After 6 weeks of lazing about on the sofa, having my food bought to me by my mum and stress snacking over exams, it was time to face The Edge.
In this wonderfully New Year I have decided to plan my gym sessions a week at a time. I feel like I’ll get more out of it and won’t be able to make excuses for not going. Sadly this week I only went once. I was meant to go to Zumba on Wednesday, but a 10 am gym class didn’t seem that appetizing, so I hit the snooze instead.
I made up for it on Friday by going to fitball. I thought I’d ease myself back into the world of fitness by bouncing on a ball. Simple. To make the most of the 45 minute session, I pounded the treadmill for 8 whole minutes beforehand. Yes I was power walking and yes, I did take a break or two. But it got my heart rate pumping!
The class was held in Studio 1, the small room near the main entrance. When I walked in, the dimensions didn’t seem ideal to have 15 people space hopping in. I hoped the instructor would be able to keep us from smashing into each other. It’s probably obvious that at this point, I had no idea what to expect.
After handing in our tickets, the long awaited fitballs arrived. I must admit I was a little excited. I already pictured myself rolling around the room on a massive ball, having the time of my life and calling it exercise. To my dismay, the balls were handed out according to size. With my 5”2 frame, my dreams of getting the big fitball were quickly smashed. I settled for a medium sized one instead, ignoring all the longer legged girls who were just too slow.
As the class began, I quickly realised that there would be no actual bouncing. For the first 10 minutes we were told to sit on the ball and ‘play’ around with it, lifting one leg or arm at a time. We had to make our bodies aware that we were on a massive ball. After our body was used to the unsteadiness, actual pain began. We started with press ups, thighs on the ball, hands placed firmly on the floor and legs in the air. Oddly, the press-ups were quite fun; the ball actually took the pressure away from the back. For the first time ever, I was able to do all the reps without tumbling over in sheer pain.
Then came the hard stuff: leg raises. Using the ball as a side support we did a sequence of ups and downs. One leg raise soon turned into four mini pulses. There’s something about endurance which just switches my body off, so I stopped at 3 leg pulses, to preserve my strength of course. The exercise focused on strengthening the thighs and firming the gluteus maximus. I most definitely felt the burn.
It felt like the instructor wanted to give us thighs worthy of the 2012 games: more leg raises. Thankfully, the movements had to be done slowly to avoid injury.
The instructor: “Slower, controlled movements engage more muscles, making the exercises more effective. It’s actually better to do a short exercise well than a rushed long one”
Me:”Yeaaaaa buddy.” Short exercises mean less pain, now that I can do.
The final part of the class was abdominal work. You lie on your back with the ball between your thighs. To work your abs, you pass the ball from your thighs to your hands, fully extending each time. Try doing that 30 times, you will have abs of steel.
Stretching is quite a big part of the workout, especially of you want to avoid waking up with a sore derrière the next day. We were even allowed to bounce around for a bit before giving the fitballs back.
Fitball, although excruciating at times, was actually enjoyable. Each set of exercises targeted at least two muscle groups which actually meant you were working out more in less time. I would do it again and recommend it to others if you want to tone up and have fun. I think more than one class a week would be needed to see results, but it would be worth it. To get more out of the fitball session and burn more calories, I’d suggest hitting the treadmill for a couple of minutes before. I can’t believe I found a toning class I actually like, and I might even buy my own fitball – now that’s dedication.