Popflex

February 19, 2022

Something crazy happened! Well, not crazy to most people but for me, I feel like it marks a milestone in my journey. And it didn’t happen all of a sudden, it’s actually been a few months in the making I guess I would say…or rather over the course of a year. It’s crazy how much can change over the course of a year!

Long story short, Popflex asked me to continue working with them as an ad affiliate!

Why is this such a big deal to me? In the age of social media influencers, I really value when a brand that I align with chooses to work with me. I never want to just push a product I know nothing about simply because I'm getting paid for a post. That shouldn't be how “influencing” works. And with a company like Popflex, which has been nothing short of amazing in customer relations with me, as well as incredibly receptive of criticism and taking it back to improve their products instead of being defensive and deleting comments like other companies, I feel I can earnestly tell you my reviews and recommendations of their products. I've found Popflex to be transparent and professional in my experience thus far.

Where do I start?

Over a year ago, I started the 21 Day Tone challenge, having followed Blogilates for the past year prior but not really knowing anything about her programs. I just liked her cute posts but because I am a cheap Asian, I wasn’t willing to pay into things like fitness apps and such, especially when I’m not familiar with them. Listen, to this day, it’s like Ali Wong says, I don’t have my own Netflix, Hulu, or Spotify account. I’m mooching all off my husband’s accounts because I just refuse to pay for it, lol. Anyways, she made the 21 Day Tone enticing because the program was free on her also free to download app, but also available on YouTube. It was an easy just 21 minutes a day, for 21 days. How can you beat that? It was a great way to get into and trial her workouts and I ended up finding that I really do enjoy pilates(something new I never tried before) and her style of workouts especially since they're all home workout friendly in the age of this pandemic we’re stuck in! Not only did I see results from her 21 day program but I was also one of the challenge winners! I was hooked. I ended up buying into her app for the workout calendar at the end of the 21 days because come on, at $3.99 a month or $39.99 for the whole year, it wasn’t that bad. It’s cheaper than my gym membership and that’s already pretty cheap since I go to Planet Fitness. I IG lived all my workouts and in doing so, when looking at all the workouts and post workout selfies, realized I wanted to up my activewear game with more cute colors and styles. But again, cheap Asian, lol. I wasn’t really looking to spend a lot of money. But throughout the past year, I’ve learned that it does pay to invest a bit more into quality pieces and brands. Are they all good and worth their price? No, but there are a decent amount of brands out there that are and each one has its pros and cons depending on what you’re looking for. I no longer will settle for the cheap Forever 21 stuff because I want it to last, retain its shape, longevity and hold up during workouts. And one thing I won’t compromise on either, is good customer service.

Long story short, in the brands I’ve tried in the past year, I can definitely vouch for Popflex throughout all my experiences with them. I’ve had items not fit, items arrive defected (USPS slashed my package, NOT Popflex’s fault), items not hold up as well as I expected (i.e. developed a hole in my leggings) and each situation, when I reached out to Popflex, they were very accommodating, offering solutions in a timely manner. If I wasn’t satisfied with a proposed solution, I expressed that to them and they worked with me to reach a solution that worked for both of us. And honestly, they’ve been great to deal with compared to other companies I’ve had to reach out to when issues arise. I can tell they really do value their customers and audience. They don’t just ghost you or become rude and petty. They really try to maintain a very good relationship with their customers and it shows because none of their responses are generic auto responses when I reach out to them. They talk to you as if you matter. Which is always what I love about small companies and businesses. Everything is tailored to you.

Anyways, during my marathon training last summer, runDisney released their race mascots and themes for each race distance. A lightbulb went off in my head of how perfect some of the pieces from Popflex’s Tropicana collection were to match each race. I drafted up a proposal to Popflex, crossed my fingers and hit send. MY GOD, I can not tell you how nervous I was about this. I was so afraid of getting rejected because I love Cassey and her brand. I didn’t want them to reject me and make me bitter and not want to wear her clothes anymore in my Scorpio pettiness, lol. But lo and behold, within hours later (did I tell you I love how prompt smaller brands are with their response time?!?) they messaged me back and were in love with the idea and agreed to work with me. I was so freaking overjoyed and happy. It was definitely another milestone for me in the books, especially after getting to work with Crowned Athletics last year as well! Just when I thought the pandemic would rid me of my opportunities because I wasn’t traveling as much anymore or going on as many gram tours and adventures, another door opens. The universe is crazy like that. Every time a new company chooses to earnestly work with me because they actually went over my profile and felt like I would be a good fit with them, I feel like a million bucks.

