fithiphealthy

LITHEMETHOD.COM

 

Lithe's new site will be up at some point today, tonight or tomorrow morning!  Can't wait!

JOIN US!

Lithe Method is finally on Facebook!  Become a friend and join in on the fun, discussions, pics, polls and news!

LEAN BACK.

Hi Lauren,

I took 3 classes of the Immersion and now I'm taking regular classes and I'm loving it!  I must admit that I don't understand what you mean when you stress leaning back at the barre and I really want to make sure that I'm doing things correctly.  I feel like I'm going to fall!  Can you explain?  Thanks, MC

Sure, great question!  As you know, form means everything when it comes to getting the results that you want with Lithe.  Many beginners, or beginners who have not taken the Immersion, tend to bend their elbows and lean forward into the barre instead of of leaning back with straight arms and maintaining a vertical alignment. 

Remember that you should be lifting from the heart, using your postural muscles and lats to pull your shoulders back and down (which really works your core).  When you fire up from a sumo or a curtsy, you should not be traveling towards the barre, you should be traveling vertical and back.  When we tell you to lean back, try not to move your feet back...keep them right where they are and lean your body back.

When you lean into the barre, your knees tend to go over your toes, your abs are blown out, you're training round shouldered and your alignment is out the door.  Check out Nicole in perfect barre form, above.

Image of Lithe Instructor, Nicole Sewall in Fabu-legs via Dom

LITHE ON FILM.

Talk about inspiration! 

Last Tuesday, we had a Lithe photo shoot with Dom at Lithe Method Rittenhouse.  It was the first time that we chose to feature a handful of instructors along with some current Lithers (non instructors!) who consistently bust their butts in the studios and who really fit the fit.hip.healthy bill.  You can clearly see just how Lithe these women are and boy, were they working hard!  

All Lithe Instructors begin as clients (we hand-pick, hire and train from within).  Our clients are our greatest advertisement for the results and the 'look' that Lithe Method yields. 

I'm looking forward to sharing more amazing images with you soon right here on fit.hip.healthy.com and on our sweet, new website!  

Untouched out-take images of Paula G. utilizing Lithe Method's Higher Power® Band System in Twiggy, Instructor Nicole Sewall in Fabu-legs®, Instructor Bari Rosenthal utilizing Lithe Method's Higher Power® Band System in Barlesque, Liz C in Wheel, Allison L in Thinny®, Instructor Krisa DeNofa in quad stretch and Instructor Anna Marie Chang in Foldover Seatwork via Dominic Episcopo.

DOUBLING YOUR PLEASURE?

Most of you know how we instructors feel about taking back-to-back classes.  I created Lithe so that you get a total body, time-efficient workout in 1 hour. Doubling up is not only bad for the body, it negates the effects of your first hour, as you are running on adrenaline during that second hour and maybe giving us 40-50%.

We don't even see most of you nosh on a banana or an apple in-between classes when you double. When you don't eat  something, your body works on depleted glycogen stores (it's called glycogen debt) and ends up eating away at the muscle that you just spent the previous hour developing because it has nothing left for fuel. Then, your body starts to save fat.  It's not a good cycle.  You can feel yourself "hitting a wall." We instructors don't even do two classes in a row, as we know that we're overworking our muscles and therefore can injure our joints, tendons and ligaments. 

Anywho, we are running into a little bit of an issue again as we noticed that a lot of unlimited monthly lithers are signed up for both the High Mini class at 9:45am and the Armistice class at 11:00am on Saturdays in center city. 

While we are thrilled that you want to take both (even though we cringe a bit when people double with no recovery time), we have to limit the signing up for those doubles for the time being.  Both classes have huge wait lists at the moment, and we need to make sure that all clients have an equal opportunity to get into our classes and use their class cards. 

You are more than welcome to take two classes,  but we have to ask that you only sign up for one right now. You can wait around for no shows/cancellations in the 9:45 and the 11am and then jump into the class.

When you get a chance, please go ahead and remove yourself from one of the classes.  If you're still in both by Thursday afternoon, we will have to pick one for you :(  Thanks for understanding. 

Image of Lauren Boggi via Dom.

LIQUID LITHE!

We're all big juice fans over here at Lithe and I love that Wendy blogged about the topic.  A few months back, I mentioned that our Liquid Lithe program would be available soon (very similar to our cleanse that we offer on our Lithe Escape).  You'll be hearing much more about it soon...We're getting close! 

Illustration via Miss Capricho.

CUP-O-LOVE.

Here are a few recent love notes:   

Hey Lauren,

So scratch my previous message about my skiing accident “knee sprain”.  I tore my ACL, my MCL and have a tibial plateau fracture.  I need surgery, but they are going to wait 6 weeks to let the bone and the MCL heal first.  UGH.  It honestly brings tears to my eyes when I think I won’t be at Lithe for 4 months. 

