Subscription Box Review: Tribe

Tribe is a service that sends you performance nutrition in the form of protein bars, trail mix, hydration and shake powders among other things. When you sign up they ask you questions about the kind of exercise you do and how often. I was recommended a box of 6 items. This would usually cost £8.65 but through an offer I got my first box for £2. Perfect for giving it a try.

My box arrived within a few days and it handily fits through the letterbox.

The contents included 3 bars, some trail mix, a hydration sachet and a shake mix. Every item has details on it telling you if it's for before exercise for energy or after exercise as recovery. There are calorie and nutrition details on everything. There was also a mission statement booklet which was quite an interesting read.

JD and I had one of the bars each 45 minutes before our Kettlebells class to give us some extra energy. I don't know if it worked or not, I got through the class but I don't know if that's due to the energy bars or not wanting to show myself up in front of other people!. They were pretty tasty either way, especially the cacao & orange one. Yum!

The price is a little high but these kinds of products are usually at least £1 each. These are all 100% natural ingredients, vegan, dairy and gluten free. If you do a lot of exercise then getting these products regularly would be really useful. I like that they have a mission and seem like an ethical company wanting to do good and help people. They are also developing plastic free wrapping, which is great.


We enjoyed sampling their products, everything we tried was well made and tasted good. Thumbs up!

Emma's Exercise Experiments: Nia

I'd never heard of Nia until it was suggested to me on a fitness forum. A very kind Canadian lady offered to send me some Nia DVDs to try. I accepted her offer and pretty soon a package of 2 class experience discs turned up through my letterbox.

JD and I had no idea what to expect when we started our first Nia session, only that it's a mix of dance, yoga and pilates.

The principles of Nia are appealing to me. Its all about being mindful as you exercise and listening to your body as you move to notice what feels good to do and what is too much. They suggest you go barefoot and wear any comfortable loose clothing.

This was the first time this year we'd tried doing exercise at home and it was pretty much a disaster. It's so hard to motivate yourself to put on an exercise DVD compared to going to a class. I never felt like doing the Nia so had to set a definite time to do it as if it was a class.

Also without the other people around us also doing the exercise I turned into a sulky child. I don't want to do this part, this part is too hard, have we done enough yet. It seems I really respond well to a class enviroment when other people might be judging me.

The exercise itself is quite good. We both felt sore after doing a 30 minute session. It's a lot of stretching movements, flowing movements and moving to music. It feels good while you're doing it and the people on the DVD seem to be having a great time.

Several parts of the DVD made us laugh out loud, the woman leading the class has a very breathy voice and in Nia you alternate between doing Dynamic movements (tensed muscles) and Ease movements (relaxed muscles). So as you move she keeps saying DYNAMIC and Eaaaaase. You had to be there, but, oh god :D

I've learned two things from trying Nia:

One, Nia isn't for me. It's just a little bit too spiritual than I'm willing to go.

Two, DVD exercise is no good for me, I like a more organised class because the TV is barely ever free in our house let alone free at the same time I'm motivated to exercise.

If anyone is interested in learning more about Nia, this is the official site - https://nianow.com/

 Previously on Emma's Exercise Experiments:

Gym 

Yoga

Bootcamp

Boxing 

Pilates

Tai Chi 

Pokemon Go 

Aquafit

Outside Gym 

Salsa Lessons

Other Activities 

Family Game Review: Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes

JD got me this game for the PC last year on my birthday and we've all really enjoyed it. It has an unusual format with the game played half on the computer and half with a printed out manual.

The object of the game is to defuse the bomb. You all work together to help solve each puzzle to stop the bomb from going off. Each bomb has 3-6 modules to defuse depending on how tricky you want the game to be. A timer counts down on the bomb too to add to the tension.

A bomb with 4 modules.

One person sits at the computer and they can see the bomb. Everyone else faces away from the screen but they have the manual which tells you how to solve each problem. The computer person then has to describe what they see so the people with the manual can find the answer to the problem.

It's such good fun. There are wires to cut, detonation buttons to press, mazes to navigate, symbols to identify, morse code to decipher and much more. The constant ticking really adds to a feeling of urgency making the game quite tense for the person at the computer.

The puzzles test your communication skills, descriptive ability and your memory plus certain problems are designed to cause confusion deliberately. It's quite clever. You only have three lives so if you make three mistakes and get three red lights the bomb goes off.

We've had a lot of laughs playing this game. It's a really good group game but can also just be played with two people too.

Ratings: Emma - 4, JD - 4, Leigh - 4 and Erin - 3

Other Game Reviews:

Battleblock Theater

Cluedo

Guts of Glory

Spelunky

Mint Tin Mini Apocalypse

Escape: Curse of the Temple

Exit: The Polar Station

Dungeons & Dragons


Monopoly Deal

Emma's Exercise Experiments: Other Activities Part 1

Over the year so far, as well as trying a new exercise method each month we've also tried out a few other activities on a one-off basis. Here are some other things we've tried:

Nordic Walking

We did an introductory session to give it a try. You walk using specially designed poles that strap to your hands. It works out your arms as well as legs and is supposed to be good for your back/posture too. It was interesting to try, you walk very straight backed almost like marching as the pole movements propel you along. Walking with poles is very good for your joints so it's a great exercise for older people especially. We enjoyed the intro session but the full course to learn it properly was quite pricey so we left it there.

If you're a Nordic Walker please excuse any lack of form in these pictures! :D


Kayaking

A friend loaned us her kayak so we took it to a local river and had a go. I was initially worried about my weight being an issue but I was perfectly buoyant in the kayak and had a lovely time on the river. Getting in and out of the kayak was tricky for me because of my knee injury at the time so after a couple of tries I found it easier to flip the kayak on it's side and fall out. Not so graceful but pain-free.

Outdoor or Wild Swimming

I love swimming and being in the water and I've wanted to try wild swimming for ages. So this year I decided to go for it. On a trip to the coast I swam in the sea. It was amazing, if I lived near the sea I'd want to do this daily.

Swimming against the tide was great fun, letting the waves lift you up and drop you back down. I loved it.

I also tried river swimming when we went kayaking. It looks nice and peaceful in the picture but just along the river about 12 bikini clad teenage girls were shrieking about how cold the water was, haha. They eventually got in to swim and quietened down. I also had an audience of elderly couples in fold out chairs with flasks too. Lucky I'm not too self-conscious in my swimmng costume these days or it would've been a nightmare! I really enjoyed swimming outdoors, I'll have to be brave and try it when it's not summer and see if I'm just as keen.

There are a few more of these to follow in Part 2, watch this space :)

 Previously on Emma's Exercise Experiments:

Gym 

Yoga

Bootcamp

Boxing 

Pilates

Tai Chi 

Pokemon Go 

Aquafit

Outside Gym 

Salsa Lessons