Day 79 ! Thai Boxing

My lordy. It’s the PENULTIMATE day! There’s only one day left now and then I’m finito, finished, terminé. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I guess tomorrow’s the big day really so let’s not over-analyse just now.

So. I’m a fan of boxing. I already knew this way before the 80 days started. When I first started out with Instructor Francis from Day 16 Boxing, it was with thai boxing at first. But as time passed, it became more just boxing (something to do with my kicking being far inferior to my boxing – as confirmed again on Day 66 Kickboxing). But because I’d done a little thai boxing before, it was a class that I’d put into the I’ll-do-later-because-it’s-not-a-new-Fitivity (for me) bucket. But between the end of the 80 days sneaking up on me and a few people asking why I’ve not reviewed thai boxing yet, the time has come.

So today was Thai Boxing. If you read Day 72 Barre Fit, you’ll know that today (technically Wednesday) was a double-up day and I tried the Thai Boxing class before Barre Fit at My Fitness Boutique.

Taught by Instructor Tassi (or Sensei Tassi) and his co-/in-training/sub-instructor, Antonio (it wasn’t really clear), we started the class with a few stretches and then short, intense mini-circuit – burpees, mountain climbers, push-ups, star jumps and such like. None of this easy warm-up, ease into it gently malarkey (the stretches don’t count) – it was into the class and bam.

This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the class. We were soon paired up and Instructor Tassi would show us a mini combo which we practiced in our pairs. Combos varied from punching, straight kicks, roundhouse kicks, spinning kicks (sounds impressive (and looks impressive if done fast and well), but step-slowly-and-turn-while-trying-to-kick-pad-target-kicks is probably a more accurate description). One exercise involved partner 1 wrapping hands around partner 2’s neck, twisting them around and kneeing partner 2 (in the face, were it a real fight) while partner 2 would hold pads above partner 1’s knees and keep pushing their head/neck up. Some might be adverse to being quite so close to another person, particularly when both are dripping with sweat, mildly smelly and are probably strangers but, well, some just have to get over it. At least you have been warned now.

Coming in at 12^th on the calories-burnt-per-minute leaderboard, it’s a very good cardio workout, combined with strength and skill. Although not in a dojo or boxing-dedicated space, top marks for making the most of the space and given the variety of classes at MFB, it’s all good!

The Need To Know:

- Where: My Fitness Boutique (http://www.myfitnessboutique.co.uk)

- Nearest Station: West Hampstead (8mins)

- When: Different classes 7 days a week

- How Much: Intro offer of £25/5 classes else £10/single class or various packages for 5 or 10 classes, monthly, 3-monthly and yearly.

- Special Note: You need to book classes in advance but there is an easy to use online system. Also, no contract and no monthly direct debits – you just pay for what you use!

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who like more technical boxing

- Sweat Scale: 8/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Cardio and strength (and skill)

- Complexity: 7/10.

- Fun Factor: 8/10

- Changing Facilities: A couple of showers and a toilet.

- Instructor Inspiration: 7/10. Enthusiastic about the art!

The Stats:

- Total Time: 25mins. I need to go on a wrist diet! Class was an hour.

- Calories Burnt: 161. At 6.44 cal/min, it’s the numero 12 calories-burnt-per-minute Fitivity. One away from Day 16 Boxing, unsurprisingly.

- Average Heart Rate: 125

- Max Heart Rate: 161  

Grr!

Day 78 ! Parkour / Freerunning

Now this is a cool one. Someone suggested this to me and when I looked for classes, there aren’t a huge number of places that runs classes. But trusty cool new find, Skilltown (venue for Day 70 Tricks & Tumbling and Day 73 Capoeira) came up trumps and on a sunny afternoon, I had my first attempt at freerunning.

For those unsure, freerunning is centred around expressing yourself in your environment without limitations and was developed as a more inclusive form of Parkour, which is a discipline developed out of military obstacle course training where you aim to move past obstacles as quickly and efficiently as possible. Or, an easier way to describe it is the kick-ass chase scene at the beginning of the James Bond film, Casino Royale where Mollaka (played by Sebastien – a wonderful French name) is being chased by (rather unsuccessfully) by Daniel Craig. Basically it’s running and jumping seamlessly, regardless of walls, buildings or any obstacles.

Does that sound easy? Well it’s not. It’s really not.  But it looks pretty awesome if you can do it. Led by Instructor Cali from Day 70 Tricks & Tumbling, we started with a warm-up indoors before moving outside to a nearby wall. The first few exercises involved jumping onto the wall (hands free of course) then walking along the wall, hopping on all fours along the wall (like a frog), doing the same backwards and such like. I am pleased to announce that by the end, I was just able to jump onto the wall without hands (whoop whoop!). Most of the class had done the class before – but there was no embarrassment, everyone just works at their own level. And besides, it’s good to have better people in a class – gives you something to work towards!

