FASHION Magazine

I might not be competing in the 2010 Games (at under one month to go, I think I missed the boat), but it’s never too late to brush up on my snowboarding skills. My favourite place to do just that was at Roxy’s two-day all girls All Star Snow Camp (from $185, whistlerblackcomb.com/roxycamps), which recommences after the Olympics break.

For those who like to work up a serious sweat, get thee to Eva Redpath’s Body Conditioning by Dancers class series ($169 for an 8-week series, evaredpath.com).

Our assistant fashion editor, Jordan Porter, embarked a one-month fitness frenzy at Get Spun. This is her final week!

Monday: I can’t believe I have made it (alive) to my final week! I swear I have seen my new gym friends more often than my boyfriend this past month, but with my waist whittling away and my bum and hips in haute condition I can’t say he is complaining. Today is an extreme functional training class, and my trainer Chris has me using the Bosu Balance ball, Gravity machine, TRX, and running footwork patterns fit for a tight end. A high-energy, super fun class that’s over before you know it…just my style.

Love a high-energy fitness class but tired of the gym’s Eurotrash techno remixes? It’s time to rock out. Toronto fashion designer Rory Lindo (of Doll Factory by Damzels) runs a mean Rock-n-Roar cardio and resistance class featuring such signature moves as “the Townshend” (arms swinging wildly in circles) and “Rush the stage” (jogging forward with […]

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Our assistant fashion editor, Jordan Porter, is on a one-month fitness frenzy at Get Spun. Check back every Friday for updates!

Monday: My butt is totally getting perkier and I am one happy camper. I’m feeling toned and confident and I’m now seeing the tough classes as a challenge, rather than torturous. It’s amazing what exercise can do for your state of mind. So today’s class was Extreme Functional Training, an hour workout that combines Gravity, TRX Suspension Training and Bosu Balance training. I’m like the nerdy fitness kid, totally giddy about all the new toys. The class, taught By Chris Cecile, who is so incredibly nice that you feel guilty not giving 110 per cent, is a super combo of balance, weight, and cardio training, and is one of the best all around workouts I have ever had.

Our assistant fashion editor, Jordan Porter, is on a one-month fitness frenzy at Get Spun. Check back every Friday for updates!

Monday: Gravity round two today and I have a new instructor who toughens up the workout by adjusting my incline even higher, forcing me to lift a greater percentage of my body weight. This function adds another checkmark to my “Why I love Gravity” column. The machine lets me continually challenge myself, and it’s good motivation for dialing down the body weight, although mathematically I’m not sure this makes any difference, but I’m not a math whiz by any means and hey, whatever works!

Our assistant fashion editor, Jordan Porter, is on a one-month fitness frenzy. Check back every Friday for updates!

Monday: Starting off the week with a spin class makes me happy–I’m actually an avid spinner and this means I won’t be out of the challenge on day one. Before the class, I almost feel a little guilty, like I’m somehow cheating. My guilt melts away, along with some serious calories, one song into the cycle. The 10-day cottage escape I just returned from, complete with bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream and chili fries, has clearly had an effect and I am huffing and puffing and squeezing the sweat out of my workout gear. I’m beginning to get a little frightened for day two.

I read somewhere that a woman’s mental age is often much younger than her chronological age, and that no matter how many years go by it’s very possible for women to think and feel like they are still teenagers. This mindset is all well and good when I’m acting out the “Like a Prayer” video […]

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After the most dismal start to summer in recent memory, Wii Sports Resort ($60) has come just in time to remind us what it’s like to have fun in the sun.

Beauty director Adriana Ermter tests the Core Rhythms (corerhythms.com) dance DVDs.

I’ve hit a new level: I can actually perform 30 minutes of Latin dance moves without having to press pause and repeat. It’s a miracle and a head rush all at the same time. So while I only achieved three out of my five intended workouts, the fact that I am no longer wiping the living room floor with my butt is a massive achievement.

Beauty director Adriana Ermter tests the Core Rhythms dance DVDs.

I feel hungover. I’m not, but working up a sweat while attempting to contort my body into unnatural dance positions within five seconds of ripping myself out of bed is disgusting. I’m not fully awake, I haven’t had my three-cup caffeine infusion, the Globe lies unread at my door, it’s 6:30 in the morning… it’s inhumane.

But I think I love it.

In my mind, I’m a dancer: My lithe, lean body leaping, pirouetting and chasséing to and from the office, the grocery store, Sunday brunch…

In reality, I’m a beauty director: Sitting on my ass 24/7 be it on a Euro-bound plane or in front of a computer screen. But I covet the art of dance the same way an eight-year-old girl craves cupcakes covered in sprinkles. To be able to make my body⎯the one that trips when walking in flip flops and routinely bangs into my desk, the wall and occasionally my colleagues at work⎯swivel, twirl and undulate anytime I want and look amazing doing it? I could swallow it whole.

Well aware of my not-so-secret desire (thanks to incessant chatter about So You Think You Can Dance), health editor Rani Sheen suggested I give the Core Rhythms (corerhythms.com) dance DVDs a try. Add a little Latin-influenced bump and grind to my current finger snapping, left-foot-right-foot-slide repertoire, and tighten my tushy and abs simultaneously? She didn’t have to ask me twice.