Ricardo Suitcase: Better Luggage for Easier Travel

The Ricardo suitcase, with 2 sections

Although I am hearty in some ways - running half marathons, rocking boot camp, climbing mountains, I have delicate parts. When I travel, and pull my roller bag, I get blisters on my hand.

At least I used to, until I was sent a Ricardo suitcase. This amazing travel companion has 360 degree wheels, making it easy to push or pull - basically with a fingertip. I may never require another hand massage!

Of course, the suitcase has other advantages, too. It is neatly divided in tow, so you can put delicate dresses on one side, running shoes and smelly clothes on the way home on the other.  And the bag is expandable, so if you are like me and shop on vacation (or business trips) you can create room for the purchases.

The Ricardo suitcase is great when going down increasingly narrow airplane aisles - you can turn the bag sideways and roll it down, avoiding the feet of the people already sitting (we’d like to welcome first class, premium members, people flying with babies or young children, people whose last name starts with an ‘M’ - basically anybody but me). 

One place where you have to be careful, though, is on escalators. I rolled my new Ricardo bag onto a down escalator and it started rolling so fast it was practically airborne. It’s fine going up escalators, but for going down, I think I’ll stick to an elevator.

Surprisingly, the bags are quite inexpensive - and downright cheap if you act fast. TravelingMom has a deal of 65% off, even on sale prices, with free shipping for orders over $99. Just use the  coupon code TMOM65Off 

Note: I was given a free Ricardo suitcase to test out. Opinions expressed are my own.

Free Fun: Working out at Lululemon

The only thing I like better than a great workout is a free great workout. Lululemon has various free classes and even though I’m pissed that they abandoned Park Slope, the new Smith St. store is a beauty.

I heard about a free boot camp, run by BCL Fitness – ironically, a boot camp that is regularly held in Park Slope. But Cobble Hill isn’t that far and on a drizzly Sunday morning I hopped on the F train to exercise.

The hopping was a theme; the BCL founder, Melissa, had us hopping over our partners while they held planks. This was interspersed with fun stuff like speed skaters, fast feet into burpees, squats and sprints.

We started out in the store, but then headed outside where our group of 8 attracted curious passers-by. They all looked like they were headed to brunch – Smith St. might be the foodie capital of Brooklyn –but we felt virtuous and empowered.

And just maybe a little forgiving.

Days Inn Oriskany: 1 day is plenty

When we planned to go to my oldest daughter's college graduation, we didn't think we needed to come 2 days early. But then she won some awards and the honors ceremony meant we needed to come a day early.

Unfortunately, all the good hotels were booked and we found ourselves at the Days Inn Oriskany. How bad could it be for one night?

Well, we had only 2 towels for 3 of us and no one answered at housekeeping.  The walls were paper thin, but the room next to us was under construction and looked forbiddingly like something from The Shining.

And when we tried to get breakfast at 7, there was no food. So we decided to exercise.

The fitness room had probably last been updated in the Eisenhower era. Broken TVs were piled in the corner, the cardio equipment was rickety and the iron barbells had prison weight room written all over them.

There were exactly 2 small towels and a decent amount of space so I ran my husband through boot camp drills. We used a weight bench and the barbells.

An house later, we checked on breakfast, which was being set up. Stale English muffins and coffee in Styrofoam. We waited for our youngest to wake up and went out for breakfast.

Fitness Challenge: Day 92

If you are looking for a cheap, amenity-free gym with a variety of classes, JKM Fitness, Just Keep Moving fits the bill, This basement room, which retains the odor of those intensely working out, has kickbocking, boot camp, yoga and Zumba.

The floor has a thick rubber covering, so you don't even need sneakers. But bring your own water and a towel - they both cost $1 (the towel is just a rental).

My kickboxing boot camp with Javar Lee was an intense hour of interval training, plus punching and kicking. Boxing gloves and MMA are provided. Most of the class consisted of strength and cardio - burpees, pushups, mountain climbers, sit ups and jumping jacks.

JKM also offers personal training.

Fitness Challenge: Day 87

In the 10 years I was a member of Body Reserve, I never once visited the locker room. the gym, in a bank at the corner of 5th Avenue and Union Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was on my block, so I exercised, then went home.

I recently tried the gym out again. Body Reserve is now 16 blocks from my house, so I finally saw the locker room, along with an exercise studio for spin classes, boot camp, Zumba and other fitness classes.

