Gabrielle Kassel Wolinsky

It feels like just yesterday I moved my tassel to the right and thought, “Now What?”. To call graduation the most anticlimactic moment of my life would be a bold understatement. But for a time displayed cinematically as a beautiful experience ripe with appreciation, gratitude, nostalgia, and power, in reality is (also) deeply replete with anxiety, the unknown, and nervous anticipation.

Which Tough Mudder Event should you sign up for next? Take this quiz to find out.

The buzz of counting macros is that you can have your cake (donuts, bagels, cookie dough, and big ole’ bowl of pasta) and make #gains in the weight room, too. The main tenet of macro counting is that meeting your daily intake of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat) is the most important part of hitting your fitness goals.

We all know our hormones are important for our health—but how much further does your knowledge on the subject extend?

Thought so.

Hormones are chemicals that act like messengers, traveling through our blood to control various body functions, like our blood pressure and heart rate, bathroom habits, hair growth, libido, and sleep, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

When it comes to health and wellness staples, Kombucha is as trendy as they come. And it helps that kombucha is one of the easiest ways to get a daily dose of gut friendly bacteria. But what exactly is Kombucha? Kombucha is a fermented tea that is naturally carbonated, filled with amino acids, loaded with probiotics, and has a number of natural healing properties. Kombucha has an acquired taste which non-lovers compare to vinegar, I found that the acidity is pretty easy to get used to once you have started drinking it on a regular basis. Now, I not only tolerate the taste, I crave it (and so does my body).

Most people don’t realize it, but getting stronger and sleeping go hand in hand. In fact, sleep is one of THE most important components of the recovery cycle. “With each workout, you are essentially causing trauma to your body,” explains Doctor of Physical Therapy and Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach Dr. Grayson Wickham PT, DTD, CSCS. That means that every time you exercise you are creating microscopic tears in your muscles, which grow back stronger when they repair. These tears must repair in order to strengthen and grow the muscle tissue back bigger.

Whether you’re gearing up for a Tougher Mudder or The World's Toughest Mudder, those hours and minutes before the horn blares can jack your heartrate up higher than an 8am jump in the arctic enema would, even when you know you’re start-line ready. We tapped experts for tips that will help you de-stress at the start line, implement them to be as chill as your are tough on race-day.

Whether you’re dragging yourself through a mud pit at your first ever half mudder, just pushing through your normal workout routine, or headed into hour 7 of a tougher mudder, what’s more important than your lung capacity, weight on your barbell, or size of your quads is what’s going on in your mind.

When asked why we love CrossFit® training, most of us will tell you it’s all about the community and personal growth we’ve experienced since joining a box. In herds, people sign up to give the sport a try, and end up shouting their undying love for the fitness trend that’s been holding strong for almost a decade now. For those who haven’t yet gotten into the craze, the culture can seem a bit cult-like and confusing; we have our own language, rituals, and insides jokes. And although CrossFit really is for everyone, there are certainly things that only CrossFitters understand.

Whether you’ve been doing of the sport for 3 months or 7 years, here are 15 laugh-out-loud realities you know all too well.

The truth is, you don’t have to be a logging 100 miles or 10+ hours in the gym a week to get slapped in the face with overtraining. When you train you are essentially causing trauma to your body; every time you exercise you are creating micro-tears in your muscles, which grow back stronger when they repair. Without proper rest, there is not enough time for the muscles to grow back stronger.

It’s funny, walk into any standard gym and you’ll see a line of treadmills and elliptical, all occupied, while the rowing machines remain almost completely empty. Which is ridiculous (!) because rowing is an incredibly workout! (Seriously, it burns more than 8 calories per minute). Problem is, the machine looks hard to use and getting on any cardiovascular machine for an extended period of time can be daunting. Which is why at ICE NYC we offer a rowing class (called Arctic Row) that combines intervals on the rowing machine and dynamic sculpting exercises with rowing instruction for 60 minutes that perfectly balance cardio and strength training.

We may be hesitant to admit it, but our morning habits help define part (and reveal part) of our personalities. Whether we’re waking up at 5am to catch up on emailings, applying face masks with the sun rise, or hitting snooze one too many times and rushing to the subway, what we do in the morning is, for better or worse, quite telling. Think about it… the person who meditates every morning is probably the same person who drinks Kombucha instead of coffee, has nailed the art of the matcha almond-milk latte, and loves gramming about the benefits of yoga for the digestive tract. Meanwhile, the serial snoozer (the one who ignores her alarm until she’s got less than 15 minutes to shower, pick out an outfit for the day, and brew coffee in a to-go cup, and find her keys before heading out the door in a frenzy) is likely the same person who just never seems to have enough time or energy for her hefty to-do list.

Wanna burn cals, build muscles, smile your way through a workout, and literally better your life? Grab your tough (or wanna-be tough) friend, coworker, or partner and hit the mud. Experience-based workouts are sure to not only plaster a goofy grin to your face, but according to research, boost your health. With elements of both competitiveness and camaraderie, team experiences like Tough Mudder truly put you in a "for the good of the group" mindset and are quite simply, crushing it.

Ever since Kristen Stewart’s epic Saturday Night Live skit involving Totinos pizza rolls and some lady-on-lady action, we’ve been letting our ladyboners fly free.

Whether you’re (as Kristen puts it) “like, so gay, dude,” looking for a steamy threesome with your boo, or interested in taking a solo dip in the lady-pond, making a move on your girl crush can be scary as hell in real life.

CrossFit® exploded onto the fitness scene in 2000, and it’s been nothing short of a phenomenon ever since. But just because you might not have a local CrossFit® box (a.k.a. gym)—or don’t want to shell out the often-expensive membership—doesn’t mean you can’t make its fast-paced, functional workouts a part of your routine.

“CrossFit® workouts are scalable so exercisers of all fitness levels, technical abilities, and strength, can benefit from them,” says Liz Adams, head coach at ICE NYC Tribeca and three-time regional CrossFit athlete. And there are plenty of WODs (‘workout of the day’) that require just your body weight and only basic equipment. The cardinal rule of these workouts (whether you’re at a box or on your own): Technique first, consistency second, and intensity last, she says.