Thigh Dancing, oh yea!

Hello lovelies! Thank you for the warm reception; it’s good to be back! Now if only I could be writing from a beach chair in the tropics, rather than a Starbucks in Manhattan as I hide from the cold. Ah well, I suppose there’s still something kind of wonderful about cozying up with a cup of decaf, my Shiatsu notes and all of you.

Originally I was just going to trudge to school, be a responsible student and hunker down in the library for 3 hours. Lately, though, I’ve been trying to indulge in little self care luxuries more often. Note I said “little” since my husband and I are still a young couple living in NYC on only one salary while paying for my education! In lieu of weekend trips to St. Maarten, I’m enjoying small treats like coffee (bought with a gift card) and some new exercise classes. Which classes you ask? Well, I started my alternative fitness mission about two weeks ago by trying the Physique 57 DVD suite at the suggestion of my dear friend, Diana!

For those who aren’t familiar, Physique 57 is a barre-based class inspired by the Lotte Berk Method. It incorporates light weights, a playground ball, and a whole lot of sweat and determination. The DVDs start with a brief warmup and an arms section using weights. Each section is followed by brief stretches for the muscles that were just worked and then you move right on to the next muscle group. Other sections include thighs (lots of plies and squats), seat (the torturous “pretzel”), and core. By the end of each section, my legs were shaking, my heart was pumping and, as Tanya says in the video, that is how we make muscle! I did the classic 57-minute workout every day for a week and capped it all off by attending one of the classes at the studio on 57th Street. The class followed a format similar to the DVDs but was even harder! (I couldn’t finish the thigh or seat sections because I was afraid my legs were going to collapse under me).

And the signature “thigh dancing” section was practically impossible, but you’ll be happy to know I’m getting much better at the deep pelvic thrusts. Stephanie, the instructor for the class, was amazing though – so supportive, very attentive, and awesomely high energy considering class started at 8am on a Saturday!

Ever since that class I’ve been keeping up with the DVDs, especially since they’re significantly cheaper than paying $35 for classes. Not that I wouldn’t try to maximize a monthly membership at the studio (and I can only imagine the kind of results I’d see!!), but the $450 price tag is most definitely outside my budget. Thankfully the DVDs continue to be incredibly challenging and, to give myself a little variety, I’ve also started adding some other barre-style classes into my workouts. Stay tuned for my thoughts on these, and on what that means for the future of my fitness routine!

In the meantime, my coffee is almost gone, my school work is giving me ‘the look’ from my backpack, and I’ve got to go!

Talk soon 🙂

Have you ever taken a barre-style class? What do you think of workout DVDs? Any suggestions?