But in this case in particular it is even less my fault, because it was Kathryn's idea to talk everyone into attending a ((Bounce)) session. I merely may have encouraged it slightly because I still didn't have an "B" based sport to write about for my sporty alphabet.
If you have read my post on trampolining, you will be familiar with my previous experience of trampoline-based exercise classes. So you can imagine my face when Kathryn suggested that we attend a class which is in essence a crazy, mini-trampoline based workout session. And it was definitely Kathryn who talked Karen and Krissy into coming along with us.
Upon arrival at the small community hall, I was greeted with the welcoming "Karen is having a nervous wee". Well, if even Karen was nervous... Luckily, another first timer bumped into us at that precise moment, and we ended up making a deal: If it gets too hard, we'll sneak out and meet at the pub next door.
Once indoors we quickly nabbed four neighbouring trampolines in a hall filled with about 20 of them. A handful of Ladies looked fresh out of a ((Bounce)) add, from the perfect hair to the branded leggings. But most of us, including the one brave gent and the even braver primary-school aged boy, wore the standard uniform of comfi workout clothing and ponytails. I felt reassured by the number of hands indicating that they were there for the first time.
After checking out the toilet facilities (all present and correct. Phew), I was ready for the introductory speech:
- Keep moving, because any movement on a trampoline apparently burns three times more calories than on the floor.
- Every exercise shown will come with instructions on how to make it harder or easier, so that you can personalise the intensity of the workout.
- Some exercises and routines will be aimed for cardio, whereas others will be focusing on toning.
- There will be regular mini-breaks and some longer breaks to catch your breath.
Now, I will publicly admit to something that may make me a persona non-grata in various quarters of the exercising community: I'm not the biggest fan of motivational whopping into microphones. Repeated exclamations of "you are looking gorgeous" when clearly every one in the room is a red hot sweaty mess just give me the urge to burst out laughing. This is not a criticism, because clearly these types of sessions attract large numbers of women on a weekly basis and generate an income for an army of instructors. It's just something I've learnt about myself: I need to shut out the noise and just focus on the routine being demonstrated, otherwise I might guffaw despite the tears of pain.
Soon we were all bouncing, trying hard not to jump up but to drive the legs down (don't worry - I spent the best of an hour trying to grasp the concept). The fast paced music and the continually varying routines really worked for me here. I knew that every few minutes I'd be able to grab a quick sip of water, and after every 3 songs there was a slightly longer break which allowed us to catch our breath.
Most of the routines involved a variation of step- and arm combos at high speeds, and at various points of the session I found myself realising that I had no idea what my legs were doing. However, as long as I kept bouncing to some kind of beat, I felt I was surely doing some kind of workout. This attitude was further encouraged by the umber of times we all turned to one another with shrugging shoulders, mouthing "what the heck is she doing now?" or "how did she... and why are they all facing that way now?"
During one particular song, we were asked to run on the spot at an ever increasing speed. I was totally in the zone, counting 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 to keep going and - if not accelerating - at least not slowing down. Suddenly I heard a hoot of laughter from Karen next to me: Apparently, the faces of sheer concentration and determination to keep going and not fall off from all of us made for good entertainment. And throughout the session, the number of laughs and smiles was something I found really encouraging: It was hard work and most of us ended up facing the wrong way at least once, but the atmosphere was such that you could just laugh it off and get back on track. No-one had time or energy to watch anyone else, and if they did they would just about manage an encouraging smile.
Chuffed about not having fainted during the cardio session, I was confident that the toning part would be manageable. Well. You try laying on a trampoline with your legs in the air and... well, I guess you had to be there, but it was flippin' hard! I may have cheated a little bit and just done the laying down part of the sit ups.
Leaving the room, we were all a sweaty mess, but we all agreed that we thoroughly enjoyed it and we felt that we had had an effective and demanding work out. We also agreed that walking the following day might be a slight issue, and that high heels would not be an option.
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| Sweaty Betties, that's for sure! |
1. You do not need any special equipment - just rock up in comfortable, breathable clubber and clean, comfi trainers.
2. And "rock up" you can to an ever increasing number of locations, just check out the website. There are a number of similar classes with slightly differing names, but there will be something of a similar ilk somewhere near you.
3. With regards to pricing, it was in line with the majority of the other classes I've attended so far. What I found slightly less helpful is that it is all run via an impersonal website, and it took a while to resolve what I felt to be a very minor issue with a booking. It looks like everything is run by headquarters somewhere unreachable, far removed from the instructor you meet on the night. the instructor herself was lovely, despite the whooping.
4. Our group seemed very friendly, and as I said, there seemed to be a lot of newbies which made less threatening to me. On the other hand, if you do decide to go on your own, there isn't really time or breath to chat much. So even if you haven't got a crazy crew to come along with you, you won't really have time to feel on your own because you're always too out of breath.
5. For every exercise shown, the instructor will give details on how you can lower the intensity - for example, just focus on your leg work and don't worry about the arms. This allows people of all different fitness levels to to get the most out of it. And with everyone moving all the time, you can easily just bounce up and down or even stop completely if you need to, no-one will notice or care.
6. The exercises covered might best be described as Zumba-like dance routines with HITT-like work out intervals. So you might go from high knees to squats, from left to right whilst clapping your hands and end up in glute bridges.
So if you are looking for an effective and focused work out where you sweat and burn a lot for an hour, this is definitely worth considering. Perhaps consider bringing a towel, because it is one sweaty business.
