Day 52 ! Body Sculpt

There are some classes (and foods, drinks & experiences) that you’ll try once and you’ll probably not do again (though not streetdance classes, if you read yesterday’s Day 51 Commercial Street post!). But, trying is a crucial step so, as a malapropistic Gary Barlow would’ve said, Never Regret.

Today’s class was Body Sculpt at the Finsbury Leisure Centre (another Aquaterra leisure centre, who knew!? OK, I knew.). There are a lot of classes (generally, not just at the Aquaterra places) that are vaguely named in a way that no-one can claim false advertising (though no-one gets overly excited by them either) and these are usually prefixed with “body” (body sculpt, body tone, body conditioning – not to be mistaken for the well-known Les Mills Bodyattack (TM), Bodybalance (TM) series, which, by the way also has Bodyvive(TM), Sh’Bam(TM) (?) and a good few others I had never heard of). It bemuses me why the timetablers don’t just give the class a more exciting name (a.k.a. Edinburgh’s Fitness Chicks’ Day 13 Princess Warrior class), even just a marginally more exciting name but hey ho, not my job.

Let’s start with the studio. I feel it my duty to let you know that the studio / underground multi-purpose space looks like your old run-down school gym hall. The equipment could probably do with replacing (did you know that the inside of barbell weights is grey, staining chalky stone? I didn’t need to know that.), the lighting is harsh and the ambiance of the room has more a death-happens-here vibe. I don’t mean to be too harsh on the place, but this studio is in a whole other league compared to the other Aquaterra centres and given the price of a drop-in class is the same, it just doesn’t seem right. I have heard of people going there to play badmin, squash, basketball even so maybe classes aren’t the main focus. Or maybe the main studio was being refurbished and we were sent to the basement as a temporary measure. The dingy basement.

If you’re not deterred yet, where were we? Ah yes, Body (yawn) Sculpt. This class was intended to tone, sculpt, work the body all over using some equipment yes, yes, we know the story. So what equipment did we need? Well, a lot - it took a good while for everyone to collect their equipment: barbell with weights, hand weights, resistance band, resistance rope, step, mat, a chair (yes, we were told by a friendly classmate that we would need a chair…) and this funny looking circular plastic pillow with knobbly bits on one side and smooth on the other (Authors Edit: a dyna disc balance cushion apparently).

And what did we use it for?

Barbell with weights: squats, lunges and deadlifts

Hand weights: walking lunges, step lunges, cross-legged lunges.

Resistance band: tricep dips and bicep pulls.

Resistance rope: bicep curls

Step: self explanatory

Mat: Same as step

Chair: To hold water bottle (I kid yee, not. This says something about the people in the class and I leave it up to you to decide what.)

Plastic pillow: Don’t know, we never got round to it. Shame.

Using so much equipment arguably should have made the class more interesting or at least make the time pass faster but as I lunged for what seemed like the 50^th time or changed lifting a barbell to lifting a hand weight, I found myself checking my watch at 22 minutes, 36mins and 53 minutes. And when the class hit an hour, Instructor Kate did let us know that she usually carries on past the hour till her next class, but I had other plans so packed away my equipment and quietly left. Maybe they did use the plastic cushion, who knows? Who cares.

Credit where it’s due, it was a workout. Then again, if you starjump solidly for an hour, that’s also a workout. But would you do it again? Negative soldier. Never Regret but Try to Forget.

The Need To Know:

- Where: Finsbury Leisure Centre

- Nearest Station: Old Street (6mins)

- When: Does it matter?

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

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: I’m not sure.

- Sweat Scale: 6/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Toning

- Complexity: 4/10

- Fun Factor: 4/10.

- Changing Facilities: Toilets were standard.

- Instructor Inspiration: 6/10.

The Stats:

- Total Time: 62 long minutes

- Calories Burnt: 175.

- Average Heart Rate: 99
- Max Heart Rate: 132

I'm smiling (because the class the over)