The other night, I had the chance to take a PXT class at Pure Yoga East. It was different than anything I've ever done before, different than I expected, but overall a pretty great workout.
Pure Yoga East is an absolutely beautiful studio. I mean, at $250 a month for membership, it better be a little bougie.
Pure Yoga is 3 or 4 floors, with all different types of studios. Hot yoga studios, regular yoga studios- I'm not a yogi so I'm sure there are other types of studios and I just have no idea what they are. Either way. 7 is impressive. They also have tons of little lounge areas, a boutique, and a seriously huge and gorgeous women's locker room.
I started the class of great- by getting yelled at for walking into the studio with shoes on - oops. After taking them off and leaving them outside, I re-entered and took in the setup. Everyone had a mat, a step and those little sliders you put under your hands and feet to torture your abs. The instructor told me to grab two sets of dumbbells (10 lbs and 5 lbs) and a 10 lb medicine ball.
I was shocked to see that there would only be 5 of us in the class - it was like a private training session!
As usual, I had done some research before showing up, and I knew that the PXT class would start with some yoga. Grumble grumble. If I must I guess I can do a few minutes of yoga as a warm up. We started slow, switching between the few moves and poses that I actually know (my yoga knowledge is limited, at best). I was a little stressed that it was going to get too complicated for me to follow and I would stand out like a sore thumb considered there were only 5 of us, but instead of adding a bunch of complicated poses to the flow, we just sped it up. Downward facing dog, chair pose, upward facing dog, warrior, vinyasa - by the end of the 10-15 yoga warm up I was actually starting to enjoy it! Minus the fact that the room was slowly getting hotter and hotter. Hey, I'm about to do burpees and squats and you're putting the heat up? What gives? I know, it's a thing. I'm just not sure it's a thing I like. Genius day to forget to bring water too, Lauren.
This class really pushed me with some moves I had never done before- which I loved. Using the ab sliders was A LOT more challenging than I thought it would be. Pikes and walk outs and lunges- I was shaking! I also loved implementing the step for things like squats and step ups to knee holds. The instructor, Julia Stephens, was great at explaining and demonstrating each move and encouraging and motivating you to push until the end. We didn't stay on any one move for too long, so knowing that the end was near if you could knock out a few more reps was always helpful.
After the cardio/plyo/strength section we moved into "partner abs." One person laid on their backs and grabbed their partners ankles while the partner got in the squat position and threw the other persons legs down- first to the left, then the middle, then the right. By the end of this, my abs were feeling it and I was looking forward to a break by being the "leg thrower." Well, stay in that squat position and pushing the legs down was more work than I thought, and I could feel it by the end of that too!
The next section was the "Coreball Countdown Challenge." Julia wrote 4 exercises on the mirror at the front of the room and we had to do 8 reps of each, then 7 reps of each, then 8 reps of each, etc. all the way down to 1. I wish I remembered exactly which exercises we did here, but I know burpees with the core ball was one of them, and that was rough!
We cooled down with a few more minutes of yoga and then we were done.
I started the class of great- by getting yelled at for walking into the studio with shoes on - oops. After taking them off and leaving them outside, I re-entered and took in the setup. Everyone had a mat, a step and those little sliders you put under your hands and feet to torture your abs. The instructor told me to grab two sets of dumbbells (10 lbs and 5 lbs) and a 10 lb medicine ball.
I was shocked to see that there would only be 5 of us in the class - it was like a private training session!
As usual, I had done some research before showing up, and I knew that the PXT class would start with some yoga. Grumble grumble. If I must I guess I can do a few minutes of yoga as a warm up. We started slow, switching between the few moves and poses that I actually know (my yoga knowledge is limited, at best). I was a little stressed that it was going to get too complicated for me to follow and I would stand out like a sore thumb considered there were only 5 of us, but instead of adding a bunch of complicated poses to the flow, we just sped it up. Downward facing dog, chair pose, upward facing dog, warrior, vinyasa - by the end of the 10-15 yoga warm up I was actually starting to enjoy it! Minus the fact that the room was slowly getting hotter and hotter. Hey, I'm about to do burpees and squats and you're putting the heat up? What gives? I know, it's a thing. I'm just not sure it's a thing I like. Genius day to forget to bring water too, Lauren.
This class really pushed me with some moves I had never done before- which I loved. Using the ab sliders was A LOT more challenging than I thought it would be. Pikes and walk outs and lunges- I was shaking! I also loved implementing the step for things like squats and step ups to knee holds. The instructor, Julia Stephens, was great at explaining and demonstrating each move and encouraging and motivating you to push until the end. We didn't stay on any one move for too long, so knowing that the end was near if you could knock out a few more reps was always helpful.
After the cardio/plyo/strength section we moved into "partner abs." One person laid on their backs and grabbed their partners ankles while the partner got in the squat position and threw the other persons legs down- first to the left, then the middle, then the right. By the end of this, my abs were feeling it and I was looking forward to a break by being the "leg thrower." Well, stay in that squat position and pushing the legs down was more work than I thought, and I could feel it by the end of that too!
The next section was the "Coreball Countdown Challenge." Julia wrote 4 exercises on the mirror at the front of the room and we had to do 8 reps of each, then 7 reps of each, then 8 reps of each, etc. all the way down to 1. I wish I remembered exactly which exercises we did here, but I know burpees with the core ball was one of them, and that was rough!
We cooled down with a few more minutes of yoga and then we were done.
If you ever get a chance to go, or want to drop-in for a $35 class, I recommend it! This class is good for anyone who gets frustrated by an entire hour of yoga and wants something more intense. I loved the challenge, but I also wouldn't recommend it for beginners, as some of the moves may be frustratingly complicated.
