Got some free time? Consider taking up these 6 workout classes!
You’re almost there – summer is almost over and the kids will soon be back in school! Now that they will be returning to their busy schedules there are endless opportunities of what you can do to fill up the rest of your day. It’s time for you to start doing things you enjoy doing during your free time – take an art class, do some volunteer work, or maybe head over to the gym for a good workout. Of course like many of us you might feel that the gym might get too repetitive. Luckily there are a variety of different workout classes you can take that will get you moving and your heart pumping.
Check out these 6 fun workout classes:
Hot Yoga. Yoga alone is a workout that integrates mindful breathing with body movements to help you with strength, balance, and stamina. Not only does yoga support you physically, but mentally as well. Unlike regular yoga, hot yoga offers a variety of additional benefits such as improving flexibility, strength, cardiovascular conditioning, blood circulation, as well as detoxification and stress reduction.
CrossFit. CrossFit is a fast-paced, intense workout that requires nonstop movement. It may include things such as burpees, a jog and squats, weights, but the idea is that you keep doing each one over and over through the set time. Because you are doing such a variety of movements, CrossFit helps you improve many different areas such as stamina, strength, coordination, flexibility, power, speed, agility, balance, accuracy, and endurance.
Pilates. Pilates is similar to yoga but different in the sense of it targets your core and helps strengthen and stabilize. Although it focuses on your core you can also expect to strengthen your arms and legs as well. Since Pilates is not an aerobic workout we advise you pair it with some additional cardio workouts.
Spinning. A spin class is a high intensity cycling workout that generally takes place on a stationary machine with a heavy, weighted flywheel that is linked to the pedals. Your legs are constantly moving and you have to apply pressure to slow them down. Long interval classes like spinning help you to push your lactic acid threshold, annihilate fat, burn calories, and build muscle. In fact, taking a one hour spin class can burn anywhere from 500 to 700 calories – depending on the other weights incorporated during your workout.
Zumba. This workout class is a bit more fun to take. It involves dancing! Zumba is an interval focused workout. The classes move between high and low intensity dance moves that are specifically designed to get your heart rate up and boost cardio endurance. Aside from getting your sweat on and losing weight Zumba may also help lower your risk of heart disease, reduce your blood pressure and bad cholesterol, and boost your good cholesterol.
Water Aerobics. Water Aerobics are pretty much just doing regular aerobic exercises but in water – your body is submerged about waist deep. The goal with water aerobics is to increase the amount of resistance one feels when exercising and increase endurance – therefore burn more fat and lose that extra weight. There are many benefits behind doing water aerobics such as losing weight, building muscle, and strengthening of bones, muscles, and joints. Working out in water also helps you avoid overheating your body during your workout.
All of these workout classes should be paired with other healthy choices in order to reap each of their full benefits. Now we don’t expect you to take all 6 of these classes, but we do encourage you to try some out and see which one would be the best fit for you. Do you have any workout classes that you take that didn’t make it onto this list? Make sure to leave them in the comments section below!
