December 27, 2019 at 10:16PM by CWC For some, it’s the exercise dress that made them converts. For others, the MegaFleece. And for the JOMO crowd, it’s softer-than-a-dream CloudKnit from head-to-toe that had them hooked. Piece after piece of instantly-sold-out releases prove that Tyler Haney’s cool-to-be-active brand Outdoor Voices has become a cult-fave factory. And while OV has been hard at work to become the sweat-positive brand of the past decade, these days, Haney (who is one of Well+Good’s 2020 Changemakers) is on a much more ambitious mission: She wants to change the way America moves. Five years ago, Haney founded OV to simplify the fitness uniform. The OG two-toned kits, which included a crop top and leggings, created a visual identity without needing to slap logos on clothing left, right, and center. Today, as legging imports soar well above those for blue jeans, it’s easy to forget that at the beginning of the decade, Haney’s tweaks to seaming (her brand’s leggings are sewn together with a signature diagonal paneling that helps them move with the body better), design (for all intents and purposes, she made the color-block cool), and cut (the high-rise legging paired with a crop top gave new ath-life to a silhouette that’s been beloved since the ’90s) created a new genre of activewear that wasn’t focused on sweat-wicking or compression, it aimed to “free fitness from the pressure of performance,” to borrow a phrase from Haney. “Our belief is that the future of athletics isn’t any
Category: Yoga
2020 is just the beginning of ‘The Great Transformation’—here’s what that means for your sign
December 27, 2019 at 06:30PM by CWC As we turn the corner on a new decade, the cosmos are changing just as quickly as we are. The year 2020 kicks off a decade of an astrological cycle known as the Jupiter Saturn Pluto Transformation, or the Great Transformation, and intuitive astrologer and healer Rachel Lang says it could signal a tectonic shift in political, financial, and personal realms. According to Lang, the upcoming years will be extra special for you because of three “synodic cycles”—a time when two planets are in conjunction with one another. “When the outer planets aspect one another, they represent bigger shifts in our consciousness because the outer planets move more slowly and their aspect relationships last longer than the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars,” says Lang. “The outer planet relationships symbolize changes we see manifest in our personal lives and in the world.” Throughout the course of this year, Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn will canoodle and flirt in various ways. Below, Lang breaks them down so you can mark your calendar accordingly. How the Jupiter Saturn Pluto Transformation (the Great Transformation) will affect your 2020 January 12: Saturn-pluto conjunction This particularly transit only happens every 34 years—and Lang says it’s going to be BIG. “Saturn’s the planet of authority, structure, and responsibility. Pluto transforms anything it comes into contact with. The two of these together represent structural changes in our lives and in the world,” says Lang. Both planets will be in the sign of
Supersets can help you build strength quickly—as long as you’re doing them correctly
December 27, 2019 at 12:00AM by CWC My brain basically short-circuits when faced with too many decisions, which is always what happens when I try to come up with exercises to do on my own at the gym. I need someone to tell me what to do, so I can turn that part of my brain off, which is why I enjoy group classes. When left to my own devices at the gym, I typically hop on the treadmill and just go for a run. But when one of my friends mentioned supersets, my interest was piqued. (The treadmill gets boring.) So what is a superset? And how is it different than circuit training? I asked Corey Phelps, NASM-CPT, to explain. “A superset is two strength exercises performed back to back with no rest in between,” Phelps says. Circuit training can contain both strength and cardio moves, and it combines more than two exercises, she says. “Supersets are great for so many reasons, specifically, supersets are beneficial to building muscle and strength quickly. This happens by overloading the muscles and creating greater intensity. Another great benefit is they save tons of time… perfect for someone on a time crunch. Lunch workout anyone?” she says. When deciding which two exercises to pair together, it’s important to look at your goals, Phelps says. Are you looking for a full-body workout? Or do you want to target a specific area? “If you are trying to maximize time for a total body workout then
12 muscle-melting stretches that will have your whole body saying “ahhh”
