DL Blaze classes

[milkysmum]

Does anyone do these regularly? I did the taster session a while back and am trying to pluck up the courage to add one or two classes to my routine. Mainly because they have so many on the timetable and I'm thinking about trying to do some classes early morning before work rather than going every evening when I have other stuff to be doing. Would love to hear anyone experience of both Blaze or doing the early morning classes ( thinking 6.15 then back home, get ready for work, see the kids off to school and off I go..)

My dh goes to early morning classes including blaze and then showers at the gym and goes straight to work

How hardcore is Blaze? I’m thinking of doing it as the timing of the classes fits in with work but I’m a bit worried I won’t be able to keep up!

I only did the taster class. It seemed doable ( I'm not that fit..) - I've seen people of all fitness levels going in and out of blaze studio. I just need to actually book on to a full class now! Anyone else done them and able to share their experiences?

I do them 3 times a week. I found that using the myzone belt pushes me a lot. I was apprehensive at first as they are full on but honestly it's my favourite class and has overtaken body pump. I always start on the cardio (running) as I would not want that to be my last exercise. Love it

Thanks Fawndrenched.
I do bodypump a couple of times a week and to enjoy these classes, the times don't work great for me though and there isn't that many on to be fair. David Lloyd seems to have invested heavily in the Blaze classes so there are lots on daily. Some of the classes are virtual though- are these best avoided as a newby do you think?

Thanks, that’s really helpful. I do a lot of Body Pump and HIIT and have just started Cyclone but I’m changing jobs and I won’t be able to do as many of the morning classes. There are more Blaze classes in the afternoon so I was wondering about doing those instead.

I belong to David Lloyd and tend to do Blaze and Cyclone classes - both of which I really enjoy.
I would say that Blaze looks more intimidating than it is. The instructors are all friendly at the club I go to, and there’s a real range of people in the class - right up to 75 years old.
I’ve been injured and know there’s some things I can’t do, and I make my own adjustments to do the things that my physio has recommended.

Another quick question for those doing blaze- do I need to purchase the gloves that the club sell, or can I just buy a cheap pair off Amazon to see if I actually stick with the classes? I don't really want to spend a lot of money on decent gloves, only to find I go once or twice and don't like it!

I go 2-3 times a week to Blaze (usually a 6.15am class) and once to Cyclone.

I love Blaze, love that you do different exercises so it keeps your body guessing and punching and kicking the bags is great stress relief.

I hate running uphill or dynamic mode but then it's good for me.

Any MMA type gloves would be fine. I definitely recommend the MyZone belt, you get so much more out of the classes as you can see how hard you are working.

I've got a lot fitter as a result of the classes (though Covid has just set me back a bit), my running improved a lot. Plus the spur of getting my MyZone points pushes me to go even when I can't be bothered- I've kept my points up for over three years now through lockdowns and Covid. There's no chance I would have done it without that.

Because they are quite small classes there tends to be quite good camaraderie too. And not everyone is super fit. There's a lovely lady who's been doing the same classes as me for years but won't let them put her MyZone on the board- she struggles with some of the exercises but the main thing is that she pushes herself. There's always some who happily run at 24km per hour uphill but the rest of us just do what we can.

Good luck!

Re timings- I do the 6.15 class, done by 7, shower and dress at the gym then home by 7.30 to get DC up and get DS2 to school (DS1 walks himself).

It's a rush but manageable.

Early is good as no chance to make sn excuse not to go! The early classes are pretty popular too.

In our club your get the gloves and belt to use in your first session. Thereafter you can use the gloves but not the belt. I found that the 3 sessions after my first one where I did not have the belt then the motivation was lower. I purchased a belt off ebay on the recommendation of others and boom the motivation of seeing my name and the colour of my effort on the board was huge.

The others in the group said do not purchase the watch as it is unreliable and very inaccurate. The belt is much cheaper. For the gloves I purchased my own as I did not want to keep using ones that someone else had used. The important bit here is to make sure you know your glove size (SML) which you can get from using DL gloves.

Finally, there really is a huge range of fitness levels and after a while the group becomes very supportive. At the end of the session warm down you get to see all the stats on the board but they also appear in your myzone app which is free to download. I am not big on stats as I feel it is a stick I use to beat myself with but I do like the motivation of them during the class as I try to expend more energy to get into the red zone.

The aim is to get into the red zone between 9 and 18 mins but honestly there are plenty who do not even get 1 minute but they keep coming every week. It is a total body workout and along with bodypump it makes a great combo for fitness and strength. Its interesting that when the stats are shown at the end all of the females immediately look at calories burned whereas the men look at percentage effort (Venus and Mars).

hth

Thanks everyone. I've got the Myzone belt/ watch etc as received this when I joined the gym in the new year. Apparently they can't loan gloves out anymore ( apart from on the taster class ) so if you don't have any you just have to shadow box.
If I can get myself up early enough the 6.15 classes a couple of times during the week would work great. I normally get up at 6.30 and the gym is only a 5 min drive away so it's not too much earlier to get up I guess. Might take the plunge and book on a morning class next week!

I did a Blaze taster class tonight and it wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it would be though it rather felt like doing HIIT in a nightclub with the flashing lights.

I’m slightly pissed off/confused over the belt thing. I asked about it at reception and was told that I should have been given one when I joined (I wasn’t) and they don’t give them out any more. Apparently, they’re £80 to buy and my immediate thought was ‘fuck that shit’ but I don’t really need it so I won’t bother.

However, I am a bit confused about the gloves. The instructor said you need inners and actual boxing gloves but I have no idea which ones I’m meant to get. Any suggestions?

Most people just have these type of gloves at my gym. Much cheaper to buy on Amazon than from David Lloyd.

Thanks, @milkysmum, there are so many different types available I wasn’t sure what I was looking for.

I think I've seen one or two people with actual boxing gloves, but not many. These little mixed martial arts gloves are just fine.