So fast forward to January. I had tested all the Popflex outfits that they sponsored for the races, tweaked the final outfit pieces and everything worked out wonderfully! When I first got the outfits, there were some fit issues as some of the Tropicana pieces were more compressive than usual and thus tighter fitting than I would like, especially since you want to be comfortable for long distance running and not feel like you’re suffocating and have fabrics and textures chafing. You want everything to be tight but not constricting. Popflex was more than amazing at exchanging out the sizes and making sure I had everything I needed in time, to test out and workout in months before the races. And then the day of the races, everything passed the ultimate test, held up for the distances each ouftit was for and most importantly to me, photographed wonderfully for race photos! I was so happy everything worked out because I also hate proposing a project and feeling like I didn’t live up to expectations when I finally deliver the final product. It’s part of my imposter syndrome. I always feel like I’m not good enough for some reason. But in this project, I was really proud of the final outcome.

Now fast forward to today, after all this and the past months of continuing to IG live all my Blogilates workouts and doing a few of my workouts in Popflex pieces too to show how well they stand up in all types of workouts, Popflex is continuing their relationship with me by asking me to be an ad affiliate. What does this mean? It means that I now have shoppable links I can provide to my friends, family and followers who already love the brand as well, and to those who are interested in trying the brand. You can still shop on their website separately if you wish, but if you shop through my links, it helps them know that I was the one who “influenced” you. It also gives me a small commission of their sales, but honestly it’s not that much, but more importantly to me, it helps support me into being considered for future projects and endeavors. I’m excited about this new step because I honestly wouldn’t recommend something to you that I didn’t fully support or believe in, which is why I don’t work with a lot of brands willy nilly. I’m picky of who I want to work with because I want the relationship to be organic and something I can actually support and get behind, and the product being something I would actually choose to use independently of whether I’m working for a company or not. So the fact that I get to partner with a company that I’ve had a great experience with for the past year, means a lot to me.

And one last thing. I’ve actually been recommending their skirts and certain sports bras and leggings to my friends and family and followers over the past year before this opportunity was even presented to me. I didn’t make a dime off any of those sales, was not aware that I could potentially in the future, and nor did I care to at that time when I made those recommendations. I was basing it off my own genuine experience of the product and wanting to pass on a good product. And I’m glad that my audience trusts me enough with those recommendations. So what I want to say is thank you. Thank you for that trust. Thank you for that support. Thank you for being that undying cheerleader for me in this journey since day one. It really means a lot to me that my friends, family and followers have been rooting for me as I grow in this journey. I’m still not sure where I want it to take me, but thank you for being there and celebrating my wins with me. It means a lot that you truly want me to keep going and do more.