Next exercises involved various ways to get over the wall smoothly – whether by placing hands down first and swinging legs over, placing one foot down first then swinging over or straightforward hurdling type movements. I found this tricksy if I’m honest - I didn’t do the tree-climbing, wall jumping that most do when they are kids – I am a bit clumsy when it comes to obstacles and jumping. I lack fearlessness, flexibility and agility. But, I think I improved over the first hour of the class…a little. It helped that it was a glorious sunny day, that the O2 music festival was blaring in the background and the class of freerunners-wannabes were all a friendly bunch. No-one laughed at me (I would’ve laughed at me), everyone encouraged everyone else regardless of the huge range of abilities.

For the last section of the class, Instructor Cali led us to a nearby wall, maybe just over 2m high. I feel pictures (or a video) will explain better than I ever could in words so check out the video below. And note, it may look pretty amusing but I was so proud to be able to do that – it was way outside the comfort zone! It sure is the most different Fitivity I’ve tried to far (and there’s only 2 days left to go!)!

The Need To Know:

- Where: Skilltown (http://ic-movement.com/SkillTown.html)

- Nearest Station: Hackney Wick (3mins)

- When: Freerunning on Sat 2-3.30pm. Other classes available!

- How Much: Day entry £2, then £5 per class or unlimited day pass at £14

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who are brave and strong and want to try something wackily different!

- Sweat Scale: 6/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Toning and strength

- Complexity: 8/10. Harder than it looks!

- Fun Factor: 8/10

- Changing Facilities: Some rough ‘n’ ready toilets.

- Instructor Inspiration: 8/10. Preferred Tricking & Tumbling teaching style

The Stats:

- Total Time: 47mins. Watch stopped by fat wrist again!

- Calories Burnt: 192. Decent at just over 4 calories-burnt-per-minute

- Average Heart Rate: 118

- Max Heart Rate: 152  

Instructor Cali and the Crew

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

Day 77 ! Cuban Freestyling

Full disclaimer up front – Instructor Dani from the awesome Day 74 Jungle Body (guest reviewed by the lovely Miss R!), had asked whether we were sure we wanted to join the Cuban Freestyling class. It was available on drop-in but this class was also the mid way through a 4-week course and the other students had all been on the course. But, Miss R and I were feeling adventurous and still on a buzzing high after Jungle Body so we went for it.

Kind Instructor Dani did a quick run through of this Rumba, the history and the basic steps (largely for Miss R and my benefit I suspect) – Rumba is usually a partnered dance but with two guys and about six girls, we just went for a general girls vs. guys dance. The class isn’t a cardio burn like the Jungle Body class – it’s a much slower dance class, centred on technique and style.

One thing about this class (and maybe even Rumba in general) is that there is a lot of emphasis about the story behind the moves. Our story was a typical one of a girl and a guy…the girl is playing hard to get while the guy tries to impress her with his dance moves. Then the girl starts to dance with the guy and finally at the end of the routine, not quite so typically, the guy shoots a “love injection” and the girl has to defend and protect herself from said injection. That’s right - that was the story behind our dance. And please remember, this was all interpreted through dance – no real injections occurred in the making of this post.

Rumba is a very sexy-focussed dance (in case that was not clear already), the moves are slinky and as Instructor Dani says, you have to dance with style. There is some technique involved, which, if you do the course, you’ll go into much more detail on, but as a one-off class, don’t expect to have that special flair from the off. But do expect an easy-going laughter filled class with a fun, smiley Instructor Dani!  

The Need To Know:

- Where: Pulse Dance Studios (http://www.pulsedancestudios.co.uk)

- Nearest Station: Angel (4mins)

- When: Thursdays 19.00

- How Much: Drop-in around £6 for single class

    

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who fancy a light-hearted dance cardio class

- Sweat Scale: 5/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Err…just open dance skill

- Complexity: 7/10.

- Fun Factor: 7/10.

- Changing Facilities: A toilet and a couple cubicles for changing

- Instructor Inspiration: 8/10. Infectious liveliness!

The Stats:

- Total Time: 57mins

- Calories Burnt: 159.

- Average Heart Rate: 91

- Max Heart Rate: 114

Infectiously Smiley Instructor Dani!

Day 76 ! Unpacking

I moved house yesterday. I won’t lie, I did it the way one can do most things with greatest ease and minimal stress - I paid someone. Oh the shame! Not really, moving is a such a p.a.i.n. When the Boy and I moved in together a few years ago (3yrs, 5 months and 12 days), we verged on breaking up whilst trying to get the Ikea sofa up the stairs.

Was the £100 (not even discounting for wear and tear) sofa worth that argument that almost ended years of loving, sweet relationship? Hell, no. But at that point in time, I remember thinking clearly that if we couldn’t work together to maneuver that sofa up those stairs, what hope did we have in the future? How would we deal with other major decisions? Marriage? Children? And why didn’t he understand that the sofa was really heavy and I was trying to move it round the corner without scratching the walls? You’ve heard of Bridezilla? Try Movedusa. Moveatron? Move-igfoot? Ah, nothing has quite the same ring.

But, it turns out while paying people to pack and move for you does reduce your work and stress, you’ll still get stressed anyway. Are they packing it right (yes, they are professionals)? Will they put stuff in the right places (not always)? Will everything fit up the new stairs (no, was the sad conclusion)? Why did we paint the hallway walls before moving furniture up the stairs (god knows)?

