Jeg prøvde (og overlevde) New Yorks 5 mest populære treningskurs

Når det gjelder å trene, la oss si at jeg er det ikke very experienced. The whole cult-workout craze has been lost on me. I’m scared of riding a spin-class bike to loud music and the encouraging (and scary) chants of an enthusiastic teacher. I have yet to adorn myself in a skintight leotard and take a barre class. I don’t have enough coordination for Zumba. But that’s not to say exercise isn’t important to me.

Jeg har gjort en vane å besøke mitt lokale yogastudio - min valg av valg er Ashtanga. Jeg elsker måten det får kroppen min til å føle, og jeg abonnerer helt på Yogi -mantraet. Jeg liker å slappe av og føle meg bra hele veien gjennom min praksis. Unødvendig å si, med alt annet, skremmer jeg lett.

I decided to face my fears head-on and attend some of the most widely popular workout classes on the map. My goal? To get my heart racing, break a sweat, and hopefully not die trying. I sought out help from the founders and respected trainers leading each class to get the lowdown on what exactly was going to happen. Then I strapped on my most fashionable athleisure gear (Ivy Park Sleeveless Logo Body, $50), bought a Bkr Glass Water Bottle ($35), and hit the pavement (or the mat, or the bike, or the jump board). In the process, I learned a lot about pushing past my limits and reaching an exercise-induced endorphin nirvana. Det eksisterer, dere.

Keep reading for my experience at each class to decide whether or not it could be right for you.

Treningen: NW -metoden

Before heading to her class, I wanted to chat with Nicole Winhoffer to see what I was getting myself into. Luckily, she was wildly informative and really understanding of my hangups. She told me to just do what made me feel comfortable and to not worry or think too much. Winhoffer also talked a lot about the different muscles we’d work in her class and why it’s so important to pay attention to them. Because we walk forward, speak to people with forward intention, and type and text on our computers and phones, the same muscles get used day after day. She continued, My exercises change weekly, even daily, which is something I learned to do when working with my clients.I pay attention to the details of the body we might overlook because we can’t see or feel them yet. It’s not just a workout for your mind and body, but also your spirit! I exercise feelings, body, and mind during the NW Method in a fun, sexy way that puts women back in touch with themselves.

Rommet var varmt, og jeg visste at jeg definitivt var inne på en svetteøkt. Men den var også svakt opplyst, for å forhindre selvbevissthet og konkurranse (to ting jeg så som vanlige tråder i kult-fogram treningskurs). Jeg varmer opp rommet fordi det hjelper med så mange forskjellige ting. Det forbedrer fleksibiliteten, brenner kalorier, varmer de indre organene, øker sirkulasjonen, svetter ut giftstoffer og gir deg en sunn hudfarge. Hun legger til, jeg tror folk blir nervøse fra å se på videoene mine fordi alle ser bra ut. Men det er viktig å vite at alle kommer fra alle treningsnivåer og størrelser. Å komme til det punktet tar tid, og alle beveger seg i sitt eget tempo. Dette er en sone uten dom, folk-akkurat slik jeg liker det.

The first portion of the 60-minute class targets rotational muscles around the shoulders to ease any neck pain. The second works your hip muscles, low abs, and butt. The toning and high repetition is what sets the NW Method apart, Winhoffer explains. I like incorporating different styles of dance in my routines, so you’re never bored. My choreography is always fun and expressive because I like making people feel like pop stars for the day. Classes start with toning and sculpting work, and then transition into dance choreography and dance cardio.

It makes so much sense—you work a bunch of muscles and then actually use them in the second part of the class. It’s hard, but it’s really fun too. (And believe me, I never thought I’d say that.) When you’re sculpting, you’re tearing small muscle fibers, Winhoffer says. And if we just stopped, stuff would lock up. That’s when you get cramping. But when you move afterward, you get blood pumping through the muscle. It’s a whole circulation thing and an energetic one. Plus, you leave on a high.

It makes so much sense—you work a bunch of muscles and then actually use them in the second part of the class.

After all was said and done, I couldn’t believe how great I felt. Performing a choreographed dance in front of anyone, much less a group full of hard-bodied women, was previously my nightmare. But it was uplifting to forget about what you look like and just jump and dance around. It’s a class where booty-dropping combines with be-real-with-yourself messages — Og tilnærmingen lar deg føle deg lykkelig, forynget og gjennomvåt i svette. Amen til det.

Etterpå foreslo Winhoffer at jeg skulle ta et bad med epsom salt og roseolje, så naturlig nok gjorde jeg akkurat som instruert.

