Times: W 12:10-12:50, M F 1:30-2:15, T R 4:45-5:30, M W 7:00-7:45

What to bring: fitness membership, possibly water

I’ve never taken or seen a Pilates class before so I don’t know how Penn State’s compares, but I enjoyed this class. The focus was mainly on working the core and thighs using slow movements, and there was no cardio to speak of. If this sounds like something that might interest you, read on!

We started the class out by stretching a lot, then focusing on a specific type of slow breath to continue throughout the class. Our first exercise was a plank that we held for about 30 seconds before dropping into push-ups. The so-called Pilates push-up involves keeping your elbows tight to your sides rather than pointing outward so that the work is done more in your triceps. After push-ups, we went on hands and knees and started doing leg lifts to work the glutes and back muscles. These exercises involved raising the leg and pulsing as well as using the inner thigh muscles to touch the lifted leg down across your body. These exercises were challenging, but I found them completely doable. After the leg lifts on hands and knees, we went on our sides and did leg lifts that way. I didn’t expect it to be as difficult as it was, but everyone was moving at their own pace so it was easy to keep moving, just slowly. Then we did a series of ab workouts, including crunches, bicycles, and oblique work, all at a slower pace than usual so the burn was greater. Finally, we ended with another plank.

While I found the class gentle and enjoyable, I’m not sure I’d go to it much in the future. The workout was a good one in the moment, but afterwards I didn’t feel like I really did much. I think other classes had better workouts, though the gentleness of this one was definitely appreciated. I would recommend it if you wanted to try it out, but it’s not my favorite.

This is my last fitness blog of the year, and I’d like to reinforce that even though I hated having to go to a class every week, it was good for me. If you want to work on getting in shape, make it something you can’t get out of, like this blog. I can’t say I got ripped or anything like that, but I got stronger and more active, so I consider this blog a success.

Did you know that pulling an all-nighter burns an extra 160 calories?

Yes, this is a lame attempt to make up for not going to an actual fitness class. I might go later on today, but essays and projects and a little bit of nice weather pretty much kept me from going to an actual class all week. Oops. Maybe this blog wasn’t such a fantastic idea after all.

But just because I need to write something, I’m going to tell you about the costs/benefits of staying up all night. I know. You’re ecstatic.

So like I said, just being awake instead of being asleep for 8 hours a night causes the body to burn approximately 160 extra calories. If you include any physical activity that you do while awake, the total gets even higher. So good news right? Just never sleep and you’ll lose weight!

Except not really. Besides the fact that once you’re dead tired the chances of being physically active are slim to none, apparently the body does a survival-mode energy conservation after being deprived of sleep. A University of Chicago study said that even though calories were burned by staying awake, over the next 24 hours the body burned about 240 calories less than it would usually. So, even though there is an immediate caloric loss, there is a net gain of almost 80 calories (or more).

So the moral of this story is: from a health and fitness standpoint all-nighters should be avoided as much as possible. I’m guessing you knew that already, but now there’s some science to back it up. (This information came from an article on Wired Science if you’d like to read.)

I’m off to finish a paper now; I should probably follow my own advice on this topic, but we’ll see how things go. Look for a real blog sometime today or tomorrow if you’re interested, but otherwise have a great week 🙂

When: Monday & Wednesday, 5:45-6:30, Saturday 4:30-5:30

What to Bring: sneakers, light workout clothes, water

I didn’t particularly enjoy this class, but it was everything that I needed for a workout. If you’ve never been to a Step class before, the main activity involves stepping up and down from a 3×1 platform that can be raised to various heights. The height difference helps to work muscles in the thighs and butt, while the various types of moves that can be done work other muscle groups. The class I took is 45 minutes of all work, but it’s at a doable pace and difficulty so that at least I (not the most in shape) never had to stop all the way. I’m not going to lie and say I loved the class, but I think it might have been one of the best workouts yet.

