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Nicole Riga

Mar 22
Love1

Kindness in the Studio- More than a tag line

By Blog

Note from Niki

I saw a quote recently that said, “Remember what it felt like to be excluded so that you can help build a community where everyone is included” and it really resonated with me. You may have heard me talk about it before, but Flex was built around community on purpose. When I first moved here, I had zero friends, my S/O worked beyond full time and my family was in another time zone, so I would go to all these different fitness studios just to get a little bit of human interaction in my day. I vividly remember sitting in a big, fancy yoga studio and feeling like a total loser- at this point, I didn’t even know what Lululemon was, let alone where to get it. I bought my pink mat at Walmart that morning because I realized I didn’t even have one in CA. The teacher never even acknowledged my existence! I’m this lonely little Alaskan girl sitting in the veryyyy back corner watching all these gorgeous regulars stretch and warm up and I just felt so…out of place.

I knew that when I started my studio that I didn’t want that to live at Flex. As the instructor, I always look for the person in the corner because I know what that feels like. However, I’m only one small part of the equation. You, our beloved flexfam, are the heart of Flex. When you take a second to welcome someone new, you bridge the gap to make them feel like part of the fam and that can totally change someone’s day.

We have a kindness challenge starting soon and I hope you’ll be apart of it. Maybe we’ll start a flexfam revolution and it will spill out of the doors…Go make someone’s day and stay tuned for more info!

Be Limitless,

Niki Riga, Founder


 

Mar 14
Love0

What Class to Choose?

By Blog
We know… staring down our insanely full class schedule might leave you wondering what to tackle first (we have trouble deciding which classes to take ourselves… we love them all!), so we thought we’d offer a few suggestions to make it smooth sailing.

If you’ve never done barre, yoga, boot camp or TRX before, here are a couple of classes to consider starting with:

Barre: If you see Barre Basics on our schedule- start there! We offer Basics at specific times throughout the year and it is a perfect spot to learn (you guessed it) the basics! Another great option is Iso Barre. This class is the perfect place to learn the modality with lots of attention from our teachers so you can flex those limits in perfect form. Don’t be surprised if your legs find a bit a of a shake- it means you’re working and your teacher will love you for it!
Intro to TRX: This is 
your “start here!” class for any of our TRfleX or TRYoga classes. In this quick 15-minute free class, you’ll learn how to quickly adjust your suspension straps, how to modify and amplify, and how toget into the core exercises that you’ll see in class. TRfleX immediately follows Intro on Sundays, so you’re more than welcome to sign up for both to test out your newfound skills.

Yoga: New to Downward Dog? Slide into a Gentle Flow and Let Go class where you’ll spend longer in the poses and experience
 some nice stills while you relax your mind. Silicon Valley is stressful- add some Zen to your evening and feel the effects all week. 

If you’re an ‘ol pro and want to maintain your pace or step it up to the next level, here are a few classes we think you’ll love:

Barre Burn: We’ve added some cardio bursts to our barre so you’ll tone and sweat in this full range of motion class. Expect bigger movements than ISO barre and a twist on the traditional barre class that you may be used to. Jumping is always optional in class, but we think the flying is part of the fun!

Limitless Yoga Sculpt: Like boot camp? Love yoga? This is your class. Carry your free weights through your Vinyasa practice to add some resistance to your practice. This is a cult favorite at Flex and is our own twist on the Yoga Sculpt class. Get ready to flow while sculpting muscle definition.
Circuited: This circuit style boot camp class will have your cardio, strength, functional training and core work all in one 45 minute express class. Your teacher will guide you through the stations while you keep your heart rate up and increase your stamina. You may want to bring a towel, we bet you’ll sweat!
No matter what class you decide to take, we know you’re going to feel great afterward, and we can’t wait to welcome you into the FlexFam. Need a bit of help deciding? Send our Client Success Manager an email here!
Feb 21
Love0

Recipe of the Week-Butternut Squash Soup

By recipe

Hi Flexfam, Niki here. Happy February! It’s so cold out! Today, I pulled up the weather for the week and thought I had accidentally pulled up my homeland- which some of you know is Alaska. You know what this Alaskan eats when it gets cold? Comfort food. The key is to make something that won’t make you regret it later. I found the original butternut soup recipe on Tera’s Kitchen, which I’ve talked about before. (Here’s a link for $40 off). This is my very favorite soup recipe because it is completely dairy free. A lot of creamy soups use heavy cream to get their consistency and it never fails to make me feel sick. I’d rather get my dairy in grilled cheese sandwich form (which, coincidentally, is what I make with this soup recipe). So- on to the soup!