My personal faves if you are new to the brand, interested and need suggestions are the twirl skorts (I basically live in these skirts and want to wear them everywhere and not just to work out in, they’re so cute and versatile for everything wear), the supersculpt legging(I swear the ultimate black legging - they don’t move when I run long distances and last through all activity for hours!), their 40 oz water bottles(I really do carry this everywhere as you can see in all my stories and it really does help up your water intake and hydration as well as keep everything super cold), and their yoga mats, booty bands and blocks bundles (pricey but honestly worth it and I love having a set where the pieces match). Basically anything with the cottagecore floral print from their Cottagecore collection I will tell you I love. If there’s anything you have questions about, please feel free to ask me, as I would love to give you my honest opinion to help you select the best pieces for you. I’ll tell what worked and didn’t work for me, what to be wary or considerate of in terms of what needs to be sized up or down due to fabric, compressibility, etc. Please feel free to ask away like all my friends, family and followers do! I’d rather talk about this than look at another unsolicited dick pic and oblivious guy trying to hit on a clearly married woman (because I just don’t post enough pics and stories of my husband, amiright?) I’ll include pictures below of all the selfies I took on my phone throughout the past 5 months since I started wearing Popflex. Only the outfits from the races were sponsored by Popflex, the rest I bought on my own. The photos are to show how they held up through all my workouts; running, weightlifting, pilates, and yoga. I can say for the past 5 months so far, they definitely are holding up in terms of quality. Nothing feels stretched out, it all still fits the same as the day I got them in terms of compressibility. I rotate through them quite frequently as you can see and the colors are still vibrant and beautiful. Everything looks flattering on when it fits perfect and that’s another aspect I love about Popflex. They are great about exchanges to help you get the perfect fit, and right now, they’re doing a “Free Fit February” with free returns and exchanges so you can find the perfect fit. I do find sometimes shipping does take a while, especially during launch periods but right now, their shipping seemed to be fast when processing orders lately since we’re not in the middle of a major launch. I would recommend to buy both sizes if you’re in between and returning the one you don’t want, especially if you’re impatient like me and don’t want to wait for the exchange. I always want to wear new workout clothes right away because it’s so motivating and makes me really want to work out.

If you’re interested in shopping for Popflex products through my link and supporting me, just click here for the link and let me know below or message me so I can thank you personally for your support. Truly. I appreciate and it means a lot that you would put your trust in me. Happy shopping and I hope you enjoy all the goodies. And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them below or message me on my IG! Again, thank you guys so much for helping unlock these opportunities for me. Last year when I started the 21 Day Tone, I was simply just looking to try out a new workout and then spiraled into wanting new activewear to pretty up my workout clothes. Somehow one thing led to another, and here we are today. It’s crazy how much can change in a year that you never expected it to. I would have never thought I would be going in this direction but I really truly love when I am able to work with a brand that I can truly trust, get behind and support, as I never want to be someone who blindly promotes a product I have no experience with, just to make a dumb quick buck. I always want to give you my earnest opinions and recommendations when I love something. And I love that I get to do that with something I definitely test and use every day to be able to bring you that value. Again, thank you thank you thank you to everyone who tunes in to my IG lives, cheers me on during my races, sends me messages often to encourage and show support and just being there to always root me on and show me you care. It means a lot and you don’t know the impact you have on this stranger’s life. 💖💖💖

#21DayTone Blogilates Challenge

January 24, 2021

I stumbled upon Blogilates sometime in the past year on Instagram through their algorithm suggesting me more fitness accounts as I strayed away from cosplay and more towards health and fitness. I clicked on follow cause her pages were cute but didn’t know much about her brand. I learned more when she came out with 90 day challenge/365 day post about all the harsh criticism and controversial hate she received when first started the challenge.

It resonated with me because I received similar discouragement when I first decided to lose weight, get healthy and start running. I was told a lot of negative things, which I thought were really ridiculous. While some may have been well-intentioned like the whole “you don’t need to lose weight, you look fine!” and the “running is bad for your toes, they’ll fall off!” , ultimately the decision is up to me on what I choose to do with my body and how I want it to look, whether it be out of vanity, aesthetics or simply overall physical and mental heath. People trying to give you unsolicited input on what they think you should do with YOUR life and body, especially when you’re trying to better yourself, is a lot of horse shit. If you want to try something new, do it. Don’t get discouraged by someone telling you you shouldn’t or that you can’t. Do it twice and take pictures. It doesn’t matter how someone else thinks and feels about YOUR body. It matters that YOU yourself are comfortable in your own skin. (And just a disclaimer here, I’m talking about healthy, sustainable habits, not eating disorders or unhealthy toxic things people doe in the fitness world. For these issues, please seek professional help.)