The locker room has extremely narrow, old metal lockers and showers with empty soap and shampoo dispensers. Postage stamp size towels are only available at the front desk. So I was not missing much.

But the gym has a great stretch room, with stability and bosu balls, a variety of hand weights, mats and plenty of room to do your own exercise routine. The room is also quiet; the music that plays on the main floor does not penetrate here.

Body Reserve has 2 loft areas, one with treadmills looking out over the street and one with recumbent bikes, elliptical trainers and step machines, overlooking the main gym area. Cardio machines are on the older side, with tiny screens, but a selection of magazines nearby.

The gym, an independent facility, has a friendly neighborhood feel. And while there are few amenities (the mints at check-in desk are a nice touch) it is a warm, welcoming gym. Just bring your own shampoo and towel.

Fitness Challenge: Hair Boot Camp

There are many legitimate reasons for not exercising and one of them is that it truly messes up your hair. Swimming, even with a bathing cap, is the ultimate assault, but the dirt sweat (and tears) can’t be good, either.

So I was happy to try out Keranique’s new 8 Day Intensive Scalp Treatment. The serum, designed for women, specifically addresses seasonal and stress related hair thinning, but even if your hair isn’t thinning, the resulting thick, healthy hair is good for anyone.

The treatment has a 2% Minoxidil solution that strengthens hair and stimulates the scalp.

Fitness Challenge: Day 79

Many gyms in NYC offer 45 minute boot camps. While these are a great way to stay in shape, the 45 minute classes are over before you know it.

I found a few gyms and outdoor boot camps that offered hour long classes. These were much more challenging, in addition to being, well, longer.

Now there is a new frontier. P.E.P.P.E.R. Practical Exercise Personally Planned Equals Results has 75 minute boot camps in Central Park and other NYC locations. Breaching the hour long class feels like Spinal Tap going to 11 on the volume button.

Our class, in a bucolic setting that belied the torture to come, started with light jogging - then tapping the ground, side shuffles, high knees, skipping and butt kicks.

We had stations, each with a trainer, to do bear crawls, crab walks, gorilla swings, dive bombs and hopping on one foot up a hill. We also had to partner up, running up a hill carrying someone and doing wheelbarrows. But these were not playground exercises - we kept our heart rates up and worked every muscle.

And there was no let up. Towards the end, we did duck walks (try this after an hour of cardio and strength training) followed by an endless variety of ab exercises.

The trainers were encouraging, the setting was magical and the fitness was unparalleled.

Fitness Challenge: Day 71

One of the signifiers of a neighborhood's arrival is a fitness studio. In Red Hook, Brooklyn, a free community center has a seasonal outdoor pool and one of the most uninviting (but free) gyms anywhere. Red Hook also now boasts a bright storefront gym, Sessions Fit Spin Studio.

Sessions Fit is basically one room, lit by a huge skylight and windows on the street. Half the space is devoted to spanking new Livestrong spin bikes; in the other half, classes like boot camp and body sculpting are held.

I caught the end of a spin class, where the participants used the part of the studio where they weren't spinning to stretch. Then I took boot camp, which was an intense, hour-long class. We kept our heart rate up between strength cycles with jumping jacks or marching.

The studio also offers a marine boot camp, held outside at a playground.

Sessions Fit has few amenities - a bathroom and soft face towels are it - but the mix of classes throughout the day, plus the offer of a free first class - make this a place worth checking out.

Fitness Challenge: Day 68

Almost every day, websites like Groupon, Living Social and Bloomspot offer bargain-hunting New Yorkers discount fitness classes. You can get yourself a nice assortment of gym passes and classes.

I just sampled NYC Boot Camp, an outdoor boot camp that meets in Coney Island, Battery Park City, and down the street from me in Prospect Park.

The founder, Alan, uses playground equipment, hills and steps in the hour long workouts.

My favorite exercise was a TRX-style chest pull, using the playground swings. Without kids on them. We also did pull ups on the climbing equipment, burpees and triceps dips from the benches, and walking lunges through the park.

The partner exercises get you invested in someone else’s success. In one innovative exercise, one person did crunches; the other,
holding her feet down, held a plank.

Your face was basically stuck in someone else’s sneakers, but since you are bear crawling across the playground and running in park where animals defecate, the smell of your partner’s feet is the least of your worries.

We got wet, (it was raining) dirty and winded. It was a great workout.

