Where? YMCA, Aungier Street, Dublin 2
Time? 7.30 am (yuck!) til 8.15 am(phew!)
How much? 6 euro
So this morning I decided to 'treat' myself to an early morning wake up call in the form of a Spin class in the YMCA (http://www.ymca.ie/) in Dublin city centre. The YMCA has a massive schedule of classes for you to choose from, over 60 classes a week so your bound to find something that makes you want to throw on a pair of runners and get moving. The studio's and sports hall are spotlessy clean and the changing rooms are clean but the showers look like they need a small bit of an update. Weirdly, you need to bring your own padlock if you want to use the lockers or buy one at reception. I didn't know this so just took my bag into the studio with me.
You sign in at reception according to what class you are going to, I signed in then noticed that Spin was crossed out and Sculpt was on instead. Oh I get so annoyed when centres just change the timetables like that!
I'd never been to a Sculpt class before so wasn't exactly sure what to expect. There were four other girls in the class and the instructor bounced in at 7.35, we did a pulse check, a quick verbal medical screening (any injuries etc?) on with some dance music and off we went. The class starts off with a warm up, all moving briskly, side step, double side step, high knees, leg curls, kicks and lots of 'big elbows'. As we were jumping around Sandra (our instructor) informed us that this is a Hi Lo class and I nod away, smiling but have no idea what a Hi Lo class is, I thought it was Spin or Sculpt?!
After some stretches, we moved onto the main phase of the class, thankfully this was a fairly basic aerobic routine, the class is ideal for beginners who want to build up their fitness levels but may not want to go down the jogging/running route just yet. Sandra was great at demonstrating the moves and then called them out as we attempted to copy her. A few of the girls in the class were regulars so there was good banter and a nice atmosphere in the class. I got totally mixed up at the side side back 4 jump jacks bit every time we came to it, morto! At around 8.10 we got out some mats and did an 'abs blast'. Yikes! It only lasted 5 or 6 minutes but I really felt it, which, Sandra assured us, was a good thing!
We finished with a few stretches at about 8.20. I enjoyed this class, its a great energiser to start your day with and I felt great heading off to start my day with a bit of exercise taken care of!