Butternut Squash Soup

Serves: 2 for dinner (bowl) or 4 for lunch (cup).                Time to table: 25 minutes                  Calories: 490

  • .5 ounce vegetable stock concentrate
  • 1/c cup sliced apples (skin on)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 3/4 cup cubed butternut squash
  • 1/4 medium onion, sliced (or 2 oz)
  • 1/4 tsp coriander
  • 1/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/4 tsp salt & pepper
  1. Prep the ingredients. Whisk together the stock concentrate with 2 cups of hot water. Slice your apple.
  2. Cook the soup- heat 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add squash, onion, and apple slices. Saute for 5 minutes.
  3. Add stock, 1/4 tsp each thyme, coriander, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until tender.
  4. Blend. Transfer to a blender (we use a vitamix on the soup setting) and process until smooth.

pro tip- add toasted walnuts or sunflower seeds for a tasty protein kick.

If I’m making soup dinner, I’ll sometimes add mini grilled cheese sliders to this to keep the other half of Flex happy (Bryan’s not a just-soup-for-dinner kinda guy). You can put any leftover apple slices in your sandwiches for some added crunch!

Feb 06
Love0

Recipe of the week: Honey Mustard Chicken Salads

By recipe

We eat a lottttt of salads over here. Like… a lot. Salads are versitile, they’re a great way to sneak a bunch of veggies into your daily diet and they travel well (just put your dressing in a separate container). What’s not to love? They get a bad rap, but if you’re branching out of the lettuce-tomatoes-croutons-ranch salad trap, there’s a million variations to keep things interesting. One of our favorite tricks is to mix in a few surprises- maybe even something you wouldn’t let yourself eat normally so that you’re now excited to eat this giant bowl of green stuff. Case in point? Today’s recipe has bacon in it! Not into bacon? Skip it or replace it with something that makes you happy. You can find the original recipe HERE. We made a few edits because we thought it was too sweet.

Prep Time      Cook Time           Total Time
 10 mins             15 mins                  25 mins

Here’s our take!

Dressing / Marinade:
  • Roughly 1/6 cup honey
  • 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
  • 2 tablespoons smooth and mild Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar (or any vinegar), (OPTIONAL — to cut through the sweetness)
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • Salt to season
  • 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts
For Salad:
  • 1/4 cup diced bacon
  • 4 cups Romaine lettuce leaves , washed
  • 1 cup sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large avocado, pitted and sliced
  • 1/4 cup corn kernels
Instructions
  1. Whisk marinade / dressing ingredients together to combine. Pour half the marinade into a shallow dish to marinade the chicken fillets for an hour if time allows (we skipped this step and just put it on the last 2 minutes of cooking – {no time!} and it still turned out great). Refrigerate the reserved untouched marinade to use as a dressing.
  2. Heat a nonstick pan (or grill pan or skillet) over medium heat with about a teaspoon of oil and sear / grill chicken fillets on each side until golden, crispy and cooked through. (Grill in batches to prevent excess water being released.) Once chicken is cooked, set aside and allow to rest.
  3. Wipe pan over with paper towel and fry the bacon until crispy. Remove to paper towels and dry off excess oil.
  4. Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with leaves, tomatoes, avocado slices, corn and chicken.
  5. Whisk 2 tablespoons of water into the remaining untouched marinade / dressing and drizzle over the salad. Sprinkle the bacon over the top and season with a tiny bit of salt and cracked pepper (optional).

Voila! Speedy, delicious salad that makes a great lunch or dinner. Send us a message if you make it and let us know what you think!

Feb 01
Love0

Healthy Cookie Dough Dip

By Blog, recipe

This may be the most popular “healthy dessert” recipe we’ve ever tried. It’s from our favorite healthy sweet blogger, Chocolate Covered Katie, but we’ll admit it, we tried it rather skeptically. Turns out we were wrong to be nervous. In fact, we were blown away by how good this is.  It’s hard to wrap your head around this snack if you know you’re eating beans, because we would have absolutely sworn it was cookie dough. So what did we do? We didn’t tell anyone what was in it- we just asked our wonderful flexfam to try it and tell us what they thought. The verdict? Cookie Dough. That’s a healthy dessert for the win. When the Idahoan “meat and potato” half of Flex is pretty-pleasing that we make this for him to take to work for lunch, you know it’s passed the sweets test. Here’s our take on it below. Check out the original here.

 

  • 1 can white beans  (drained, rinsed, and air dried very well)
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda (makes it taste like cookies and helps with the beans)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup almond butter (If you use peanut butter, it will have a slight pb cookie dough taste)
  • up to 1/4 cup almond milk, only if needed
  • Sweetener of choice – (we used 2/3 cup brown sugar because it tastes the most like cookie dough- if you want this to be healthier, start with a few tablespoons of brown sugar, honey or agave and work your way up. Sugar free? Sub 1 1/4 cup pitted dates and use 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp vanilla instead- also good, just not as similar to dough)
  • 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 2-3 tbsp oats and ground flaxseed

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a good food processor, and process until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips. Make sure it’s well blended and then refrigerate. We serve with graham crackers and apple slices (or a spoon…)

 

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