Fitness Challenge: Day 54

Captain Quinn's Fitness Boot Camp promises to move outdoors soon, and today, a sunny day in the 60s, seemed ideal.

Alas, we were still inside. Avoiding allegens?

The nearby Brooklyn park where we are going soon is under construction, that may account for our indoor class.

But the class was completely different from the last one, with 30 second routines alternated with other routines, each repeated 8 times to the point of exhaustion. Squat jumps on a step then upright rows, bicep curls on the TRX or plank jumps. By the end, my whole body ached.

and with a mile or so run to and from class, it added up to a complete cardio and strength workout.

Fitness Challenge: Day 39

What a difference a few blocks makes.

New York Health & Racquet Club on West 56th St is a thoroughly modern gym, unlike its more dated sibling just a few blocks downtown.

Same basic set-up, with a glorious, large pool in the basement. Same attended locker rooms and amenities.

But upstairs - state-of-the-art equipment, from elliptical machines with individual screens to my personal fave, bosu balls.

And a huge variety of classes. This may be why, at the same time as the New York Health & Racquet Club I went to yesterday, this club was packed, and the other nearly empty.

But not too crowded. Just minutes before a noon-time spin or boot camp, you could get a spot in either. I'd forgotten my water bottle, so I decided boot camp would be easier.

And more like the Marines, who can train for over 45 minutes without needing to hydrate.

I soaked my tired muscles afterward in the hot tub, then used that cool little spinner to extract the water from my bathing suit.

Fitness Challenge: Day 36

Triomph Fitness, in a converted warehouse in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn has a small strength area with machines and weights, plus a studio for a variety of classes.

If you are an early riser, you can take boot camp most mornings. On Sundays, a 'body blaze' class is similar to an hour-long boot camp. We did jumping jacks, squats, burpees, reverse push-ups (going from lying on the floor into push up position) and lunges, sometimes with weights.

Classes are an unbelievably cheap $5 each.

The bare-bones gym offers little in the way of amenities, though it does have a cafe.

For the weekend class, since the rest of the building was empty, we run down halls, and up and down stairs.

The entertaining instructor demonstrated exercises and exhorted us to work harder and faster. He made the time pass quickly.

I was both surprised, and relieved, when class ended.

Fitness Challenge: Day 35

Another day, another boot camp. Captain Quinn's Fitness Boot Camp is an indoor/outdoor boot camp in Brooklyn parks, wintering in a rather forlorn building.

But if the location is bare-bones, (in 25 years in nearby Park Slope, I'd never even heard of the street it's on) the class is not.

Our energetic instructor emphasized the 'camp' part, having us introduce ourselves whie running and tossing a medicine ball. We did partner exercises, like suicide runs and resistance bands, all while talking in different accents.

You lookin' at me?

In one exercise, one person held a plank while the other jumped over him or her. So the camp inspired trust.

The 45 minutes flew by, with sprints, burpees, push ups and squats.

And I found, to no surprise, that I can tawk most easily in a deep Brooklyn accent.

Fitness Challenge: Day 34

Private Benjamin was one of my favorite movies; I love Goldie Hawn, her name was Judy, and she was whipped into shape at boot camp.

You can live out your Marine Corps fantasies in midtown Manhattan and get into amazing shape at Warrior Fitness Boot Camp.

A loft has been converted into an adult playground, or torture chamber, depending on your point of view. An obstacle course has progressively higher walls to scramble over, a rope to climb and a short tunnel that you crawl through on your belly.

Surrounding this is a track where you run, lunge or side shuffle, sometimes carrying weights. An actual Marine, in camo, exhorts you to run faster, hold your arms higher.

But all in the name of fun. These are nice guy Marines (we are, of course, paying for the privilege to be motivated by them).

And there is great camaraderie in the group. I am introduced to the 'squad' and every grunts their name.

The hour-long workout kicks my butt.

Fitness Challenge: Day 11

Back to 24 Hour Fitness in Soho, where I take a boot camp. This class has us doing squat thrusts, running with our hands over our heads, sometimes with weights, (like carrying guns?) and crawling around the studio on our bellies.

Luckily, the gym is quite clean. The showers, in fact are spotless, with frosted glass doors and sparkling tile. The lockers are the kind where you don't need to schlep a lock; you enter your own 4-digit password and set the integrated lock each time.

This boot camp is an hour long. I've been taking a 45 minute boot camp, and the extra 15 minutes of non-stop rigorous exercise is both invigorating and exhausting.