December 26, 2019 at 06:00PM by CWC In 2019, recovery was the fitness trend that reigned supreme, and because of this, we’ve spent the last 365 on the hunt to find the best ways to have our muscles saying ahhh! While the Theragun and the foam roller certainly found a place in our routines, in the past year, we also couldn’t get enough good old fashioned stretching to warm up and cool down the body. As the clock ticks into a new decade, we’re taking a moment to revisit the top stretches we’ve learned this past year. Whether they’ve been recommended by physical therapists, fitness trainers, or yogis, these are our fave mobility and flexibility-boosting stretches for every inch of the body. We’re talking hip flexor stretches, yoga poses that open your back right up, jaw stretches (because these are important too!), and everything else you can dream of. Keep scrolling for 2019’s best stretches to memorize—and consider bookmarking ’em for easy reference in all future workouts. Your body will thank you. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMfTHG6QeVE] 1. For your hip flexors: fire log pose It’s tough to get into, but once your legs are set up into the fire log pose (also known as the “double pigeon”), your hip tightness will dissolve into thin air. Be sure to keep your feet flexed in the position with your shins stacked on top of each other. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQMEX_nHFR0] 2. For your hips and hammies: figure-four stretch When we asked a trainer who stretches people for a living what
The weirdest wellness things we tried this year (and the verdicts)
December 26, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC If there’s one thing to be said about life as a wellness reporter, it’s that boredom is not part of the job description. Team Well+Good spends hours each month trying new fitness trends, testing new technology, and vetting woo-woo wellness practitioners—and as you can imagine, some of the opportunities that cross our desks are more out-there than others. As 2019 winds down, we’re looking back on some of the most out-there products, experiences, and fitness trends we tried this year. Not all of them got our seal of approval—let’s just say that you can probably take “get busy at a sex resort” off your bucket list—but we did take something away from every oddball experience. Keep reading to find out which weird wellness activities you might want to add to your 2020 itinerary, and which ones you can confidently skip. 1. I worked out in CBD-laced leggings—and boy, do I have some feels Beauty and fitness editor Rachel Lapidos braved a HIIT class wearing Acabada’s CBD-infused leggings and sports bra, in hopes that they’d help ward off post-workout soreness. While one osteopathic doctor claims the concept may not be as bonkers as it sounds, our intrepid reporter says she didn’t notice much of a difference in her recovery. 2. Here’s what happened when i tried “vabbing” and wore my vaginal secretions as perfume for a week When she heard that dabbing one’s own vaginal secretions behind their ears may help make them more
An underwater yoga class in Dubai helped me find inner peace after a breakup
December 26, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC I’m an active, exercise-loving person—but my favorite workouts are sweaty, high-intensity sessions, à la Rumble and SoulCycle. I prefer to be so busy that I’m more focused on the struggle to catch my breath than on mindfulness about my breath’s very existence. I generally use my workouts as a means to distract me from how I’m feeling (whether that’s good or bad), so I can clear my mind and think about nothing at all. However, a recent breakup, which heightened my anxious thoughts, changed all of that. I tried calming yoga for anxiety, and it worked. In the weeks following the rough breakup, I couldn’t eat, I barely slept, and my mind was running amok in circles. Traveling generally would have been a great, Eat, Pray, Love-approved way to escape these emotions, but unfortunately, my ex was slated to join me on a work trip I was taking to Dubai only a few weeks after our breakup. Clearly, that plan was no longer in tact. And even the trip itself, which I had be excited to take, became an emotional trigger. So, when I found myself newly single and sad about it in the UAE, I searched for HIIT-style workouts to help take my mind off the anxious thoughts that wouldn’t stop buzzing: What’s he doing right now? Is he seeing other women? What could I have done differently? When will I be able to think about something else? And while I did
There are 38 million power yoga videos—these are the 9 best you can do in 10 minutes or less
December 25, 2019 at 10:00PM by CWC When you want a feel-good, low-impact workout that also makes you work up a sweat in minimal time, there’s one answer: power yoga. Unlike your traditional calming flow, it’s basically a high-intensity form of yoga that focuses on cardio and strength-building. Hello, full-body burn. Maybe a 45-minute class is fine for a typical class, but all you need is 10 minutes or less when you’re doing power yoga. And while there are 38.5 million videos to choose from, these are the best options you can do in 10 minutes or less. Prepare to get sweaty… and grab the foam roller, because you’re going to be sore. The best power yoga workouts you can do in 10 minutes or less [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNMFPjdUmNY] 1. Rebecca Louise 10-minute full-body power yoga workout The nice thing about this power yoga circuit is you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oar85e9GdLw] 2. Deliciously Ella sweaty 10-minute fire flow You’ll definitely get your cardio in with this fun—yet challenging!—flow. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoLq9c2SnIE] 3. Five Parks Yoga 10-minute power yoga class This power yoga video isn’t for newbies. If you’re still working on your balance, you might want to start with another option. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZhltdpDiNE] 4. Yoga With Bird 5-minute morning yoga power flow Only have 5 minutes? Then this morning yoga power flow is the perfect way to start your day. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpiCU1VMfDs] 5. PsycheTruth 10-minute power yoga workout If you’re looking for a beginner-friendly