Back to the point though. Her original post was about how she wanted to change her own eating habits to something more sustainable and tone her body even further than what it already was. She was already thin to begin with and that’s where all the hate came flooding in, accusing her of not being body positive and causing harmful body image. I hate this because I also am considered thin by the general population but in my own skin, I always feel like there’s room for improvement. I’m not looking to lose a lot of weight but I do prefer to be leaner. I just want to eat without looking like I had 3 thanksgivings, okay?!!? And her before and after photos of that challenge were amazing! They weren’t a dramatic change like you see in the heavier weight loss photos but it’s what I deal with on the yo-yo-ing of my own weight. I struggle with trying to maintain my weight at a constant number because it’s very prone to bloat with what I eat. Luckily the holidays are over and I can get back to a regular routine.

Which brings me to my next point. I took her #21daytone challenge she promoted for the new year. I did this for a few reasons. First, I was getting bored with the gym. Despite finally being able to go back to the gym in September because they reopened, I’ve been finding it rather monotonous and not as exciting as it used to be. I needed to switch things up. I needed a change of pace. Secondly, she was promoting her new Target line and this #21daytone was a really freaking smart way of getting people to try new things for free and then ultimately buy her line because she makes them look so fun and cute in her videos. I got suckered into it. Her marketing worked on me. As a person who’s usually skeptical of a lot of fitness subscription things and spending more money, to me, this was a risk-free and cost-free way to try out her workouts. And it was 21 days! I always feel like a 7 day trial is too short to figure out if you like anything so 21 days was perfect. And she sells it so perfectly. 21 minutes for 21 days. Come on!

The app ended up being free to download and the #21daytone challenge was free to access and do. And even if you didn’t want to download the app, the calendar is free to print off her blog and all the videos are available on Youtube, you just have to search them. The app just makes it easier to access with it being all in one place and it tracks your progress and tells how percentage completion and everything. She talks about check marks in every video and something about it, man, those check marks DO feel really freaking good when you finish a workout. I was really able to get behind all this as I was looking for something new and fun to try. And I did say for the new year I wanted to explore new areas of fitness.

And I ended up really freaking loving this challenge. The funny thing is when her Target line first came out, I didn’t plan on buying much because I didn’t feel like the colors fit my aesthetic that much as I’m usually a strictly bright pink girl. But as the workouts went on, every video with her using her equipment sold me more and more. So I ended up picking up quite a few pieces. And I’ve loved them so far. The only thing I didn’t pick up was weights because I thought my 5 pound ones at home would do and hers are honestly quite pricey. But god those gold weights are beautiful. When I finally decided okay, let’s do it, the joke was on me because her marketing strategy worked on everyone doing the challenge. Her entire collection was selling out of stores all over America.

But enough of how I got suckered into her genius marketing ploys.

Today marks the completion of the challenge! Spoilers, I made it through all 21 days! The physical changes in me were minimal, the before pic was due to holiday eating bloat. But the weight on the scale has remained the same. I started at 122 pounds and I’m honestly still at 122, but the photos look different. I got rid of my water weight from eating all the processed, high sugar, high sodium foods during the holiday season and got back to my regular sustainable diet of high protein, complex carbs and lots and lots of water.

So my review:

This was an easy program to follow and understand but is also by no means too easy. It’s user-friendly but the workouts are still definitely challenging. But not enough to intimidate you so if you’re worried about not making it all the way through, don’t. It’s not that terrible. I found it a lot of fun to do and actually surprised myself week to week, as the exercises I used to hate and dread became more doable and more tolerable and actually fun as my endurance, stamina and strength progressed. I learned that I prefer compound exercises to isolation ones. I loved cardio ones and the “all-in-one” workouts. It’s funny because a lot of these reminded me of the Insanity program but not as intense and grueling. It ended up making me actually enjoy home workouts more. I really wish this had been around during the initial lockdown last year. It would have helped me a lot when I was struggling to find my footing with home workouts when gyms were closed. A lot of the moves I was doing then were similar to these workouts too, but I enjoyed that the videos had a timer and you had to push through and not allowed a lot of breaks. It forces you to finish the workout. On my own, I take a lot of breaks and get distracted. Through the #21daytone challenge, I spent my entire time doing the workout and no time scrolling through my phone on rest breaks. That’s probably another thing I need to learn to do. To put my phone down and just do the damn workout. I find it easier to do when I IG live my workouts too because it hold me accountable to finishing the workout, as well as prevent me from scrolling cause well, it’s recording, lol. I physically can’t use my phone. I also loves that she talks to you throughout the workout so it doesn’t feel like you’re just counting down the seconds til it’s over. I feel engaged and immersed in the workout.

