that the hard way two summer’s ago when I busted up my ankle at soccer.

My battle as I said, is trying to find the time to do all of the sports I enjoy. I received an e-mail recently from my former soccer team mate asking me if I was going to jump on board and sign up for outdoor this season. After a weeks thought, I declined. The primary reason that I decided not to go into it this year was I felt like I wasn’t bringing anything to the team last year. I wasn’t pushing it hard on the field, I generally wasn’t happy even being on the field whatsoever. Legs (my favorite nick name ever) lost her mojo.

Soccer used to be “my” sport, until I discovered CrossFit that is. Climbing is still hovering in a close second place, but since I’ve been climbing since 1994 I feel like it will always be there and it doesn’t need to be a front runner. I’m juggling between getting in enough days at the CrossFit box, and climbing. Some days I’m sore from CF, and can’t climb. Oh, it’s a vicious cycle.

All three of these sporting events have something in common. No, not indecent exposure, in fact it’s the opposite. If you’re female, you’re probably going to want to wear a bra while working out, right? Tank top, optional. At least at the places that I seem to frequent. Don’t worry Mom, I wear clothes over top of my bra’s.

Or bra’s over top of my clothes. Because you know, that’s normal. It was for a Breast Cancer cause I organized. Most women nowadays wear bras, unless … you don’t need/want to. That’s cool. But I like to wear them all the time, especially when exercising. Let’s take running for example. We do a lot of sprints and 1km loops around the block at CrossFit. Wearing a supportive bra when you’re going all out trying to catch the person ahead of you, you’re going to not want to have any bouncing issues. Not like it happens to me with the size I am.

A few weeks ago I was in contact with a representative from Under Armour and got the chance to review a brand spanking new bra from them, the Armour Bra.

The most expensive bra I now own. It better be good! It retails for $69.99.

I can’t believe I’m modeling a bra on my website. But hey, it’s pretty full coverage and you’re not seeing much. I cropped it because you know, you don’t want to see too much sexiness going on here. Ya know what I mean? Uh huh. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself. This is a family safe blog after all.

All of the Armour Bra’s are color coordinated to the cup size. B cup’s are blue. C’s are pink (I kinda want the pink!!).

So, what do I think of the Armour Bra? The compression bra was something I thought I had to get used to but it wasn’t bad at all. I have a few sports bras which are difficult to get off over my shoulders but this one isn’t thanks to the adjusting band on the back like a regular bra. While I felt secure in the bra I didn’t feel like it had an exact fit, and I can’t exactly pinpoint why. Under Armour has amazing potential and already works for so many people. I’m an in between size and it’s difficult to get things to fit me properly. I measure at 33 inches around, so I went with my safe bet at a 34B. Apparently (and I believe so because I own both sizes) 32C and 34B are the same bra cup/size as one Victoria’s Secret consultant once told me. So I’m not sure if I would’ve done better with the 32 or not.

Inside the bra there are modesty cups, which are removable for quick drying if you had a hard workout session. I definitely took advantage of that feature after a few CrossFit WOD’s and had swoob (sweaty boob) happening. Doesn’t everyone? Too much information? Sorry. I’m like that.

I ended up wearing it to CrossFit a handful of times and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not a 100% on this $69.99 bra. The most irritating thing about it is the height of the back straps. I’m pointing to them in the second photo of where I had the issue.

I was doing a workout which consisted of a lot of push-presses, toes to bar, and box jumps. Any time I jumped up to the bar and started doing T2B’s I had to step down and readjust the bra to pull the straps back almost like I was re-adjusting my shirt so the seams would sit in place. I’m not sure if it’s because I got a size that didn’t fit me perfectly (but I’m pretty sure I know my bra size). The back strap around the base of my neck rose up making me feel like I was hunched. It was a strange feeling and I tried wearing different tank tops with it, and I still had that same issue.

That doesn’t mean that I’m not going to ever wear this bra again. I loved the coverage, and it stayed in place when I was jumping on and off the 20 inch boxes when doing the box jumps at CrossFit, the tata’s felt secured that way. The bra is seamless so no irritation or rubbing on your skin when moving about and sweating. It didn’t give me mono-boob. You know that typical sports bra look where your boobs look smooshed together? They didn’t look that way with the Under Armour bra. They separated and looked as if I was wearing a regular bra. It’s the little things that matter. It had me feeling assured, except for that riding up issue. But those exercises don’t happen very often at CrossFit, so maybe on the days I know we’re doing more strength or cardio and not doing pullups or toes to bar exercises, I can sport it.

Thanks again to Under Armour letting me have this opportunity to review the new Armour Bra!

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Daily, Photos, Reviews, Triathlons / Duathlons

Triathelete tests out GNC protein powder

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Quoted from FitFluential.com

FitFluential is a nationwide network of fitness enthusiasts sharing their journey both online and offline via multiple social media platforms. FitFluential is also a social media agency that creates unique contextual marketing campaigns for brands interested in connecting with fitness enthusiasts.

I’ve written in the past mentioning that I am a FitFluential Ambassador. Basically what that means is that I’ll be dealing with FitFluential brand partners. If a new product or social media campaign launches I will be given the opportunity to participate in reviewing in the brand or product available to others. The entire FitFluential team is forever growing and we’re up into the hundreds now. I’d like to think I have an advantage being Canadian and all, since we’re the minority for now.