I will say that the surgeon I saw at Penn (who treats many top athletes, esp. the US woman’s soccer team) and Jefferson (who treats the Phillies) have been very impressed with my leg strength and muscles…they are also very impressed with the fact that I didn’t swell too much, and I know it is b/c of lithe.  I am not sure how to explain the lack of swelling, but I believe that is b/c of the strength lithe has provided me! 

Thanks again- Annemarie Leone MSN,
CRNP Division of Vascular Surgery 

Hi Lauren!

I hope you are surviving this yet again crummy, winter weather.  So, I have to give a little shout out.  Yesterday I had such a bad day! Nothing major happened for me to be in such a blah mood but I think it was the combination of the weather, stress and not going to Lithe (big mistake ;). 

In an effort to get rid of my blahs, I signed up for Sculpt this morning.  A 7am class on mornings like today can be tough but not when you wake-up and tell yourself that Krista is teaching and is commuting from Chestnut Hill. There are no excuses when you think of it that way. 

So, I get to class and am still sleepy and blah with no coffee in my system already beating myself up and then class starts and 10 minutes in….. My cup runneth over!  Thank you to Krista and to you!  Lauren, Thank you for creating Lithe.  Thank you for your creativity and dedication in transforming so many lives, mine included!  Also thank you for picking such incredible instructors, like Krista! ( I know you know how awesome your Lithe staff is). 

Krista is not only sweet and talented she is also passionate about Lithe, dedicated and inspiring!  She is truly a great instructor and her colors shine through even at 7am.  I just wanted to give you gals a little shout out ;) 

Sincerely,
Tricia

Lauren,

I really “HEART” Lithe. With Valentine’s Day being right around the corner I just wanted to take a moment to share the love and tell you and the Lithe Team that well your simply AMAZING! I have been doing Lithe for about 8 months now and there isn’t one day that I am bored or uninspired both mentally and physically. 

The motivation, creativity and inspiration that Lithe and the instructors provide is so wonderful. Lithe has changed my life in so many ways. So thank you for offering something so new and fresh to so many woman on a daily basis. 

Gratefully, TB

Lauren,

So I'm officially back up in NYC now, and I wanted to make sure I sent you a note to thank you.  I was in Philly for 1 yr on a work assignment, and Lithe was absolutely one of my favorite things about Philly (along with BYOBs:)). 

You and your team of instructors are so talented and so kind - doing Lithe quickly made me feel like I was part of a community, which is especially great when you're new to a city.  I am also in the best shape I've ever been in - I have muscle definition that I just assumed I would never get because of my body type. 

I had a great time getting to this point, and I am hoping, hoping, hoping that you expand to NYC soon.  If I can help you with any NYC research, please let me know.  I'll be back in Philly periodically, and you will definitely see me in class on those weekends! 

All the best,
Rebecca 

PS - I've tried Physique 57 and Exhale and they're okay, but nothing compared to Lithe!! 

Image via the anthropologist

NAUGHTY KNOTS!

 

Knot for nothing but this has to stop, ya'll. I really hate blogging about this kind of thing but we've spread the word and it continues to happen.  Please, please stop knotting our Thinny bands!  We understand that they are sometimes hanging in your face but please work in front, behind or to the side of them until we correct the situation (we're working on it). 

When knots happen, we have to cut everything down.  We lose precious equipment and a spot in our always full-with-a-wait-list Thinny and Barlesque classes which means lost revenue for us and annoyed fellow Lithers.  We are often in-between band shipments, so it's not like we can hop up on the ladder and replace them at any time.

We find our bands double, triple and quadruple knotted and it burns your instructors and fellow Lither's up. Poor Hannah worked her fingers to the bone for at least a half hour trying to get the knots out of the one shown above and it is still triple knotted.  The next time that we see it happen, we'll have to charge the knaughty knotter the cost of the spot lost in our classes and the cost to replace the ruined equipment. Sorry!

Illustration via garancedore.fr

FOAT!

I'm excited to announce that Lithe will be carrying FOAT soon!  Foat Design is run by twin sisters (who are both Jivamukti Yoga instructors!), Kaja and Zoe Foat.  

Their designs are beautiful, urban, modern, comfortable, sweatshop-free and made in the USA!

PUSH IT GOOD.

Lauren, I saw this article on nytimes.com and I immediately thought of Lithe.  Glad I can do them now!  Susan 

Thanks for the link, Susan!  You're right on.  There's nothing like Lithe's Push-up sequence to work the entire body and spike that heart rate. 

Image of Lithe Instructor, Krista DeNofa via Dominic Episcopo.