The lowdown on new fitness trends

 

BY MARY LEONARD

 

Charleston’s architecture and waterfronts have always impressed runners, walkers and cyclists, but even these beautiful landscapes can get old. So where’s the new challenge? Leni Ballinger, a senior at the College of Charleston, swears by the Pure Barre workout.

            "I have always been an athlete, and I was a great soccer player throughout my childhood and teenage years,” says Ballinger, “but I have never been this toned from such a quick total body workout in my life."

Ballinger, like other athletes, has struggled through her college years to create and stick with a consistent exercise schedule. The steep prices of commercial gym memberships coupled with the boredom from the same running routes and the machinery in the College of Charleston gym left her without the drive to continue exercising.             

That is, until she discovered that Charleston has many new enterprises devoted to creating new fitness regimes and new ways to motivate everyone from beginners to advanced exercisers to break a sweat. Among them are Orangetheory Fitness, CHS Revolution, and Pure Barre. Whether it is a body or mind transformation, each of these workouts puts its own modern spin on the concept of physical activity. They also leave participants drenched in sweat, proud, tired, and sore.

     Over the past year, Pure Barre has opened two exercise boutiques in Mount Pleasant and Downtown Charleston. It offers a 55-minute full-body workout utilizing a ballet barre to effectively perform small isometric movements and tone muscles with light weights.

Normally, Pure Barre classes are filled to capacity and entirely by women, but there are times when a male will be present (or forced to go by his wife or girlfriend). The Pure Barre instructor, or as members call her the "P.B. tender," will repeatedly pressure attendees to "tuck and tuck and tuck and tuck," as she walks around the room correcting off-balanced positions of participants on the barre. Tucks are the small isometric movements participants make by pulsing their bottoms to tone their thighs, waists, cores and butts.

“My legs are physically shaking throughout each class as if it were my first day trying it out,” says Ballinger, an avid Pure Barre attendee and advanced athlete. These movements aim to tone and build long lean muscles.

     “You will be able to notice and feel results within just three to four classes," according to one of the Downtown and Mount Pleasant Pure Barre instructors. "A change of diet and a commitment to three or four classes a week will provide a Pure Barre attendee with long-lasting results in a short amount of time."

     Orangetheory Fitness offers 60-minute classes, which are led by passionate trainers who push clients to the limit. These classes consist of treadmill interval training blocks, indoor rowing and weight-training blocks.

     “Keep moving, and do not give up,” an instructor at the Orangetheory Fitness West Ashley location shouts over the heart-pounding music that blares throughout the studio. “There is no time to slack off here because you are all here for a reason.”

     This high-intensity interval training class forces members to begin burning calories from the second they walk in the studio and throughout the rest of the day. These challenging workouts are tough, and each session requires extreme motivation; there are no breaks and the instructors drilling clients to keep up the pace, push through each weight-lifting set and keep up the momentum so their heart rates do not drop.

     As the name would imply, the décor is orange—orange walls, orange lights and a lot of orange workout equipment and machinery. The slogan as well as the advantage of Orangetheory is “Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption," which is the idea that participant will continue to burn calories after their 60-minute workouts. The gym guarantees quick weight loss and muscle toning results.

     Situated on the corner of Woolfe and Meeting streets, Rev Ride is an upbeat, indoor cycling fitness center offering a 45-minute high-energy class targeting arm, core and cardio training. Pedaling to the beat of the music while simultaneously lifting weights is what all Rev Riders experience, and in return they burn upwards of 700 calories. "We try to inspire our riders throughout each class," says Alana Schept, an instructor at Rev Ride. "We motivate them by allowing each rider to clear his or her mind throughout the class and encourage each person to find their own personal greatness." With encouraging instructors, upbeat music and a unique environment featuring fluorescent dimmed lights, cool air and modern spinning cycles, riders are able to clear their minds and transform the way they feel and look.

      One rider, Therez Mueller, explains that she is not a big workout fanatic. She looks like she is in shape but her first class at Rev Ride left her shockingly drenched in sweat and surprised by how hard it was for her to power through the full 45 minutes. “I was dripping sweat and out of breath within the first 10 minutes,” Mueller explained. “I have never felt like I deserved a shower more in my life!” Many other Rev Riders say they feel the same once the 45-minute class is complete.

     “I walked out of there sore and tired but most of all I was able to clear my mind and did not even remember the stresses I had when I walked in,” says Kirby Magid, Mueller’s friends.

      Orange Theory, Rev Ride and Pure Barre are excellent options for those who can block off an hour for a quick, powerful, calorie-burning filled workout. A first-time drop-in class at any of these fitness studios ranges from $10 to $20.

      “I was so bored with the same type of workout routine at the gym," says Ballinger. "My physical results plateaud, and I needed to see quick results to have the motivation to start working out again.

      “No other workout has given me these results, and that is why I continue attending these classes."