How to dress for your workout like a French woman

Welcome to My Morning Routine, where Clémence von Mueffling and other good-life gurus share their personal (frequently surprising, often healthy) morning rituals—to help you make your a.m.’s more awesome. 

Clémence von Mueffling
French ex-pat currently living in New York, founder of Beauty and Wellbeing

In bed, the first thing I do is stretch. I took ballet for years and years growing up in Paris, and my teacher was such an inspiration—she would always say you have to wake up in the morning and try to stretch like a cat. It really opens up your breath, makes you feel longer, and it’s a great way to start the day.

I usually start my morning with a little moment to myself before everybody wakes up. These days, I’m drinking Organic Silicium by Dexsil, which I recently discovered though my mother. My mom and grandmother were also beauty editors—at French Vogue—so we exchange a lot of ideas. It looks like water but it’s nettle extract, and it’s incredibly good for your hair, your nails, even your joints. My mother said the results were fabulous, so my grandmother started doing it and now my sister and I are, too—we have three generations drinking this every morning before breakfast!

After that, I shower and choose a different gel based on my mood. I love Dr. Bronner’s because it’s natural—I like his almond oil body wash. For my face, I like to use a spritz of thermal water. After my shower, I use a lot of cream—you have to make sure to also put it on the neck and décoletté. Oh, and I always use SPF. Something that’s very important—and this runs in the family—is my hair brush. I’ve never been able to use anything besides Maison Pearson. No other brush has such great results—I’ve been faithful to it forever.

Breakfast is family time. I alternate between either Le Pain Quotidian—they have a great gluten-free loaf that I love and I eat with either very creamy honey or coconut butter—or I’ll make my own granola. The best recipe I’ve tried so far is from Sarah Wilson, the author of I Quit Sugar. Once in a while I splurge on a pan chocolat. Even though I’ve been in the US for 10 years, nothing can replace it—not a bagel or a muffin or a pancake. Pan chocolat is a must.

After I drop my kids off at school I either go directly to the office or the gym. I love Pilates and I also train with Katherine Greiner of KGBody—I’ve known her for years. Katherine is not only good with dance cardio; she knows so much about general wellness, and we’ll often exchange books or recipes. She’s even contributed to my site.

Buteven if I’m going to the gym before work, I always wear my work clothes—I think that’s a very French thing. I have a hard time being out in my gym clothes on the street.

Whether you’re into athleisure on the street or not, these are the 5 activewear trends you need to try in 2017. And these are 7 super-chic outfits that prove you can wear sneakers to work.