I’m flying home today! Woooohoooo! After 20 days on the road, meeting hundreds of amazing faces to celebrate my newest cookbook Juli Bauer’s Paleo Cookbook, and stuffing my face with all kinds of food, I finally get to go home to see my guy and my pup. What a great day! Thank you to everyone that came out and got a booked signed! Your support means so much and we feel so lucky to have been able to travel all over to meet you guys!
Now let’s get to the workouts! Working out while on the road for book tour was surprisingly easy and fun. We got to workout almost every day, whether that workout was in a CrossFit gym, hotel gym, Orange Theory gym or just outside, we stayed active to make sure we could enjoy every moment…meaning eating everything. While on tour, I tried Orange Theory Fitness for the first time because Vanessa doesn’t like CrossFit anymore. That hoe. Luckily, I loved OTF. What’s not to love? You get to run sprints, lift some weights, and do all kinds of interval training on the rower and treadmill. I dig it. I ended up buying a 10 pass so I could do it whenever I wanted while on tour and once I got back home.
So here’s the thing, in NO WAY am I not doing CrossFit anymore. Never. With CrossFit, you’re continuously lifting weights, running sprints, rowing, doing gymnastics, and working on balance, agility, accuracy, and coordination…sometimes all in one day. CrossFit has helped me get stronger, gain muscle, push myself, and know that I can work harder in the gym as well as outside the gym. No way would I ever give that up. CrossFit is my family, my love (truly) and my second home.
In the two weeks of my Orange Theory workouts, I always left completely sweaty, tired, and felt like I worked my ass off. I love that the class flies by, that you are constantly doing different things including rowing, running and lifting weights, and you are doing some great interval training. I think my body actually leaned out a little bit during OTF (but I had to gain that muscle first with CF to be able to lean out and that was probably just me losing some muscle as well from lifting less).
What I didn’t like (after dropping in at 4 different OTF gyms in 4 different cities) is that the staff isn’t always friendly. All the coaches were friendly and motivating, but when I would walk in to the front desk to check in, I would continuously get a look like I didn’t belong there. Not a “Hello, what can I help you with?” just a stare with no smiling. Thinking back to when I first started working out, that sort of poor customer service would have made me really intimidated and pushed me away from that gym. (PS – I’ve totally seen this happen in CF gyms as well) I also like and dislike the heart rate monitor system. I love seeing how many calories I’ve burned and splat points I’ve earned (even though I don’t know what those mean) and I love that they send you an email with a summary of your hour workout, it makes me work harder each class. What I don’t like is that the coaches would tell me that I was in the red zone for too long. Meaning I was at my max heart rate for too long. With CrossFit, you’re doing that all.the.time. I literally never feel like I can breathe or catch my breath in CrossFit and I love that, it means I’m working my ass off. So to be told to work less hard doesn’t make much sense to me. They tell you that you want to stay in the green zone more because that’s the fat burning zone. Either way, I’m going to work as hard as I want to in class, even if that means I’m in the red zone for most of the class.
In the end, I really like OTF and I will do is as a supplement to CrossFit. I use CF to gain muscle, for a great overall workout (never do I have to say, “Oh, I need to do my cardio today” because you’re constantly doing that with CF while gaining strength at the same time), and to be able to do more stuff, be more active and live longer. But I like OTF for a different kind of workout, for those days that I don’t feel like lifting as heavy since they don’t use barbells. I think both are great, both have pros and cons, and you will see results from both.
Holy sh*tcakes, that was a long post! But there’s still way more to go! I’ll be sharing what my OTF summaries looked like (since I don’t remember exactly what we did in each class) AND THEN at the bottom of the post, I’m sharing my new favorite workout music, some of my favorite workout clothes right now, and what I ate in a day while touring!
Sunday – Rest day – Early morning flight from Seattle to Chicago
Monday – Orange Theory in Chicago off Granville! This workout was goooood and the staff was crazy friendly. We first started off on the treadmills and had running and rowing sprints. At one point, we were sprinting at a 15% grade and it felt like I was back in Colorado doing a CrossFit workout. Verdict: I loved it. After running and rowing, we did a little lifting of chest and back with weights and TRX. With OTF, they always tell you to get a perfect pyramid when it comes to your grey, blue, green, orange and red scale. They say being mostly in the green is best because you burn the most calories later on. Something like that, I only half listened. Obviously, I like being in the red more because the red is what running at a 15% grade feels like. So I just do that instead.
Tuesday – Orange Theory in Chicago off Granville one more time. This workout was just a little tad easier than the day before. It included running, then sprinting, then lots of rowing. Afterwards we did lots of legs with TRX and body weight. I really liked my coach that day because he would see that something wasn’t challenging enough and give me something else to try. So instead of doing rows on the TRX, he had me do one arm row. Or instead of squats, he would make me do TRX pistols with a jump. I dig that guy. And he played the song Diva by Beyonce which made me want to hug him.