That’s my Boy! All photos of my hunky-dory boyfriend taken by yours truly.

I had the chance to let my Boyfriend try out a Whey Protein Powder from GNC Canada. Since he drinks those all of the time, and I’ve only had sample cups of them at Triathlon race sites, I thought it would be better to pass along this one to him, as he pretty much knows his stuff.

I didn’t want him to review it til he was almost all the way through the powder. We received this giant jug of it back in January and he’s been drinking it after every workout since.

See the headlines now, hey? Triathelete tests out GNC Canada protein powder. You can buy it for $49.99 for a 908g tub.

So my Boyfriend says that this is one of the better protein powders he’s ever drank. It’s because the powder itself is very fine and easy to mix.

Glug glug glug!

All mixed up.

As for the taste? Which is probably the most important part because you don’t want to be gagging on a nasty shake after a hard workout. I quote my Boyfriend when he says: “The shake doesn’t have the normal protein stank to it“. You can always taste the strong protein in protein shakes but with this one it’s mild and clearly easy to get down.

Thanks to GNC and FitFluential for the opportunity to review the protein powder. All opinions are 100% from my boyfriend ;)

If you’d like more information about FitFluential, check out the Facebook page, Blog and Twitter!

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Daily, Photos, Reviews

Skincare routine

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My skin has had a rough go of it for the past number of weeks and I’m careful now what I use on my face. In January I had a product that made my eyes swell up and my skin dry out so much it looked wrinkly and cracked. While I am more prone to a dryer skin in the winter and then dry-normal in the summer. I almost always feel the need to moisturize, especially my scaly man hands. I’ve been trying to figure out which products are fit for me, and which products I’m weeding out of my facial cleansing routine. Thus the title of this post my skincare routine at the moment.

Shown in order, here are the products I use on my face on a daily basis.

When I get up in the morning I wash my face with a sample sized Philosophy Purity cleanser. Since it’s almost out, next up to the podium will be the the Bioderma Solution. Purity is truly a great cleanser for my skin type, and I am definitely going to be purchasing the large bottle. I also use this in the evening when I want to remove my makeup. It doesn’t irritate my eyes and of course I use it twice in the evenings. Once to get all the makeup off, and another to actually cleanse the skin.

On days where I feel like I need to scrub my face a little more I break out my Sibu Balancing Facial Cleanser. The exfoliating beads aren’t as harsh as some exfoliators I’ve used in the past, so you can really use this one on a daily basis. I’ve used it for a week straight when I first got it, and I didn’t have any negative reaction to it. I reviewed the Sibu daytime facial cream a few months ago, and while it does have a similar smell, it’s not as strong as the moisturizing lotion. In fact, I like the cleansers scent much more. It has more of an orange scent to it which I find appealing. I recommend you exfoliate your face and body on a weekly basis to get all the dry, dead skin cells off your body. You’re left with a very subtle smooth skin. Plus, when you moisturize you feel so smooth all over. I’m a huge fan of exfoliating.

After cleansing my face I always apply my eye cream as my under eyes get cakey and dry looking if I don’t. Right now I’m obsessed with the Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair Cream. I also have the hydrating eye cream by Bobbi, which is more of a lighter weight which is perfect for day time. The extra eye repair is a nice thick consistency and is amazing to keep that area moisturized, especially at night.

Next on goes the facial moisturizer. Currently I’m using a light weight facial moisturizer by Bioderma Hydrabio Light Cream and while it’s great for my sensitive dry skin. I don’t feel like it’s worth the money to go out and buy again. I didn’t pay the $48 for this at Shoppers Drug Mart, I actually won it on a Twitter beauty basket giveaway from a Twitter party (follow me!)

This next step is only if my skin is feeling incredibly out of whack or super dry and tight after cleansing my skin. I’d only use these serums or oils at night and apply around the eyes or places I feel dry. Which are usually my chin, cheeks and eye area.

Left to right: Origins A Perfect World which smells terrific since it has White Tea in it. Though it’s a little heavy silicon feel to it. But sometimes my skin needs and likes it. Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery is probably my favorite by far. I’ve gone through 3 sample sizes and have yet to fork over the money for the full sized. SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Gel is pretty good. I’m using this one right now, it’s thicker (still liquid unlike Origins) consistency than Kiehl’s. The last one is pure Vitamin E oil, which was the only product that truly healed my dry cracked sore skin from when it was inflamed and dry. It was very messy, sticky, and oily on my face. A little goes a long way with this.

Note: Only use one of these products at a time! lol Don’t change them up either from evening to evening. Finished one sample and then headed to the other. All of these serums are amazing but incredibly expensive.

On my “night table” which is actually a set of dresser drawers, I keep a variation of lip balms and hand creams. The one’s I gravitate more towards is the impeccable Avene Cold Cream lip balm, and the Philosophy Somebody hand cream. All moisturizes, and cleansed for a good nights sleep.

That concludes my daily skin care routine! In February my skin has been pretty much back to normal. I think the simplicity of everything helped a lot. Meaning not wearing tons of makeup, cleansing my face with good quality products. I know there was a ton of product shown, but the only ones I use on a day-to-day basis are the one’s in the first photo.

Hope this was helpful, and if you have any questions of comments leave them below!

I was not compensated for this post, but the Sibu facial cleanser was provided by Sibu.

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