When I set out to discover what the Recreation Center had to offer for group exercise, I attended three sessions: the 30 minute body, insanity and cardio kickboxing. If you’re looking for great cardio, muscle toning and body-weight exercises, these classes are for you. They were somewhat challenging, but I felt ready for more after five minutes of rest at the end of each class. On a difficulty scale of one to 10, one being that you might as well sit in a hot classroom and 10 being the legendary workout, from “300,” I would rate these three courses at around six.
Each uses energetic music like hip-hop to keep people focused and in time with the exercises. Furthermore, the instructors are enthusiastic about the struggle that the students subject themselves to. Even the instructor, who was recovering from the “UMass plague,” sounded perky. Many of the class-goers chat before and after, so these courses could be good social events for those looking for new friends.
You can also use others to measure your pace while you are spurred on by the fear of looking like a lethargic slug. However, as packs of women filed into the first class, I began to realize that I was the only guy in attendance.
The 30 minute body routine began with a decent stretching session. As a guy, the legs and back portion proved difficult while the women seemed to breeze through it, however the opposite held true for the upper body work. The emphasis on the lower body, with slow and controlled movements, lying down constantly and curved motions akin to yoga oriented the class toward women. While everything tired the muscles, few of the participants were actively sweating and our energetic instructor had enough breath throughout to speak to us.
That she was able to walk around and encourage us while doing the workout herself indicates its simplicity and relative ease. The only demanding aspect was the lack of breaks. Regarding difficulty, I would rate this as a five. While not challenging to anyone in good shape, the atmosphere was suitable for anyone, whether you are out of shape or maintaining your current level of fitness.
The insanity workout is wonderful for cardio training. However, I should mention that almost everything involves the calves, though most other muscles were utilized as well. While I can see how the cardio, leg and toning work appeal to women, I recommend it to men too. The class is difficult enough to challenge many people at all fitness levels. There is flexibility for going at your own pace and, while you could slow, the group environment will push you to try your hardest. Overall, I would give this a six and a half on the difficulty scale and recommend it to people in good shape or anyone trying to get there.
To clear up the rare misconceptions that I’ve heard, cardio kickboxing is not a combat-oriented class. The class description makes no pretense of that and nothing that they do has any use in terms of self-defense. This is just a workout that imitates fighting if you stretch your imagination, as it references strikes and no technique is involved. It was not terrible to do nor was it easy and you could choose your own pace.
The instructor announced that the participants may rest or grab water whenever they felt it was necessary. Just by stating this, the participants are given an out and this will demotivate them. If someone has a condition that requires rest, they will know when to stop and hopefully warn the instructor beforehand. The instructor gave the class members an excuse to give up early. Furthermore, I was horrified to see that when the students were throwing roundhouse kicks, they failed to pivot on their feet, which can cause permanent damage to their knees by straining or tearing their joints. However, the instructor assures me that the issue is being remedied and, as a yoga instructor, she is aware of the dangers. At the end of the day, I would give this workout a six, just mind your legs.
I was anticipating genders to mix and to have perhaps one class of guys being shouted at and abused into killing themselves in the workout. These courses are not like that in any way. They are good for cardio and lower body work. I would recommend insanity for anyone and the 30 minute body for people looking for a light workout. Push yourselves through them to make yourself stronger and stay fit.
Matthew Hlady can be reached at [email protected].
