I’ve mentioned my fitness journey more times than I can count but I realized recently I’ve never fully dived into how my fitness journey has evolved over the years! I used to be the girl that had to do the hardest, most intense, sweat-inducing workouts in order to feel accomplished in my fitness journey. I made fitness goals for myself that pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that it was actually doing more harm to my body than good. I lived for the calorie burn, the red face, and the sore muscles, but after a few years I realized my body was craving something slower, more intuitive, and more aligned and that’s when yoga entered my life.

Today’s blog post is brought to you by lululemon, a brand that I will forever hold near and dear to my heart. A brand that has been with me on my fitness journey from the highs to the lows, from the 5 mile runs to yoga teacher training, and today I’m excited to partner with them to tell you more about one of my favorite yoga pants of all time and to talk to you a bit more about how I went from being HIIT obsessed to falling madly in love with yoga.

When I first began losing weight I truly hated working out but knew it was a necessary evil in order for me to continue losing weight. I joined a gym about three months into my weight loss journey and I also hired my first personal trainer. I had no clue what I was doing in the gym and knew I needed someone to hold me accountable. He put me through some of the most rigorous workouts ever and I truly hated him for it! He had me lifting weights, doing cardio, abs, circuit training, and so many bear crawls. After a few months of training, I was hooked. I started to love my workouts and love training. Over the course of several years, I had 3 or 4 more trainers and would train 3 to 4 days a week.

When I wasn’t training I would take classes at my gym. I remember going into a yoga class for the very first time and I felt SO bored and wondered how people enjoyed such a boring “workout”. It wasn’t until I discovered Bikram yoga that things started to change for me. I remember going to my first class and thinking it was so intense and hard and it was the perfect thing for me to supplement with all my other intense training. So at this point, I was training with a personal trainer for an hour then I would leave the gym and drive straight to a Bikram class, this was definitely so insane now that I’m looking back at it but I was at a time in my life where I was craving intensity.

I eventually tired of Bikram yoga, it became way too repetitive for me, and I completely just stopped doing yoga altogether for years. I also stopped using a trainer and found a new gym called Orange Theory, again another super intense workout program but I craved it and loved it at the time!

It wasn’t until I moved to Los Angeles about four years ago that I really got into yoga again and started to really crave slowing down and grounding. I was at a point in my life where a lot of things were uncertain, I was changing my career path, I didn’t have many friends, I was living in a new city, and I honestly felt a little lost, chaotic, and confused. Yoga came back into my life at the perfect time. I found a studio that I fell in love with that made yoga feel like home. I was still getting an amazing workout but I wasn’t leaving my workout in pain, my body was more in alignment, and I felt like I could finally breath, think, and be again.

As I began shifting my workout routine to be primarily yoga based, I realized I hardly had any workout clothes that were specific for yoga! Over the years, I’ve tried endless leggings but I can confidently say I’ve found the pair I can’t live without for yoga! The align pant from lululemon is a dream. They are lightweight (like you almost feel naked but in a good way) and buttery soft, two seriously important things in a yoga pant! The align pant is made from Nulu fabric which is what gives you that “naked” feeling! Meaning you are way less distracted by your pants and way more focused on your flow! The align pant meets my yoga legging checklist, high waisted, second skin feeling, and they are downdog proof! I like to show to my mat and trust that I can move freely without worry and that’s exactly what the align pant offers me!

This post was sponsored by lululemon. The views, ideas, and opinions expressed here are my own. Sponsored posts help fund the work I do here on Fittybritttty.com at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your constant love and support!