We started out with a 15 minute ‘warm up’ period of pure step aerobics. Essentially we’d either be stepping up and down across the platforms or doing moves like high knees or leg raises to work most muscles in the legs. It was hard at first to remember the names of different steps and to get used to the platforms, but by the end of the warm up you’d be used to it. My only complaint about this section is that sometimes the moves would change rapidly so before you register what you’re supposed to be doing you’ve already moved on. It was still some solid leg work and cardio though.

After the first step section, we did a section of more muscle exercise. The room we were in had racks of different sized weights, and we did several different arm and shoulder exercises with them. Then we did a series of squats and lunges, still holding the weights and occasionally doing arm and leg work at the same time. We did some planks too, then did some nice stretching. By that time, there were about 20 minutes left in class and we started to do some more step.

In the last section of class, we turned the moves we did in the beginning into a set combination. This included jumping jacks, high knees, and V-steps onto the platforms among other things. Unfortunately for me, the series of muscle exercises made it pretty hard to keep up the pace while still pushing myself up and down from the platform. I never actually stopped though, so that’s a good sign. I definitely wasn’t the only tired one there, so that was nice. By the end of the time I was down to doing the moves about halfway, but class ended just in time. Then we did a full 5 minute stretch/cool down and that was the end.

Even though it was hard, I liked this class a lot because it contained just about everything I needed to work on. The arm exercises would help bring tone, and the rest is low-impact cardio and nice leg toners. I’ll definitely take this class again in the future, and the time is right for me too.

That’s all for now, next week will feature something new again, but what it will be nobody knows! Bye!

Time: 8:30-9:15 Tuesdays

What you need: a decent pedicure, workout clothes, some background knowledge of basic yoga poses

I woke up bright and early to try out this class today, so whoever reads this, you’re welcome. The Vinyassa Flow workout is a type of fitness yoga class, described by the fitness center as one where you move between poses more quickly than in the normal yoga class. It’s held in the White Building a couple times a week, though I don’t know if by the same instructor.

Now I don’t know if it was the instructor I had or the class itself, but I really did not enjoy this workout very much at all. We started out with several stretches, which was fine, but then we moved into planks, and the instructor had us do side planks without really explaining how to do it. Personally, my arms started to hurt after a few seconds because I was supporting myself wrong, and though I don’t know if anyone else had the same problem, it was annoying. Then as we moved into sun salutations (the main body of the practice), it felt kind of empty. It wasn’t like a normal yoga class where you use poses to focus on the mind; instead you just move through the positions. Moving through them so quickly also makes it difficult to feel any actual work, so it didn’t feel like a very beneficial exercise. It was nice to get moving early, and there were some nice stretches in the workout, but overall I was underwhelmed. Added to that, it was the instructor’s first day and I don’t think she knew anything about yoga beyond the poses. Having taken yoga all semester and a couple other times in my life, I know the breath patterns for many of the sequences we did, but the instructor got them backwards. It wasn’t a huge inconvenience, but it was irritating.

That all being said, even if the class wasn’t particularly enjoyable, it had its benefits. Taking the class gets you into movement early in the morning, which can boost the metabolism and get you warmed up to move around all day. It’s also small, which is nice since it’s important to see the instructor during poses. Overall I’d say it’s a good class to take, but don’t expect much if you take it.

That’s all for this week, next week will feature something else, maybe the Thursday morning conditioning class. Have a good week!

Healthy Meals: Urban Garden’s salads are delicious. You make the salad and they add any kind of meat with a variety of sauces available. They give a lot of meat so the meal is actually filling, and the sauces can serve as salad dressing so you can cut down on fatty additives.

The slump has been (at least temporarily) defeated! This week I forced myself to get over to White Building, and since the name of this class looked promising, I decided to give it a shot. Beach Body Prep is a fairly new fitness class, having taken the slot from 6 – 6:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays that was previously devoted to THON prep. The premise of it is actually really cool, because obviously to be swim suit ready you have to slim down and be toned. This class is half cardio and half abs for a challenging but doable workout.

