Welcome back to Glowing Review – a column written by a normal, non-influencer person, sharing my experiences in self-care, health and wellness trends here in our community. If you’re new here, I’m so happy to have you! I hope after you finish this column you’ll head over to the Glowing Review archives and find something that fits your fancy. Glowing Review is sponsored by Monarch Brow and Facial Studio and I’m so lucky to have a partner in the project who supports, understands and uplifts women at all stages of their self-care journeys.

Let’s talk exercise. Despite my best efforts to ignore this fact, I really do feel so much better when I’m getting some form of regular exercise. Before you ask me to join your running club (it’s a no) let me clarify that my personal definition of exercise is movement outside of my normal routine. A day at Disneyworld is exercise. Running through the airport to catch a flight is exercise. Walking to the next stop on a wine tour is exercise. You get the idea. There may not be anyone on earth more talented than me at spinning something into sounding like exercise.

Speaking of spinning, I’m recently a proud owner of a “Pandemic Peloton.” You’re probably Facebook friends with a lot of ME’s – one those people who somewhat curmudgeonly bought a Peloton bike during the COVID-19 pandemic. I purchased the bike with three motivators in mind:

  1. I’m a plus size woman who feels judged at the gym. While I realize this is other people’s issue and not mine, a Peloton bike solved that problem. I could exercise – really exercise – and no one other than my pets would be there to judge me.
  2. I would eliminate drive time to the gym + the amount of time I spend sitting in my car convincing myself to go in. Also, I don’t have to remember to pack clothes to go exercise after work. The bike is in my house, and a 30 minute workout only takes 30 minutes.
  3. Finally, this fairly large investment would hopefully be imposing enough in my personal space that I would feel motivated to work out after losing enough staring contests with the thing.

I remember a holiday commercial a few years ago where a seemingly terrified woman was gifted a Peloton by her husband. Thanks to the look of genuine fear as she chronicled her Peloton experience, the ad set the internet ablaze. I personally tweeted at least six things about it. Now that I’m a Peloton owner, it’s time for me to admit – I understand why her emotion was perceived as fear. Getting on this piece of equipment you’ve allowed into your safe space not knowing if you’ll be any good at it or not is very intimidating.

For those who have never done a Peloton class, there are a few important things to know. There is an instructor guiding you during either a pre-recorded or a live session, which is intentionally and thoughtfully crafted around music. Once a class ends, it’s available in the app to take as many times as you would like. There are spin classes you take on the bike, as well as cardio, strength, yoga, boxing, and meditation classes. The feature that I think most people enjoy is the “leaderboard” – the list of other people taking the class with you (live or not) who can see how you’re performing, and vice versa. You can give high-fives, connect through profile hashtags, and more.

I usually hover towards the bottom of the leaderboard every class I take. I’m pretty slow, my legs cramp up, my rotations aren’t fast enough – and I couldn’t care less. I enjoy the music, no one is watching me, and it’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to ‘proper’ exercise feeling fun. I went into the experience hoping to build a better relationship with challenging and routine exercise on my own terms, and I think I’m doing just that!

I’ll see you real soon for the next edition of Glowing Review, thanks to Monarch Brow and Facial Studio!

As an accomplished painter and sculptor, Angela Hugghins brings an artist’s eye to her work transforming how the world sees her clients’ faces. A professional aesthetician since 2000, Angela launched Monarch Brow & Facial in 2016, providing expert skincare treatments, organic facials and lash and eyebrow tinting. After intensive training under Francek Prsa and the pioneering Serbian Master Microblading artist Branko Babic, Angela is one of only a handful of professionals in North Carolina fully certified in PhiBrows microblading.

The Monarch studio is an intimate space, designed for private, personal attention. She uses only organic, hypoallergenic and sustainable cleansers and makeup, providing treatments and simple-to-follow guidance to achieve great looking, healthier skin with a minimum of regimen at whatever budget you can manage.

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