Treningen: Dogpound

Dogpound Boxing -programmet ble designet av den tidligere olympiske mester Regilio Tuur, og det har en sterk vekt på riktig form. Det freaked meg umiddelbart ut. Men ikke bekymre deg! Det var en kjempebra Fullkroppstrening. Mye til min forferdelse handlet det ikke bare om våpen og å slå ting (selv om det skjedde).

Jeg snakket med Brey Peña, en av grunnleggerne av Dogpound, om hva jeg kan forvente. Vår signaturstil er maskingeværmetoden-en høy intensitet full-kroppsøkt som kombinerer elementer av yoga, barre, motstandstrening, kjernestyrke, ballett og kardiovaskulær utholdenhet. Det begynner med 15 minutters hoppetau og strekk. Deretter vil du gjøre en til tre omgang rundt treningsstudioet.

But then comes the punching. You do repetitions of forward, backward, and side-to-side movements with left jabs, right crosses, and mix of both. It’s a lot to take in, but it feels badass while you’re doing it. Then the class goes right into straight punches, hooks, and uppercuts (phrases I only know from dramatic boxing movies with a central love story). Then on to the dreaded abs portion. I held it together while I worked my core, but seriously, ow.

Klassene avslutter med jubel og sang på en måte som ville ha skremt meg før, men føles merkelig tilfredsstillende i øyeblikket. Jeg liker vanligvis ikke å skrike Dogpound med en haug med mennesker mye mer fysisk egnet enn meg selv, men det føltes virkelig som om vi alle var i det sammen. I utgangspunktet fikk jeg sparket rumpa, men jeg lærte at boksing er en fullkroppsport som engasjerer hele kroppen fra ørene dine ned til anklene. Alle var så Energisk hele veien gjennom, noe som var nyttig og myndiggjørende.

Treningen: Karen Lord Pilates Movement Jumpboard

The KLPM Jumpboard class is an in-studio super-workout. Honestly, Karen Lord’s enthusiasm is infectious. Jumpboard is 55 minutes of intermittent reformer flow and hopping . Det er et polstret brett festet til fotenden av reformatorene våre, og gjør maskinen til en slags antigravity ytre rom-trampolineopplevelse, forklarer Lord. Eller rettere sagt å hoppe med vårmotstand mens du er horisontalt-dette kan være tilbake eller side løgn, flyging av superhelt-stil eller sidelånende knebøy. Um, hva? Jeg funderte på hva dette skulle bety for min trette kropp. Jeg hadde holdt på med treningskurs hele uken, og selv om det var spennende og morsomt å endelig bevege kroppen min, følte jeg skremmelse.

There’s a flow to the class; we'll start you off a bit more slowly, acclimating the group to the sensation, and showing you how hard the core has to work in the process, Lord said. As you go, they adjust the resistance (lighter springs aren’t easier, FYI) to get your heart rate up with a series of moves that work your entire body. It’s counterintuitive, but you realize a light spring resistance is harder because your core has to work that much harder to support the weight of your legs. It’s pretty intense but not ever punishing, just really, virkelig challenging.The trick is in the cueing—our trainers are very specific; they'll give you little tricks. Listening is really important to stay safe and get the most out of a class.

Det er motsatt, men du innser at en lett vårmotstand er vanskeligere fordi kjernen din må jobbe så mye vanskeligere for å støtte vekten på beina.

The end of the class is no walk in the park. As Lord warned me, At KLPM, you’ll always plank at the end. It’s a great way for you to measure your own growth, strength, and stamina. We use weights and jumping simultaneously to get the arms feeling really alive (and looking really good). It’s full body, mental focus, and cardio, so there’s the sweat factor and the burn that our clients really seek. It gets your heart pumping—and hopefully smiling—because the point is it’s actually really fun.

What I found was this class was energizing, sweaty, and really hard to cheat (not that I’m known to do that or anything…). It truly feels like a new kind of movement where you’re allowed to laugh, sweat, moan in agony, and throw your bare feet in the air.

Fellow MYM Beauty editor Lindsey, who turned me on to the class, agrees: I sincerely think Karen Lord’s Jumpboard Pilates class is the future of Pilates. At my first class, after finding out I’d be lying down on a spring-loaded table-like contraption the entire time, I was a bit skeptical. But after the first move of pushing off the board and flying back toward the mirror (which the instructor assured me I wouldn’t crash into), I knew I was going to enjoy the class. Throughout the one-hour session, we switched from our back, to our stomach, to our sides, doing a variety of different moves that flung us backward like we were in Cirque du Soleil, all while really working all of my muscles. I was definitely feeling the burn the next day. Plus, it’s extremely fun.