I also realized I look forward to my workouts more when I have everything down planned. Instead of going to the gym and just picking a random muscle group to work out and go through the motions for that day, I find it really helpful for me when I pick out my outfit the night before, go over the next day’s workout plan before bed, make a list of goals and check them off throughout the day as I go. Oh yeah, and a really cute outfit really goes a long way. It sounds stupid but it’s really motivational when you look and feel on point. During this challenge, I ended up buying two cute new outfits to match with her Target line aesthetics because I have issues. But it made me really look forward to working out because I really wanted to wear that outfit! Seriously something as little as that will change your whole mood. I also realized I have a lot more workout clothes than I realized, hahaha. When I started in 2018, I was rotating through only a few outfits and doing laundry often. Now I have enough to go through a 21 day program without repeating outfits. Someone please help.

Another pro of this program, although accidental, was that it forced me to give myself rest in between my gym lifting sessions. This was simply because since I am a late riser, I can’t always fit a Blogilates workout, my running and my gym session all-in-one before I have to get to work. And in doing so, it’s actually been improving my lifting, it seems. Maybe because my muscles were finally get a break in between soul crushing sessions, lol. I finally went up in weights on both the leg press and my deadlifts and crushed it! This was really exciting the other day because I was feeling stuck in a plateau for a little bit. The cross training seemed to have really helped. I’m excited to see progress already showing this early in 2021.

And one last thing I learned from this program! It really helps working out with others, even if virtually! I had a group of girls do this challenge with me and I really absolutely LOVED seeing everyone tag me daily as they checked off their workouts. It’s crazy. Watching someone else win really motivates you to do it too and it really has a ripple effect in wanting to encourage other people to win too. I had my morning workout people tag me before I did mine and it pushed me to get up and get it done. And then after that, I would check in throughout the day with my other girls who worked out later. And at the end of the day, I would try to check in with any one last minute to make sure they made time to get their workout in or made a plan to get back on track the next day. I really loved this team of support and accountability. I hope to continue growing and building my community of workout buddies because I really enjoyed engaging with everyone who participated in this challenge with me.

I hope Cassey from Blogilates does more challenges like this throughout the year. For now, I’m going to finish out her January calendar and continue on with her workouts as I’m loving them so far. She even has a 30 days to splits routine! That’s on my goals list so that challenge will definitely help if I can conquer it.

These past 3 weeks taught me a lot. I learned there is so much little things you can do that add up to make a BIG difference in your day. I’m going to start journaling again because Cassey is definitely onto something about those damn checkmarks. And new workout gear! It really motivates you to work out when you’re feeling your outfit and you’re excited to try out a new yoga mat, bands, straps, socks, masssage ball, whatever! Sometimes trying new things is scary because change is scary but sometimes it can also be eye-opening and a lot of fun. I found that workouts that I hated in the first week, I ended up enjoying later on when I saw progress in between weeks! And social media! Sometimes social media can be harmful and toxic to making you feel inadequate and insecure when you compare yourself against other beauty and fitness standards. But sometimes it can also be an extremely powerful tool if you let go of that and use it instead to build a community of like-minded people working towards common goals of health and sharing experiences. I just can not stress enough how much I enjoyed checking in with other girls, tagging each other, resharing stories. It’s really uplifting, empowering and motivating. That domino effect, y’all.

This year, I really want to focus on other fitness goals instead of being fixated on a number on the scale. I want to get more flexible, further my running endurance/stamina and distance beyond 13.1 miles, finally do an unassisted pull-up, possibly take a ballet/dance class and most of all, continue building upon this community of workout buddies.

I need to remind myself that my body does A LOT for me and I need to start valuing it for what it can do, and that it is NOT just a number on a scale. My body’s worth is not and should not be based on a single statistic of body weight. It is incredibly capable of a lot more.