How This Sporty Instructor (and Her Dog!) Get in a Super Early Workout

Welcome to Our Morning Routine, a spin on our cult-fave series about the a.m. rituals of wellness gurus—now featuring pets, too. We teamed up with ORGANIX®, America's number one organic pet food brand, to get all the details of how healthy pet parents handle the morning rush.

Chelsea Foss and Penny
Cycling instructor and fitness influencer; nap-obsessed English bulldog 

If I had it my way, I’d wake up around 7 a.m., but I usually wake up at 5 to teach a class. Penny sleeps with me in bed. She’s so cute in the morning because all she wants to do is sleep and snuggle, and she’s so loving. It’s so hard to get up because I don’t want to leave her.

Then I rinse off in the shower. Especially when I have to teach early, that’s a crucial step. You don’t have to shampoo your hair or even wet your hair, but you just feel so much more awake than if you roll out of bed and have sleep in your eyes.

I really like to use all natural products. So I’m big on a brand called Indie Lee, she’s got a rosehip cleanser that I swear by.  I have super fair skin, and so my moisturizer always contains SPF. Coola has a really good one, and a sport version that’s pretty nice.

I always drink apple cider vinegar mixed with water. I think it's great for your skin and anything internal. Talking so loud during class and exercising while you’re speaking is so hard on your vocals, so I feel like it soothes my throat, too.

If I have a later class, I’ll have a banana and some almond butter before. After, I’ll have three eggs, avocado, some sweet potatoes, and maybe some bacon. I like a latte with almond milk, but just a black coffee is totally fine with me, too. I grind it myself and use a Chemex.

I always give Penny a kiss goodbye when I go teach, and feed her breakfast when I get home. Penny’s an ORGANIX® girl. I’m really big on what I eat, and I don’t think your pet should be any exception. ORGANIX® always features organic, free-range chicken or turkey or real lamb or salmon as the first ingredient, and it has tons of omega-3s for her skin and coat. So it’s kind of a no-brainer.

"I’m really big on what I eat, and I don’t think your pet should be any exception."

She’ll run to the couch and do what I call a “morning nap” after breakfast, because then she knows it's time for her walk. She doesn’t want to go outside—she wants to stay in and sleep all day. I always joke that she sees ghosts on our street, because she freaks out. All of the neighbors laugh at her, because they know she’s just the weirdest. But once you get her off our street, she will walk for days.

Penny literally knows how to get to the Lululemon store, because she loves the employees since they always give her treats. If we start walking that way, I promise you she pulls you to the store. All the way from the apartment. Like, she knows where it is.

Want to keep your pet healthy? They’ll love America’s number one organic pet food brand, which always features either organic, free-range chicken or turkey, or real lamb or salmon as the first ingredient. Learn more about ORGANIX® at castorpolluxpet.com

Photos: Ryan Brady for Well+Good