Hi, friends!
I started my day with a fabulously sweaty workout with celebrity trainer, Harley Pasternak. Not a bad way to kick-off a Thursday, right? Harley recently partnered with New Balance to create his own sneaker, the limited edition 5 Factor 997, so he and New Balance hosted a launch event/workout this morning to celebrate its debut.
Don’t you love the colors of the 997? The picture below is the unisex style of the shoe. It also comes in men’s (black + bright blue) and women’s (black + bright pink) styles.
The event was held at a big, bright, open, and modern space in Manhattan.
Theodora was also invited to the event, and she was ready to go this morning—complete with a cute outfit and sparkly headband. I, however, was a little slow to start, but very thankful for the coffee provided at the event. I just needed a little buzz (of caffeine).
The workout started with a friendly welcome from Harley and a brief overview of his new shoe and inspiration for creating it.
The 5 Factor 997 is a lightweight training shoe, which was designed to enhance one’s performance during quick cutting movements and agility drills. They’re great for boot camp-style classes, which is exactly the type of workout that Harley took us through this morning.
Rise and shine! It’s booty kickin’ time!
For the workout, Harley split us up into groups of five and then divided us among three stations, where we did a high number of reps of one exercise before moving onto the next station. The stations focused on upper body, lower body, and abdominal moves—each of which required only our body weight.
The workout finished with sprints (similar to Suicides where you need to quickly change direction), which really gave me a chance to test out the 997s (NB gave me a free pair), and I have to admit that they really surprised me.
During the circuit part of the workout, my feet felt stable because of the shoe’s low midsole (aka close to the ground), but the sprints really showed me how in control they made me feel. My foot stayed planted on the ground when I changed directions, so it didn’t “roll” out on the sole, which would have made me feel unstable and slowed me down. In fact, I was so fast on the last set of sprints (sprinting + quick turnarounds), Harley high-fived me! No big deal. Ok, it was awesome.
The workout lasted about 45 minutes. It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, and I was a sweaty mess by the end!
Sweaty beasts!
Workout
I really enjoyed this morning’s workout, so I created a similar one for you guys to do at home or at the gym. It isn’t the exact workout that we did with Harley, but it’s pretty darn close. Let me tell ya, it’s a butt kicker, and I hope you try it! No equipment required!
Theodora and me with Harley!
After the event, I said goodbye to Theodora (she was headed to work) and went back to her apartment to take a quick shower and pack up. My train back to Boston departed in about an hour, so I really had to boogie!
Breakfast
For breakfast, I grabbed a bagel with sunflower butter and an iced coffee with soy milk from Starbucks. Fast. Easy. Done.
Lunch
While waiting in line at Starbucks to buy my iced coffee, I made a quick decision to purchase a Protein Bistro Box for lunch. I saw a hardboiled egg, nut butter, and fresh fruit, so I just gave it to the cashier to ring up without thinking too much about it. I hope it’s good!
What a whirlwind trip! I wasn’t even in New York City for 24 hours! Ha! Oh, well. It was definitely worth it!
Thanks for a great workout this morning, Harley and New Balance!
