It’s mid-February already! And just in case you are struggling with your New Year’s resolution of living a healthier, more balanced life this year, you are not alone!
January is widely known to be the busiest month in the health and fitness industry. Many gyms actually double their sign-ups during that month. But come February or even March many have given up on their new routine and lost their initial motivation and interest. Keeping up your motivation is important but so is having engaged in the right sport or fitness program in the first place.
There are so many great programs to choose from nowadays. From Yoga to Kick boxing, to Pilates and Pure Barre, just to name some exotic ones as well. Pilates and Pure Barre seem to be leading the line these days, and are part of the “in” fitness programs. While Pure Barre is a fairly new exercise technique, Pilates has been around since the beginning of the 20th century.
Pilates used to be an exclusive training program for the professional dance community to condition dancers, but also to help them when they were injured.Joseph Hubertus Pilates, a German national with Greek roots, had invented and promoted his Pilates method of physical fitness in the early 20th century, and refined his technique after he had left Europe and settled in New York where he founded the first Pilates studio.
According to Wikipedia, Pilates conditions the body helping it “to build flexibility and long, lean muscles, strength and endurance in the legs, abdominals, arms, hips, and back.” It “… is a method of exercise and physical movement designed to stretch, strengthen, and balance the body.” (www.pilatesmethodalliance.org/about-pilates)
Having started out as a very special training regimen for only a particular group in its beginnings, Pilates is now widely available, and is being offered at many Fitness studios as well as dedicated Pilates studios. One can find many books on the technique as well, but joining a class definitely helps to get the basics down.
Pilates, Yoga and Co. is of course not to everyone’s liking, and many may just prefer a traditional workout. To keep the momentum going, and not call it quits already early in the year, make it fun and choose doing your workout routine in the outdoors, for example at the beach: Jogging along the sandy beaches or a training session with a personal trainer, who knows you and can work solely on your specific workout needs. Los Angeles based German fitness coach Christian Klugmann offers exactly this: A training session right at Venice Beach. See for yourself in the RTL – Explosiv interview.
Get inspired and keep these muscles working… Happy February!
Metropolis II by Chris Burden has opened to the public Saturday, January 14, 2012. It’s an experience! Should you be in L.A. for the weekend, do pay LACMA a visit and check out this outstanding exhibition. An “elaborate system of 18 roadways including one 6-lane freeway and HO scale train tracks…” and 1200 custom manufactured die-cast cars make you feel like being in the midst of a mini New York or Los Angeles . An impressive structure of steel, aluminum, shielded copper wire, glass, plastics, wood and even legos take the viewer with amazement. One can spend quite some time discovering all kinds of different buildings and world landmarks like the Eiffel tower and Saint Basil’s Cathedral on the Red Square in Moscow.
This upcoming Monday is part of Target Free Holiday Mondays, which offers free entrance to all LACMA shows and a variety of children activities throughout the day. Not only will you get a look at this amazing architectural design gem, but your kids will have a moment of awe and can continue the day at LACMA with all kinds of other fun activities.
NEXGEN the LACMA Youth membership lets accompanying adults visit for free
By the way, should you have children at the ages of 3-18, get them a NEXGEN membership. It’s a free membership for children and allows one accompanying adult per child to visit LACMA for free.
My son and I just spent a great day at LACMA and actually could take a sneak preview on Metropolis II on Friday, when LACMA offered a special member preview day before the official opening of Metropolis II yesterday.
We continued our LACMA adventure with viewing the art collection at the Broad Contemporary Art Museum. Already the building with its contrasting red elements and the steep escalator, that my son named the ‘escalator to the sky’ is a delight for the eye. Inside, one can experience the fascinating paintings and sculptures of so many famous artists like Jeff Koons, Baldessari and more.
Should you love Expressionism, then walk over to the Ahmanson building. The Rifkind Gallery for German Expressionism offers quite a selection of Kirchner, Pechstein and Co. An entire small exhibit is dedicated to Ludwig Meidner: Ecstatic Expressionism, which will be on view until April 15th. Quite an impressive selection of other representatives of modern art can be found here on level 2 as well. From Picasso, Klee, Otto Dix to Motherwell, Rothko, Pollock, Sam Francis and Liechtenstein.
“Telling the story of the birth of the LA art scene” – PACIFIC STANDARD TIME at LACMA
German design bei Kem Weber - Desk & Chair
California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way” is another exhibition that should be on your agenda. As part of Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 it gives a chronological overview through the many historical highlights that shaped California Design.
CaliforniaGermans wishes everyone a healthy and prosperous 2010 filled with joy and happiness !!!
Ring in the new year with a traditional “Wiener Neujahr’s Konzert”. On Saturday, January 2, 2010 at 8pm: “Salute to Vienna” is a concert inspired by Vienna’s world famous New Year’s Concert. Get your inspiration this year at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Tickets: 1-800-545-7807
Welcome to CaliforniaGermans, the blog for Germans, Austrians, Swiss and everyone else who enjoys being part of the German speaking communities in all of California.
I hope that this is the beginning of a busy and engaging platform where ideas, tips and stories and much more will be exchanged about life here in California.
For many of us this means a life far away from our families, friends and also traditions. Life here in such a wonderful State of the USA can be so exciting but also challenging at times. I am sure we all have our stories…
I look forward to an enriching exchange amongst all of us.
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