LA: Eats & Aerials at AIRFit

Hey hey! My vacation in LA absolutely flew by and I’m already back at LAX wishing I could stay a bit longer. Signs of a good trip, right?

I feel like I gots lots to share with you from my adventures here, and the days have kind of jumbled together, so let’s just dive on in!

Disneyland trip is ALWAYS a must when I’m in LA.

AIR Aerial Fitness Review

When my friend Persia asked if I was down to take an aerial class at AIR while visiting, I of course couldn’t say no. Love me a class with an adrenaline rush! Unlike any other aerial related class I’ve taken before, AIR really incorporates conditioning and cardio to make the class more of a workout than if you were just learning the fundamentals of hammock.

The foundations class started with a warm up with lots of stretching both with and without the hammock. It as a good way to get used the apparatus and trusting our arms to hold our body weight.

Before jumping into inversions we did a few strengthening exercises using the hammock kind of like a TRX for rows and planks. I of course loved this, even though planks in the hammock were ridiculously hard.

Then it was upside down time! Our instructor slowly walked us through the inversions and “tricks” step-by-step and walked around the room to ensure everyone was able to get into the poses. Like rock climbing your hands take a huge beating during class and arguably get tired before any other muscle (or maybe that’s just me). It’s also a pretty killer arm workout and my biceps and triceps are still sore.

Some moves are a tiny bit uncomfortable because of how they pinch your skin. I have a tiny bruise on my hips, but nothing too serious. Considering the bloody palms and bizarre bumps and bruises I’ve endured doing trapeze, a little bruise is nothing.

Before stretching we finished the class with a quick cardio song using small hand weights. I liked the idea of incorporating a cardio section to get the heart rate up (if the adrenaline rush isn’t doing it for ya!) but didn’t love how it was executed– you did 10 of each exercise counting on your own, doing as many reps as possible during the song. Everyone was doing their own thang and all over the place.

Like I said earlier, compared to other aerial classes I’ve taken there was way more of a fitness aspect to AIR which of course I loved. After class I felt like I had a pretty solid workout similar to attending barre or pilates… but you know with a flare of circus.

I highly recommend wearing tight fitting leggings/ yoga pants and a shirt that fits tight and won’t ride up. I was in a tank top and didn’t have any issues with rope burns on my arms, but some might prefer wearing a log sleeve top to protect the arms.

Cirque du Soleil, Persia and I are waiting for our call.

Eats

Los Angeles, I love your food. I ended up planning most of my trip around food and restaurants I wanted to go to. As a lactose intolerant, non red meat eating, picky eater, Los Angeles gets me. Almost everywhere I went while here was super vegan friendly and had an emphasis on fresh foods. New York please take note.

Brunch at Hugo’s in West Hollywood was SO GOOD. The restaurant isn’t vegan or vegetarian but labels which items on the menu can easily be made vegan/vegetarian, gluten-free and nut free. Note that like 95% of the menu can easily be vegan (guestimating here but it was a good chunk of the menu). I was overwhelmed in a good way– SO many choices I could eat!! I opted for the huevos rancheros, eggs over medium with daiya dairy-free cheese. Hit the spot. This will definitely be on my must list next time I’m in LA.

 

I’ve read a lot of Cafe Gratitude and how much people love this vegan joint. The atmosphere is a bit hippie dippy and yogi, which I totally dig but not everyone will necessarily. All the the dishes are named things with positive vibes like “elated, happy, radiating”. After taking our order our waiter asked us the question of the day which was about how we were practicing consciousness.

I wanted to try EVERYTHING on the menu, it all looked so good! After careful consideration I chose the eggplant parm panini which was aptly named the “Awesome”. It seriously hit the spot. David and I also split kale chips to start and finished off our meal with warm cobbler topped with ice cream. Heaven.

Definitely have to go back and try everything.

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And now it’s almost time to board my flight! It’s been swell, Los Angeles, see you again soon!