What to Bring: Water, sneakers, comfy clothes

So this class starts out with 15 minutes of fairly intense cardio. Unlike classes like power remix, this cardio isn’t pretending to be a fun dance; nope, this is straight up move your butt because the instructor says so. The cardio involves several sets of high knees, leg curls (kicking your butt essentially), grapevines, and those football-player shuffle moves. Between sets, the instructor also leads you through several sets of squats, including ones where you need to squat then jump up and others where you hold and deepen the position. It’s definitely the kind of class that makes you leave on shaky legs, but it’s worth it. There really isn’t time for breaks in this section, but I made it almost the whole way through before I did half effort, so anyone remotely athletic should be able to handle it.

The second half of the class is reserved for core work, and be warned, it’s fast and intense. You start by holding planks for over a minute, and the instructor continuously adds potential ways to make the exercises more intense. For example, you could hold a normal plank, or go on your side and move up and down (see picture).

In a way the alternate options are nice because you can go at your own pace, but to those (like me) who stick to the basic exercise it’s a little disheartening. After the planks, we did crunches, but instead of mainly doing crunches with our feet on the ground, almost all were with our feet up. Those are insanely more difficult than standard crunches, and even though they work you more, I personally am not strong enough to sustain them correctly. Once I develop my abs a bit more though I’m sure this part will just feel like a really great workout. We completed the abs section with some pushups and mountain climbers, then cooled down to finish the half hour.

Even though my physical level is not up to snuff, I still found this a great class to go to. It’s short, which is good because it allows almost everyone to keep moving without breaks, and it’s the kind of workout with a little bit of everything, good if you just want to do something. I’d say this is one of my favorite set-ups so far, and I’ll definitely go again, especially if someone wants to join me. . .?

Anyway, that’s all for this week. Next time I might finally get around to 20/20, or maybe it’ll be a surprise. Thanks for reading!

I have hit a slump. I thought this blog would be enough motivation to get me working out more regularly, but alas I have failed miserably these last 2 weeks. I don’t know if the issue is laziness or the fact that all classes somehow manage to have all their assignments due at once, but I haven’t been able to get my act together and exercise for longer than I’d like to admit. The exception is the yoga class that I take for credit, I still go to that, but it’s not enough and I know it’s not enough. In a way, that class almost makes it harder to exercise more because I never want to do anything after a difficult yoga practice. Then I leave the white building and all hope is lost.

This will not be a permanent slump though; beyond the fact that this would be a very boring blog if all I did was whine about my life, I’ve come up with a new plan. A group of people in RUF are going to Panama City Beach in May, so we all need to get to the point where swimsuits look nice. 2 of my friends and I decided yesterday that we’d be accountability partners in this endeavor and encourage each other to eat right and exercise when we know we don’t want to. From what weight loss plans/websites say, having accountability partners makes it a lot easier to stick to diets and workout plans than to just work on them alone. I’ll let you know at some point if this works.

At some point I am going to go to the 20/20 class, but since it’s during the day I can’t say when that will be. Classes at around 4:45 are much more convenient, so realistically I could do Pilates sometime soon, or maybe muscle conditioning. I’ll get to something for next week, promise. Thanks for reading.

I know I said that I’d be doing the 20/20 class for this week, but it’s only offered twice a week (Mondays at 11:15 and Tuesdays at 5:45), and it couldn’t happen before today. Sorry for anyone who was super curious, if anyone even reads this to begin with. Since I didn’t get to a new fitness class and scheduling is coming up, I thought I’d tell you about the for-credit yoga class Kines 77 instead.

Song of the week: Fix You by Coldplay

Healthy Food: Urban Garden salads 🙂

What You Need: workout clothes, your own mat if desired

For anyone who thinks yoga is just a bunch of stretching, I challenge you to try one of the yoga classes at Penn State. While it’s true that yoga involves a lot of flexibility work, it also works on strength throughout the body, overall concentration, and better breathing. The best thing about taking the for-credit yoga class is that you take it three times a week instead of once like in some other paid classes. If you can’t take the official course, there are fitness yoga classes offered almost every day.