And when all the boxes (all 103 of them, not including our own boxes, suitcases, trunks etc.) are stacked up throughout the house and the packers leave with a smirk on their faces, that’s when the realization sinks in that you now have to unpack. And you can’t pay someone to do that for you (well, you probably can but you would have to tell them where every little bottle, decoration, piece-of-paper-you-didn’t-actually-want-to-keep-but-they-had-packed up-anyway) goes. So I drew the line there and unpacked myself (the Boy was at work). And you’re torn between unpacking like crazy so you get it all done as quickly as possible and falling in a heap over a box and sobbing that there are too many boxes and it’ll never be finished. Then, during an exasperated call with L’il Sis, she suggested I stick on the heart rate monitor and write a post about unpacking. It’d be interesting to see how many calories one burns unpacking, she said, and though it’s not technically a class, it’s something everyone will do at some point. She may be L’il but she sure is wise, so, here we are!

The stats are below – to keep in line with a class, I recorded just an hour of unpacking (it took w.a.y. longer I assure you) and in hindsight, it wasn’t the most intensive hour of unpacking. When I started, I was running up and down the stairs moving files, ornaments, clothes and whatnot. It was sweaty work – sweaty enough to make me sport a stylish 80s sweatband and tuck my t-shirt up (ok, I may have danced a little between boxes).

All in all, unpacking is decent exercise – taking into account that you’re doing it for a good few hours for a good few days, having intense bursts of moving boxes to find something that is obviously going to be in the last box you open and inevitably be moving around constantly, I would say its analogous to an all-round low impact cardio class with little bursts of strengthening exercises.

The Need To Know:

There is nothing you need to know

    

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who are moving (good luck and god bless!)

- Sweat Scale: 6/10. On average

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Light cardio and strength

- Complexity: 3/10. Most complex thing is figuring out where you want everything to go.

- Fun Factor: 1/10. Stick on some tunes and make it less painful.

- Changing Facilities: Depends where you’re moving to!

- Instructor Inspiration: 10/10. Obviously.

The Stats:

- Total Time: 62mins

- Calories Burnt: 123. At 1.98 calories-burnt-per-minute, it’s 8^th last on the leaderboard. But calories-burnt per session would be impressive!

- Average Heart Rate: 69

- Max Heart Rate: 105

Boxes...

...Boxes...

...Everywhere!

Day 75 ! Booiaka

LAST WEEK! LAST WEEK! Phew-ee, I can hardly believe it’s Day 74. I tried googling “74 days” to see what notable things take 74 days to happen...any gestation periods for weird animals, the scientifically proven time for some food, pill, diet to take effect, the number of days it takes to walk from London to somewhere perhaps but all I got was “74 days from today – what day is that”, “74 days since last period help? - Yahoo! Answers” and other equally pressing questions that people have asked google. The Internet is so wonderful but can also bring out the weird in people, it must be said.

It was in fact, back on Day24 Tai-Chi where I said I was going to try a Booiaka class (though I misspelt as Bookiaka, which, by the way, made it tricky to find when I had said I was going to try this class). And here we are 50 days later (Google results include “what happens to an apple in 50 days” and a blog on “50 Dates in 50 Days”), task completed, promise fulfilled.

I had no idea what Booiakawas about. Aquaterra’s trusty website sold it as “Fresh from LA! An intense cardio workout incorporating vibrant dance moves of Latin, Brazilian, Jamaican, Reggaeton and hip hop styles…” and true to it’s advert, it was indeed a fusion style dance cardio workout.

I was happy to see that the class was taught by the same Instructor Topaz from Day 32 Zumba Toning – I remembered that class as a fun-filled, friendly class and this Booiakawas much the same in the respect. We went through a few warm-up moves to good current tunes before Instructor Topaz moved onto the routine. The routine itself was made up from relatively simple steps, taught at a good, slow pace which meant that everyone in the (wide age-ranging) class could get comfortable with the moves. A benefit of this routine being easy to follow was that Instructor Topaz didn’t have to spend too long breaking down each move so the class could spend more time running through the routine, thereby increasing the cardio burn.

It was a light-hearted routine but it is Instructor Topaz’ energy that makes the class fun. Constantly smiling throughout, she kept us smiling and the time passed quickly. It’s very much more a dance cardio class and not a straightforward dance class – if you’re looking for a dance class that focuses more on fun and energy than strict technique and style, this one’s for you!

The Need To Know:

- Where: Islington Tennis Centre (Part of Aquaterra)

- Nearest Station: Caledonian Road & Barnsbury Overground (10mins)

- When: Tuesdays 20.30

- How Much: Drop-in around £7.50 for single class

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who fancy a light-hearted dance cardio class

- Sweat Scale: 7/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Toning and some cardio

- Complexity: 5/10.

- Fun Factor: 7/10.

- Changing Facilities: Showers, toilets, changing rooms

- Instructor Inspiration: 7/10. Still happy cheery!

The Stats:

- Total Time: 45mins

- Calories Burnt: 167. Works out at 3.7 calories-burnt-per-minute

- Average Heart Rate: 98

- Max Heart Rate: 140