Fitness Classes

[JollyJackOLantern]

I'm looking for some advice.

Our local leisure centre holds quite a few fitness classes. I have never been in a proper gym, let alone a fitness class.

I'm looking for something that's not too extreme to get me into the habit of going to a class then if I like it I'll look into something that's a bit more difficult. At the moment I do no formal exercise but I walk quite a lot (upwards of an hour a day) often carrying 18mo DS.

So, here are my options, which do you think I should do?

1hr Body Combat
1hr Body Balance
1hr Pump Attack
1hr circuits
1hr Abs Blast

Thanks!

Balance is the lowest energy of the list but lots of stretching, I think that would be best to start.

Is is really 1 hour of abs class??

Gah, you are right, it is 30 mins abs class!

Thank you :)

Apart from bodybalance, I would try the pump class but make sure you tell the instructor that you are a beginner and listen to your body. Abs class will also be fine. Combat and circuits will be more high energy cardio, maybe build up your cardio fitness a bit before trying those, jogging on treadmill/outside or swimming perhaps?

Thank you. I was hoping to avoid doing much else - swimming pool not v accessible and I hate jogging with a passion. I have 30 day shred though (still in its cellophane). Maybe I should do some of that as well as Body Balance for a start.

I basically want to get a little fitter, but I want to spend not much time doing it! I'm pretty busy so whatever I choose to do has to fit in with everything else.

Shred is good, will definitely be a good start.

Ultimately, all classes are as tough as you make them yourself, but if you are the type of person who tries to participate properly (rather than "phoning it in" as Jillian would say, ie just pretending to go through the motions), there's no point going from walking to attempting stuff like combat/circuits which has a reasonable chance of reducing you to a heap after 10 minutes, leaving you so discouraged you never go back

Is that the whole range of classes available? A Level 1 Step and Tone class might be a good introduction for you. Another possibility is something like Yoga Fitness which is hard work (concentrates on flexibility and core strenght) but fairly static. A Body Conditioning type class is also good as it uses weights and bands to work different areas and you can start with the lowest weight and work up!

Haha, sleep that's what I was concerned about!

I'm a little anxious about the whole idea because I've never done anything like it before and being in a room with lots of confident women who have been there before and will be better than me at it scares me a bit.

Sorrel, that is the whole range that I can manage to get childcare for. There are not that many others though - Pump Balance, Spinning, Mums on the Run, and Giggle Wiggle (??) are all at times I can't manage. There's definitely no Yoga Fitness or Step and Tone. There's a Yoga class at the church hall but it's attended by a number of elderly ladies so I presume it can't involve a great deal of fitness!

One of my other issues is that I don't really have a scooby what the difference is between any of these things - you're mentioning Body Conditioning and I don't know if any of these classes cover that or if Body Conditioning is a type of class all on its own.

Also, what on earth do I wear to something like this?

I love doing body combat and body pump classes. Combat is fast and was the first class I ever tried and I survived it and went back for a lot more.You can get info here about the Les Mills classes and can even see some of the moves.

I love combat which is high energy cardio- pump is a good class to do for toning/muscle work. Pump attack sounds like a mixture of body pump and body attack (high level cardio). Bodybalance is probably a good beginner class and Circuits are good (and you'll see quick results with it as a mix of cardio and toning) but ensure they cater for beginners as well as intermediate and advanced gym goers first.

Pump and Attack are NOT the same thing.
Pump is LOTS of toning
Balance is LOTS of stretching

NB at the gym, tighter clothes are better than looser. Honest. THey ride up and down less.
Go to TK max
get a pair of leggings, a GOOD short sleeved top and a sports bra

Church Hall yoga - don't bet on it. There are 70 year olds in my classes who are UBER fit

Les Mills has introduced Pump Attack Talking Peace which combines the 2 - they do it at my gym!

I had no idea that site existed. Thank you, I will read it with interest.

Thanks also for all the advice. Tried shred today. Oh my god.

I liked the combat class even more when I read the average calorie burn was 737!!! The boy that takes ours is never still .
Its harder to put a figure onto body pump as the weights are different for each person. I stuck to 1kg each side the 1st couple of times to get the moves right and I can now manage a total of 9kg for squats and deadlifts but have to go down to 5kg for my weaking upper body .

Do they have Pilates classes? i love it - its such a clever exercise and you really see results

Sadly no Pilates. It appears to be pretty much all Les Mills classes, jogging, circuits or spinning. They used to have Zumba too but not anymore.

Hi jolly, If you're a bit self conscious about the les mills classes, ask when the next 'launch' is. All les mills classes are on 12 week cycles, so every 12 weeks a whole new 10 track routine is released for each class, no one will know this routine, and everyone is a bit all over the place so defo a good time to try!

Really try not to feel self conscious, everyone does! And everyone makes mistakes! I've been doing combat / attack for years and STILL get my left and rights mixed up, ah well!

we have just had the new release here (last week) so I did the new Pump class yesterday. Havent done the new Attack class yet though (normally do it on fridays)

and in Balance we are all far too busy not wobbling to even have a clue what other people are doing
I'm one of the bendy people but have no idea whether others are!

New body combat release here too, liked the last one as there was no blooming swagger jagger in it .
I would say give the classes a try at least, hide in a corner if you need to and if you miss/mix up some moves then so what because in the likes of body combat theres about 800-900 moves in the class and if you miss a couple its not really going to make a difference.
I only started about 6/7 weeks ago and was really self concious but to be honest nobody cares how you look or what moves you miss as they are trying to concentrate on keeping the sweat out their eyes and keeping up with the moves.

Ha ha, McPie, I'm really loving the new track 6, and I cannot STAND Cher Lloyd, I think it fits really well? sings 'Get on the floor! Get on the floor!'

I also meant to say, most gyms do 'tasters' of classes where they'll show you the moves / format. Ours does, they're called clinics I think? If not you could always ask, only takes 15 mins and I'd put money on there being other people that would like to start classes but feel a bit shy.

Thank you all.

I'm on my second day of shred.

Day 1: awful. thought i would die
Day 2: I hurt all over but the workout wasn't as bad as I expected

I can't do press ups though or crunches. I try but don't seem to get very far off the ground in crunches!

I think doing something at home is actually better for me than classes at the moment. There's a body balance tonight but I'm far too sore to contemplate going and doing stretches in front of people! I'll maybe manage it next week.

Oh track 6 is great and the music does fit well but she justmakes my teeth itch!