Ready to get your fitness on? Our editors check out the hottest ways to get your butt in gear.
POP PHYSIQUE
- WHAT – Pop Physique is a one hour ballet barrebased class, that uses the principles of dance that are used to create long, lean lines and tight, compact muscles. The class provides results that are unparalleled. Pop Physique takes the original, chic Lotte Berk concept that was created in London in the 50s to a modernized level that fits into every lifestyle
- WHY – It is efficient, fun, stylish, fat burning, and intense enough to provide continued results for years, yet safe enough to do every day.
- OUR REVIEW – If the word “butt” is anywhere in your fitness resolutions this year, this is the kind of program that will help you achieve a tight physique from head-to-toe. Observant instructors like Bria over at the Westside location in Los Angeles will make sure that you are executing every move with correct form, maximizing each movement. With moves that incorporate everything from light weights, to push-ups, to moves on the ballet barre, you’ll soon find out how the modernized take on the original concept created by Lotte Berk in the 50’s is still shaping bodies, one inching move at a time. Just after one session, I left feeling longer and leaner! And let’s not forget the cute socks you can wear during class! — Jane Hong
- WHERE – Popphysique.com
ORANGE THEORY
- WHAT – Orangetheory Fitness is a 60-minute workout with cardiovascular and strength training intervals. Before each class, you’re hooked up to a heart-rate monitor that tracks your progress on a large screen divided into five categories designated by color.
- WHY – The goal during the session is to reach the orange zone, also known as level four. In this zone, calorie-burning is at an optimum, and spending the recommended 12 to 20 minutes in this zone will get the afterburn effect (post-workout calorie burn) to kick in. The end result is the Orange Effect — burning anywhere from 500 to 1,000 calories per workout, more energy, visible toning and an extra calorie burn for up to 36 hours post- workout.
- OUR REVIEW – Let me start off by saying I’m no fitness enthusiast. I like the idea of working out, but I hate actually doing it, especially alone. But what instantly grabbed my attention about Orangetheory was the group aspect of the workout sessions. I was slightly intimated when I walked into the studio — everyone in the class was so focused, and it just seemed so intense. But I loved that the goal was to beat yourself and push your limits, and after a while, I felt motivated to push through each workout. In the end, Orangetheory was one of the best workouts I’ve ever had. — Robiat Balogun
- WHERE – Orangetheoryfitness.com
HOT 8 YOGA
- WHAT – Hot 8 Yoga offers great variety of 60 minute classes, focusing on strength, flexibility, and balance with a holistic approach of nurturing the spirit. Offering over 200 classes per week at various levels of intensity, they include Hot Yoga, Hot Power Fusion, Hot Power Yoga, Hot Yoga Sculpt, and Hot Yoga Barre.
- WHY – The instructors are devoted to instill confidence and motivate you to evolve with your practice. Hot 8 Yoga will help you shape, tone and improve your body, reduce stress, control weight, relieve lower back pain, improve skin quality, detoxify and more.
- OUR REVIEW – With rooms set at temperatures of 104-109, you are guarunteed a drenching sweat! Yoga Barre in particular the kind of balanced workout you need when the muscles are tight. But don’t be fooled by the non-impact moves – the class is a cardiovasular program of isometric exercises as well that is designed to sculpt. This is where shaky legs and trembling abs is the norm! – JH
- WHERE – Hot8yoga.com
POUND
- WHAT – A full-body cardio jam session, combining light resistance with constant simulated drumming. With continual upper body motion using lightly weighted drumsticks called RipstixTM, the workout, founded by Kirsten Potenza and Cristina Peerenboom, fuses cardio, Pilates, isometric movements, plyometrics, and isometric poses into a 45-minute series.
- WHY – You can burn between 400 and 900+ calories per hour, strengthen and sculpt infrequently used muscles, and drum your way to a leaner, slimmer physique, all while rocking out to your favorite music.
- OUR REVIEW – POUND is a loud, energetic workout with your friends, led by friends, and set to amazing playlists. There is a strong sense of group commitment and community at POUND, so you never feel alone. All teachers, or POUND Pros, as they call them, complete a specialized training program to equip them with all the necessary tools to help you rock out and work out. Sweat it out, and enjoy the “good kind” of sore. There is absolutely no other workout like it out there. — Sarah Yoo
- WHERE – Poundfit.com
GROOVE
- WHAT – Forget stressing about the calories, and start impressing people with your moves on the dance floor. This dance class comes complete with a live DJ, choreographed routines and the hottest hits
- WHY – The steps are accessible (anyone can get them after a few tries), and the continuously mixed hip-hop, funk and pop hits from the ’90s and beyond make it hard not to “bust a groove” on the dance floor.
- OUR REVIEW – You get a workout while feeling like a stage dancer, but without the intimidation of a normal dance class. The cool and easygoing dance instructor made it easy for us to master the steps. In short, this class is so much fun, and you know you’re burning tons of calories from this intense one-hour dance workout session. — Archangela Chelsea
- WHERE – Groov3.com