I want to preface my yoga experience with the fact that I’m very inflexible and I’m not very strong. I had practiced yoga before, but in freshman year of high school, so I was out of practice. If you’re like me and considering joining the yoga class, be forewarned: it can hurt a bit. A typical ‘flow’ in practice is called a Sun Salutation, and the different varieties of this practice involve moving from planks through back and leg stretches through lunges and balancing postures. For a few hours after class, I’m usually sore or shaky, but it’s the good ache where you know that you did something good for you. I have noticed that I’m somewhat more flexible after practicing for half a semester, and I can definitely hold the poses for a longer period of time than I initially could.

The for-credit class focuses on more than just postures though, because it’s supposed to teach all of yoga, including components of mental health. We don’t work on this in class as much, but the course does include 3 reflective essays about personal work in mental practices. The first was about using yoga techniques to reduce stress, and the second is about implementing the idea of ahimsa or nonviolence into everyday life. They’re meant to improve our minds by forcing us to recognize where we have inner problems, what the roots might be, and how we can rethink things to be more positive or relaxed. The essays aren’t difficult, but self awareness isn’t fun to practice.

Here is what you can expect from one of the classes I’ve been to. Almost the whole class will probably be seniors since it’s one of the most popular health gen. eds and fills up very quickly. In class, be prepared to sweat from muscular exertion and to not be able to do many of the postures perfectly. The class is generally set up in a nonjudgmental atmosphere, so if you struggle there’s nothing wrong; generally other people are at about your skill level too, though others have different strengths. For me at least, the class has a comfortable atmosphere that I see having positive effects on me, physically and mentally. If you need a gym class and can schedule early, I recommend this course.

Song: Die Young by Ke$ha

Healthy Food Choice: I was bad this week, but Redifer has veggie cups for 1 dining dollar

What to bring: Sneakers, workout clothes;   Provided: Mats

Washboard abs is a 20 minute long workout. That might seem short, but as the name might imply, you work your abs the entire time. There are no breaks unless you count the few seconds it takes to change positions from a plank to a crunch, and by the end you WILL feel the burn. WARNING: Don’t go to this class within 2 hours of eating; you may throw up.

Now that the scary warnings are out of the way, I can explain that I surprisingly enjoyed this class a lot. We started with a minute long plank, then proceeded to do several rounds of crunches. The instructor was playing pop music like Kesha (above), and we would time our crunches to the rhythm of the music. For me at least, focusing on the counts makes it easier to keep going. Throughout the crunching periods, we would also change positions, sometimes raising our legs and crunching up, other times laying flat. The most brutal parts of those sections though were when we had to do the crunches in half time, taking 2 full seconds to reach the top and 2 full seconds to come back down. Doing crunches like that engages the resistive muscles so much more, and you lose the momentum that can come from going up and down quickly. It’s a relief to go back to normal crunches after that.

Interspersed in the workout, there are also leg lifts, bicycle crunches, more short planks, and periods of laying on the stomach and lifting up from the lower back. All of those, especially the leg lifts and bicycles, are hard, and there’s no break when switching from one to another. After 10 minutes, my abs were starting to burn, and by the end I was feeling slightly nauseous (which is why I recommend not eating beforehand). I wasn’t doing all the exercises full-out either; when it came time to bicycle crunch, my muscles were in too much pain to allow that range of motion so I did normal crunches instead. With slight modifications as needed, I lasted the whole time, so I think 20 minutes is the perfect length for this class.

Even though I left in pain, washboard abs could easily be my favorite class so far. It’s short so it doesn’t interfere with my afternoon schedule, but it is really hard work. The instructor is easy to understand and the music fits the movements nicely to allow a rhythmic concentration. It’s also a nice feeling to not die out halfway through, though the workout would have been more intense had I not needed to modify it for myself. Classes are held in the White Building in room 126 or 106 Monday through Thursday at 4:00, 4:40, and 5:30. Hope to see you there!

Next week (maybe): 20/20 Fitness!