Wednesday – Soooooo we had an Orange Theory class booked and theeeeen….we went to brunch instead. We would have had to go to an early class and eating an eggs benedict just seemed more enjoyable before hopping on a flight to Austin. PS Chicago Midway’s security lines are out of control. Becoming part of TSA pre-check was the best thing I could have ever done for myself for this book tour.
Thursday – Since working out didn’t happen on Wednesday, we booked an Orange Theory off Four Points in Austin, TX (another unfriendly staff, which is so strange in TX since everyone is happy there) to burn off everything we had ate the night before at Salty Sow. That restaurant is so out of control good. Our OTF class was super fun: run sprints – row sprints – jumping squats, then we did a bunch of leg and ab work for the lifting portion. This was my best workout so far, calorie wise. I don’t know what any of the rest of it means, but I know I pushed hard. I obviously sucked at the perfect pyramid again. A woman told me on IG that being the red zone for that long is too dangerous…I’m obviously still alive.
Friday – Another Austin OTF workout with unfriendly staff. Bummed me out since the coach was super great! Are you bored with looking at these stats? My b. Almost to more fun stuff!
Saturday – No workout, just brunch then a 4 hour drive from Dallas to Houston followed by dinner, movie and sleeping forever from exhaustion!
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Hotel Body Weight Workout:
Since I didn’t get to share any hotel workouts with you, I wanted to make sure you had a good one to do at a hotel gym, this time with just your body (no weights needed!).
7 rounds for time:
20 air squats
15 hand release push ups
20 bench dips
15 ab leg lifts
7 burpees
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Favorite Workout Music Right Now:
Here comes the sun by Will K
Waiting for Love by Avicii
This Summer by Maroon 5 vs Alesso
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Favorite Workout Attire Right Now:
These high waisted pants – truly worth every penny
My favorite tank – I have one in every color because they are so comfortable
This tank that is such a great shape on women
These capris that are such a fun color
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What I Ate in a Day:
This daily log of what I ate is a pretty good representation of what it’s been like on book tour. Healthy meals in the morning then once night comes on and we are ready to have a good dinner, we get down on some food. Whenever I’m eating like this, I just try to not go overboard and get extremely full. Like anyone, I like feeling satisfied but feeling completely stuffed is not comfortable for me. I think over the years I’ve gotten better and better at knowing how much food is enough and being able to put the fork down.
This is what I ate on Tuesday, my last full day in Chicago! Since we had a free day, we were able to do whatever we wanted. Which meant we explored the city. Fun fact about me…I hate big cities. Sure, they’re cool to look at and the hustle and bustle of many people walking at quick paces and running into each other is quite exciting, but I hate it. Driving downtown sucks, parking downtown costs more than the rental car, and everything is overpriced. Anxiety level: high. But Vanessa loves sh*t like that. So I did it for her. I braved the exhausting downtown atmosphere so we could take pictures in front of the Bean and be touristy. Because I love her. Just kidding, I hate her guts.
The morning started off rough. We both didn’t want to get out of bed, even though our Airbnb mattresses were similar to sleeping on a wood cot. Alas, we kept sleeping until somehow it was time for me to get my life together and finish my blog post for Grilled Figs. After that post was up and I felt like I had done something with my life, I snacked on 1/2 a perfect bar. Since we were working out at 12:30, I thought that would hold me over. I was wrong, per usual, and was starving by 10:30am. Luckily, we had leftover homemade chicken and sweet potato from the night before that Vanessa made for us, so I had a bowl of that and a glass full of Stumptown coffee with milk and sugar. It’s legit crack. I hope I can find it back in Colorado.
After a workout at Orange Theory, we went straight back home when I cooked right away. Since burping up curry while running sprints on the treadmill didn’t make me want to throw up, I ate curry again! This time I sauteed sweet potato then reheated the last of the curry and topped it with a fried egg and arugula on the side. Then I ate 1/2 of a coconut butter packet for a little extra fat and took a couple of gulps of crazy expensive strawberry almond milk that we found at Whole Foods. Can’t wait to recreate that at home!
Since that meal was packed with all kinds of fat and protein, I wasn’t hungry for hours. And then it hit me, like a load of bricks. I think it was because I was wandering downtown and hating every second of it, so when dinner was so close, I went into Hangry mode. We made a reservation at Girl and the Goat because EVERYONE said we had to eat there, so we gave in. But to me, if you make a reservation for 6:30pm, you should be seated at 6:30pm. Isn’t that the point of a reservation? It is, it is the point of a reservation. But the hostess kept saying they were cleaning off our table and it would be just another minute. 30 minutes later we were finally seated and I was about to lose it. I don’t normally get that way, but f*ck man, you’re a fancy restaurant, get us a drink or something so I don’t go HAM on someone in your restaurant. HAM. Anywho, the food was good. Not OMGood, but good. We got a bunch of small plates including the cauliflower, green beans, scallops, pig face (no, it doesn’t look like a face, we made sure of that), chicken, flourless chocolate cake, and some sort of PB&J cake dessert thing. I washed the meal down with 3 Local75 cocktails. I know, jesus Juli, get yourself together. I think I was expecting it to be out of this world amazing after eating at Departure and Andina in Portland, but it was just fine.