Treningen: SoulCycle

Ok, så jeg var virkelig livredd for spinning. Jeg ville virkelig ikke rasende tråkket i et mørkt rom og lytte til syltetøy tidlig på 2000-tallet og konkurrere mot mine andre klassekamerater. Men jeg meldte meg på dette, og du skal møte frykten din til slutt, ikke sant?

I talked to Corinne Croce, SoulCycle’s physical therapist, about everything that was going to go down in the 45 minutes I was there. She explained, A SoulCycle class is an interval-based cardiovascular workout. All classes are an aerobic workout that include varying intensities of aerobic output and anaerobic intervals. Benefits of both systems are a part of SoulCycle, which allows for positive effects from these systems in class and post-class (especially metabolically). They all include a proper warm-up and cool-down to safely balance the hard work performed in class.

And she wasn’t kidding—it felt like every muscle in my body was being used during this class. My quads, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, and calves were on fire. But perhaps in a good way? Croce continued, Each leg muscle uses varying levels of activation during different portions of the peddle stroke but they are all always working. All of the muscles of the core, back, abdominals, glutes, and many other muscles of the torso are working the entire time to stabilize riders and activate at different levels depending on what is being conducted. The muscles of the arm are involved in stability and supporting the body throughout class.

What I found, though, is the beauty of SoulCycle is riders of all levels are able to get an intense workout because the workload is based on the riders’ individual threshold. And I really liked that. I worked hard throughout the class because I felt motivated from a unique place—during the ride, you’re encouraged to work toward the goals as a pack with your fellow classmates.

Treningen: Sky Ting Yoga

Jeg hadde ønsket å prøve Sky Ting Yoga i lang tid, om ikke av noen annen grunn enn alle de elegante motejentene gjorde det. Jeg fant ut at strømmen er ganske annerledes enn min vanlige praksis. Grunnleggerne Krissy Jones og Chloe Kernaghan forklarer: Yogaen vi underviser er en medley av avstamninger. Alle yoga stiler har noe viktig å tilby, og vi stjeler fra dem alle! Tverrbestøvende yogisk materiale lar oss lage noe helt nytt, men likevel foredlet med rikt stoff og historie. I biologi er monokulturer svært utsatt for sykdom og død. På samme måte tror vi at å flette et mangfoldig basseng med påvirkninger hjelper oss å skape sterkest mulig tilbud for det fysiske, emosjonelle og kulturelle helse og velvære i vårt fantastiske samfunn. De primære tradisjonene vi studerer og låner fra de fleste er Katonah, Taoist, Hatha og Vinyasa, samt flere forskjellige meditasjons- og pustepraksis.

I was totally in. I went to a class, and now I’m officially addicted. It’s wild to think about how many years I’ve been going to yoga and how swiftly this class taught me that there’s so much more education to take in. There are a range of levels, from beginner to advanced, so there’s definitely something for everyone. The Advanced Tings class is designed for students with a steady practice looking to dive into more advanced variations of asana, pranayama, and meditation. It was difficult, but it felt so good all the way through.

It’s wild to think about how many years I’ve been going to yoga and how swiftly this class taught me that there’s so much more education to take in.

I tillegg, etter en uke med å sette meg selv i nye og ofte ubehagelige situasjoner, følte jeg meg hjemme.

Til slutt ville jeg ikke ha endret denne opplevelsen for noe. Jeg følte meg sterk, inspirert og så trett. Men jeg møtte frykten min og innså at disse klassene er populære av en grunn. De har et samfunn som omgir dem fordi de er nyttige og viktige på sine egne måter. Denne uken hjalp meg virkelig med å komme til ideen om å bruke trening som en måte å forstå kroppen min bedre (og til slutt, meg selv). Det er virkelig katartisk. Så kanskje nå er jeg en del av kult -mani. Men hei, hvis det er galt å behandle kroppen min godt, vil jeg ikke ha rett. Nå må jeg ta en lur og is lemmene mine.

1. Lorenzo S, Halliwill JR, Sawka MN, Minson CT. Varme akklimatisering forbedrer treningsytelsen. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2010; 109 (4): 1140-1147.

2. Newton AC. Utnyttelse av mangfold innen avlinger - nøkkelen til sykdomstoleranse? Front Plant Sci. 2016; 7: 665.