Example Song: Live While We’re Young

Healthy Meal: For the Road turkey sandwiches from Redifer: smaller than subs and easy when in a rush

What You Need: sneakers, water, comfortable clothes, fitness membership

So whenever I think of Zumba, my mind automatically goes to that half-hour infomercial that sometimes plays on weekend mornings. It’s set in what looks like a club with fast, loud music, flashy lights, and lots of people in skimpy clothing, so the class is given a rave feel. Then information pops up about how much people love doing Zumba, how much weight people have lost, and how Zumba can burn up to 600 calories/hour. Who wouldn’t want to try it after seeing that?

The 3:00 class that I went to is held in the White Building gym (126) and had a group of about 40 girls. The class lasted 45 minutes including a cooldown period, and was led by another impressively smiley fitness instructor.

Zumba at Penn State is quite different from the infomercial. The class is taught using a couple latin based songs, but mostly to pop songs from bands like One Direction (above). It’s treated a bit like a dance party, but instead of using a lot of running or popping moves like on TV, this instructor used step-touches and arm waving. I guess the moves fit the music. Most movements involved moving side to side across the floor, some including hip or rib circles and others with waving arms. A couple of moves used squats to work the legs, but other than that, the workout was pretty devoid of strength training.

I’ll admit, after taking the Power Remix class (see last week’s blog) and seeing the TV infomercials, the Zumba class was a little bit of a letdown. Half of what makes Zumba seem so appealing are the more sensual and high energy movements, but this class was a bit too. . . wholesome? Or maybe boring is the word. The workout also wasn’t as good as I expected it to be. The class was very similar to Power Remix, but where that class had lots of bouncing and jumping movements, Zumba had step touches which don’t do as much to get the heart rate up. To put it in some perspective, I had to take a break about 15 minutes in to the Power Remix class, but I made it through the whole Zumba class without stopping.

That’s not to say that it’s not a good class to take. Especially for people who are just starting with getting active, this class is a nice way to ease in while still getting  45 minutes of cardio. For me personally though, I had already taken a more difficult class so this seemed a bit dull. I would still recommend it to beginners though because it is a fun class, just not as high energy as one could want or expect.

That’s all for now, next week I’m going to delve into more strength training with the Washboard Abs class. Wish me luck and see you next week!

Healthy Food Choice: Turkey Vegetable soup from Urban Garden: filling and with a serving of veggies

Example Power Remix Song: Shawty Got Moves

What to wear/bring: sneakers, light work-out clothes, WATER, Id card with gym membership

The class is a total of 45 minutes long, including 5 minutes at either end for warmups and cool-downs. In the midafternoon session, usually about 80 people show up so the class is held in the large gym (room 126).Those people looking for more strength training should probably try a different class, though the moves in Power Remix do incorporate a mild ab and leg workout.

I haven’t been to a ton of different fitness classes yet, but I know that I’ll definitely keep coming back to Power Remix. There are a lot of reasons, but I mostly like it because even though it’s a pretty good cardio workout, it’s fun.

The idea behind Power Remix is, I think, pretty ingenious; the instructors play modern pop music ranging from One Direction to the song above, and the class is treated like a dance party. It’s hard dance though. The leaders generally start each song by teaching a different combination of moves with each section of the music, and then those moves get repeated several times. Frequently used moves include squats, lunges, and kicks, and the transitions between them are all done by bouncing and jumping to boost the heart rate.

Now as one who is not very in shape, I tend to only last about 20 minutes before I get tired and need to start doing moves halfway. The important thing I realized is that as long as you keep moving, you’re eventually able to start doing the moves fully again. Also, the songs have a variety of moves, so if you conk out during a heavy cardio combination, you’ll be able to do some of the slower moves that come up next. The fact that the moves are often fun, including shimmying, popping, and waving your arms around, also creates some motivation to get back into it.

This workout is great for me because even though it isn’t super intense, it’s still hard work. It’s also nice because with so many people there, if you’re tired or you make a mistake, it’s not like you’re the only one. My one complaint is that in such a large crowd, it’s often difficult to see the instructor in the front, though they usually do try to move around a lot. Other than that, I love going to Power Remix and would recommend it to everyone.

That’s all for now. Next blog will feature the Zumba class. In the meantime, try out Power Remix and have a good week!