Once we got back home and my 3 cocktail buzz wore off, I decided a couple pieces of Alter Ego burned salted caramel chocolate was in order. I had 2 or 3. I’ll probably never know because I was feeling too good in the moment.
The end.
I was visiting Chicago the weekend before your tour stop (bad planning on my part!!). You got ripped off with your dinner choice. 🙂 We went to G&TG the night we arrived for a 9PM dinner after not eating all day, so we still thoroughly enjoyed it since we were starving and got a seat on the patio right away. BUT it was not our favorite for the weekend. Much better place just down the street. And someone in the kitchen missed the memo that my food couldn’t include nightshades. It was a ton of food for cheap tho, so there’s that.
Hello! I am a huge fan of your blog! I always refer to your website when I’m looking to mix it up in the kitchen!
I currently do CF and OTF and I LOVE it! I have actually been working at OTF since last Feb and it has been the best job I have ever had! I promise you that if you came to visit our studio we would be very friendly to you! Our members are very important to us and maybe one day you can visit our studio in Stuart FL!
hey juli! i have been reading your blog and making your recipes for several years AND a few weeks ago i joined OTF!! i am so excited because i try and try to be fit but basically i am a slug at heart. BUT i love OTF. maybe it is those emails or the coach telling me to keep going because i want to reach my goals. not sure but in a few short weeks i have definitely seen some big changes and that makes me pumped. i never would have believed i could do cross fit but i feel like i belong at OTF. so thank you for sharing your experience. it makes me feel MORE special for going!!
Juli – I will be traveling to Denver, CO next month for business and I will be staying near the convention center downtown. Do you have any food places you recommend? I know you like mmm…coffee. Have you tried Crave? It’s a block from my hotel. Any food tips you can shoot my way would be great. THANKS!
never tried Crave, or even heard of it! but you definitely should head to Root Down!
I have been CF for 3+ years and by no means am I the strongest, fastest or can master most movements but I still love it. I tired OTF and thought it was a good workout too but I didn’t like that no one talked to one another. I am social person and love the community aspect of CF.
Alice
http://www.happinessatmidlife.com
I totally felt the same way and forgot to put that in my post. it’s weird how everyone just stands there in silence instead of becoming friends. CrossFit is definitely better for the social people!
I just signed up for OTF and am so excited! I am more of an early morning workout person (5am) and definitely want to get in and right out, without feeling forced to gab that early! This sounds perfect- thanks for the summaries!
hope you love it!!
Feel EXACTLY the same way about OTF. I won’t go back. It was too stuffy. The instructor didn’t correct anyone. i just could see people were going to have sore backs the next day. And my heartrate and cals burned are my business. 🙂 I live in Brentwood, (LA). I have some joint issues and find that heavy weights and high impact are bothersome. I don’t think cross fit will be for me. Try anything else fun out this way?
have you tried soul cycle? I’ve always wanted to try that but don’t have a studio out here
yep. also super fun. right across from OTF. it can get $$$ though 🙂 As it does with every workout, totally depends on the instructor. Had mostly awesome ones there. a few ehh..not so wonderful ones. mostly great at SC though.
Sorry to comment on an old post. Dug it up bc I joined
OTF recently and recalled you reviewed it ;). Too funny – you must have stayed near Andersonville (Chicago) on your tour! I joined the OTF in edgewater and love it and agree everyone is super friendly! I live in A-ville and stay away from Downtown whenever possible! Oftentimes the really cool boutique gyms are only downtown (soul cycle/ flywheel etc) so I was thrilled when the OTF opened on Granville 🙂
Midway is indeed the worst. I usually have priority access but they got rid of the line so global entry and TSA pre check were musts (I work and travel as a consultant). That being said, I prefer midway over OHare…
Anywho if you ever come back I have some great recommendations for food and eats around Andersonville and away from downtown 😉
Also – your chicken bacon Alfredo rocks! My husband – who hates coconut loved it.
And before I go – thanks for sharing your workouts and eats. I know you get grief sometimes but I think overall people appreciate it A lot of bloggers deserve the hashtag #youdidnoteatthat bc they act Ike they don’t workout and eat cupcakes all the time. You keep it real showing that you work hard to keep fitting into your skinny jeans but also allow yourself to enjoy good food when you travel.
Hey Juli,
Do you (or Vanessa) remember where you got stumptown coffee in Chicago? I live here and have only found it way up in Evanston. I first tried it in Palm Springs, CA so I’d think they would have it in Denver (it seems like you guys have all delicious food things in Denver). Thanks!
Hi Juli, Congrats on your new cook book….My name is Raymond .I came across your Blog when I was searching Cross Fit vs Orange Theory.I saw that you visited OTF here in Chicago .Well it happens to be that 0TF on Granville in Edgewater is the OTF I used to go to.I’m now doing Cross fit and still have doubts if It’s for me.Anyhow , I thought it was funny reading your blog and seeing that you attend the same OTF as I did.Best of luck with your new cook book…..P.S. I also work for Wholefoods????