This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wash U chapter.

Walking into PLNK STL, you wouldn’t expect to leave 50 minutes later complete with shaky muscles and drenched in sweat. This boutique pilates studio has a fully-stocked bathroom with all of the essentials, a retail section, and the hardest workout in St. Louis.

About PLNK:

The Megaformer machine was founded by Sebastien Lagree, who aims to deliver a full body workout that combined cardio and strength training in the most efficient way possible. He created a variety of exercises with unique names, such as catfish, bear, scrambled eggs, mermaid, skater, and elevator lunge, just to name a few. Each 50 minute class contains a certain routine of exercises, that are constantly changing to always keep you on your toes and engaged. Get ready to work every inch of your body to the point of exhaustion!

The Class:

Each class normally begins with a core warm up to get your abs ready for the next 50 minutes! The great thing about this workout is that your core is working in every move, whether you are doing lunges or arms, your core stabilizes and balances you so you won’t fall off the machine (don’t worry, it’s happened to me before!!) After your warm up, you will work your right leg, left leg, right oblique, left oblique, and arms (not necessarily in this order), before finishing with a core blast to end the class. There are 14 machines so you will still be able to get individualized attention and hands-on adjustments from the instructor without feeling like they are watching your every move. Though it will probably seem overwhelming at first, you are only in each exercise for a total of about two minutes before transitioning to the next move. This workout is based on the mentality: “slow movements, fast transitions”, which makes the class fly by. The slow movements are killer and your muscles will be shaking and screaming at you by the time you’re done. Expect to finish sweaty, smiling, shaky, and sore!

source