The Importance of Staying Active
By Isabel Berckemeyer
All my life I’ve been a very active person. I played a different sport every season in high school, using the off seasons to train and work out six days a week. With hundreds of hours dedicated to athletics, I have tried countless workouts to keep my body at peak performance. I’ve gone through various fitness eras: my yoga era, body weight exercises era, heavy lifting era, and cardio era. When I came to college and no longer had the structure of team workouts and sports I began to miss the variation it offered; the everyday process of going to the gym was so boring for me. To combat the gym monotony I was feeling I decided to start a process of testing out different workout places around campus. The list of places I tried includes Orange Theory Fitness, SoulCycle, Solidcore, and Bulldog Yoga.
I began my quest for fun and unique workouts at Orange Theory Fitness. This was a place I was familiar with because my entire family belongs to OTF and I had been to classes previously. They offer the type of workout I love and usually replicate in the gym. The workout is an hour-long class, consisting of 20-30 minutes on the treadmill, five-10 minutes on the rower, and then the rest of the hour is spent on the floor doing exercises with weights, TRX, benches, ab dollies, bands, or a bosu. A coach leads you through the entire class, so you don’t do much thinking other than focusing on your form and working hard. One thing I love about OTF is that you can track the calories you burned on a television in the workout room and your “splat points.” Orange Theory sets a goal for every class to reach 12 Splat points, which is attainable and ensures that your body continues to burn calories for 48 hours. I strongly recommend OTF because I trust its formula for building workouts around your body.
SoulCycle was next on my list and I was not as enthusiastic about trying it. I have always disliked workouts on bikes because I get uncomfortable. However, this was not an issue in my SoulCycle class because I was so distracted. The vibes in the studio were amazing because I attended a class with the theme Taylor Swift country vs Taylor Swift pop. As a Swiftie myself, I felt energized in this class and motivated to work out through the music. The coach's upbeat energy was contagious. However, I feel like having little variation within the classes would not be a sustainable workout plan for me long term, but it is definitely a class to add to a routine.
Solidcore was possibly the hardest workout I tried. Solidcore classes are workouts on a reformer and focused on very small movements and positions held for long periods of time. The instructor was nice and the classes were small allowing for more individualized help. As a beginner in a room of extremely experienced members, I felt lost and fell behind during this workout. I spent more time in class stressing about if I was doing it correctly than focusing on the movements and getting a good workout in. I could see how Solidcore would be right for somebody else, but it was not for me at the end of the day.
My final trial was at Bulldog Yoga. This is a workout that I’ve loved for a long time but hadn’t been back to the studio in a while. This 60-minute power flow of hot yoga is designed to move fast. I am known for sweating a lot during my workouts and this flow had me dripping by the end. The instructors at Bulldog are extremely welcoming and they ensure you are doing the exercises correctly. The music is pop and upbeat which is different from traditional yoga practices making the experience even better.
I would recommend everyone try out these workouts if you are interested. I learned a lot about my likes and dislikes and will definitely be signing up for a few classes in the future. Adding variation to your workouts makes exercising fun and enjoyable.
