Day 54 ! Metabolic Conditioning

By the way folks, the special guest review for Day 49 DanceFit @Frame is now ready for your viewing pleasure! Thanks Miss E!

So, Metabolic Conditioning. It just sounds like a scary class.  Not a breezy, walk in the park, friendship and flowers type class. More charzard than charmander.

And it's held in a dojo at a martial arts gym - actually the same place where I tried Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu many moons ago (Day 19), although the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is not run by the gym itself. Kind of like a boyfriend who has moved into his girlfriend's place (or vice versa) but not married.

To get to the second dojo, one needs to walk through the BJJ dojo (probably mid-class) anyway, so naturally your eyes are drawn to the grappling folk on the mats, inevitably making you intrigued about BJJ and more likely to try it. Kind of like escalator arrangements in shopping departments which make you walk around the shop to get to the next up/down escalator, forcing you to look at more things and subconsciously making you shop for more. Cunning. Although here I think it's actually just because the building is long and narrow.

But we digress, what did this vicious sounding class entail? Weird equipment and extreme exercises? Gas masks and advanced machinery? Well...not quite. When I arrived in the dojo, there were 5 old school benches laid out - you know the long wooden ones from primary school that everyone sat on in a row at school photos? Interesting, I thought, maybe we'll be doing shuttle sprints along them, balancing back flips or egg and spoon races. I was wrong on all 3 counts. Instructor Darren (who looked a little like a guy from the God-awful programme Sunset Beach which I wasted some of my younger years watching) explained that the "metabolic" referred to bursts of intense intervals with a short break, to get our metabolism going.

After a sturdy workout, there were 3 rounds of 6 exercises of 1 minute each with a 10 second break in between. Trusty descriptions (and clarification on what the benches were used for!) below:

1. Squats with hand weights and overhead lift of the weights
2. Lying on the bench, butterfly chest presses with hand weights
3. Raised lunges (front foot is on the bench) and optional knee lifts between lunges
4. Lying on the bench, lifting legs (while trying to keep them straight -ouchy for the core)
5. Split squat jumps on floor or on bench, jumping both feet onto the bench and jumping off into a squat – this requires a surprising amount of balance – how beam gymnasts survive on a beam half the width of the bench, backflipping and jumping around, I do not know. Newfound respect.)
6. Burpees. Nuff said.

Ranking 4^th so far in calories burnt per minute leaderboard, there is a lot to be said for metabolic conditioning. Instructor Darren was a solid teacher for a solid class, giving us tips throughout. It’s not the most crazy fun class but there was a good work-hard-push-yourself atmosphere, which, at 07.45am is probably all you want.

The Need To Know:

- Where: The Tokei Fitness Centre (www.tokeicentre.org)

- Nearest Station: London Bridge (7mins)

- When: Metabolic Conditioning Tues 07.45am – other classes throughout the week

- How Much: Single Class £10 else no contract monthly memberships available.

  

The Want to Know:

- Who’s it For: For those who probably live/work nearby and want a straightforward solid morning workout

- Sweat Scale: 7/10.

- Strength / Cardio / Flexi / Tone: Mainly toning and some cardio

- Complexity: 7/10

- Fun Factor: 6/10

- Changing Facilities: Basic, toilets and showers

- Instructor Inspiration: 7/10.

The Stats:

- Total Time: 33mins

- Calories Burnt: 217

- Average Heart Rate: 137bpm

- Max Heart Rate: 165bpm 

Instructor Darren gets the Thumbs Up

Clearly, I was not pushing myself enough, the on/offs are not clear enough! Or maybe 10seconds break is too short to see visibly...