The ‘strip, stack, and roll’ method for chopping kale like a professional chef
December 25, 2019 at 08:00PM by CWC Everyone has their method of how to chop kale, and I feel like I’ve tried them all. But if you haven’t found a method that makes your salads on par with what you’ll find on the menu at your favorite restaurant, it’s probably just because you haven’t attempted to “strip, stack, and roll” yet. James Beard Award-winning chef Zach Engel recently shared a kale preparation technique with Feedfeed that allows you to make pro-level salads right at home. In the video, he went over the three parts, starting with stripping the kale by holding the top of the stem with one hand and pulling your fingers along the stem with the other as you remove the leaves. Next comes the final two components that make your greens restaurant-worthy: stacking and rolling. With the stems removed, stack the kale leaves on top of each other then roll the leaves like you’re rolling up your yoga mat. Then, chop it into thin strips. “You can get a totally different experience based on little things here and there. It’s all about the bite—cutting the kale up thin but not too thin,” Engel says. Instead of chunky, hard-to-eat pieces, you’ll have fine bite-sized kale that has an unbeatable texture. It might not seem like switching up the way you prepare your kale would make that big of a difference in the finished product, but it really does. Once you take your first bite, you’ll never make it
Spiritual activist Rachel Ricketts challenges white women to rethink wellness
December 25, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Spiritual activist, speaker, and writer Rachel Ricketts doesn’t shy away from painful truths; on the contrary, she provokes them, painfully extracting uncomfortable thoughts and feelings in order to facilitate transformation and healing. Through this work, Ricketts (who is one of Well+Good’s 2020 Changemakers) aims to dismantle the “racist heteropatriarchy,” aka white, cisgender male supremacy. This is no small task, but Ricketts has carved out a meaningful niche for herself by pushing white women to have difficult internal conversations around their role in global systems of oppression. Through Instagram posts, workshops and, eventually, a book she’s currently in the process of writing, Ricketts aims to illuminate the ways in which these systems aren’t just hurting people of color, but are also damaging everyone who participates in them. It’s her belief that true wellness is not possible until the heteropatriarchy ceases to be, and destroying it has, as a result, become her mission. I rang Ricketts up to experience my own painful extraction, one that illuminated not only my own part in hurting people of color as a white woman but also, more broadly, the role wellness plays in committing what she calls “violence” against oppressed populations. Well+Good: How is wellness defined for you? Rachel Ricketts: Wellness to me means peace, vitality, and safety in an emotional, spiritual, psychological, mental, physical way, a full-body, 360, comprehensive state of being in alignment with your highest and best self possible. How does your work fit under that
50 million dead cells give you dull skin—here’s what you need to do to make it shine
December 25, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC Lately my skin looks like it was forced to sit through a screening of The Irishman. It’s tired, dull, and just generally lacks that glow that normal alive people seem to have. Dull skin is “skin that doesn’t reflect light and feels and looks sluggish,” says Renée Rouleau, celebrity esthetician and founder of her eponymous skincare line. I enlisted both Rouleau and dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, to explain why dull skin happens and how to fix it. There could be several things making your skin duller than that one date you went on where the guy ordered Chardonnay. One of the main culprits, according to Dr. Gohara, is dead skin. “Dull skin usually comes from dead skin cells that are clinging on for dear life—evict those babies to bring back your glow. We shed 50 million dead skin cells a day, they need an extra nudge or else they will hang out on your body for a long, long, time,” she says. “As the skin ages, everything tends to slow down including cell metabolism, blood circulation, oil production and the natural exfoliating process of the skin,” Rouleau says. Not moisturizing your skin properly or stripping it with harsh products (e.g., sulfate-based soaps and cleansers) can also contribute to a dull complexion, says Dr. Gohara. Lack of blood circulation can also contribute, Rouleau says. “It means that less nutrients and oxygen are being brought to the skin cells causing skin to look dull,” she