The secret of an ideal body has long been unraveled: spend more energy than you consume. Eat less, move more – much easier! But we are still looking for something magical that will allow us not to sweat in the hall for two hours three times a week. On the other hand, you want variety in training: it is impossible to carry the barbell with the same enthusiasm year after year. Responding to our requests, fitness clubs are introducing new directions. Workouts are in line with the spirit of the times: they are getting shorter, but richer. But how effective they are, and checked the editors of Woman’s Day.
Training on the POWER PLATE platform
– I am a big fitness fan and a permanent resident of the metropolis. Do you all understand where I am leading? Of course, it is often difficult to allocate time for a full-fledged workout in the gym, which, in an amicable way, should take 1, 5-2 hours. My lesson usually lasts no more than an hour. Often in a frantic rhythm, which is not very good. Having visited the Power Style studio, I learned that the training time can be shortened even more, but the effect will pleasantly surprise you.
Where: Power Style studio, minimum number of classes – 6, price – 10 rubles with a trainer.
Expectations: in the cozy Power Style studio, which is located at Krasny Oktyabr, I was introduced to an experienced coach, Roman, who tried to familiarize me as closely as possible with the wonderful Power Plate exercise machine. The effectiveness of the classes is so amazing that you can only believe it if you are convinced yourself.
The simulator is suitable for people who do not have enough hours in the day. The basis of the Power Plate trainers is platform vibrations with an adjustable frequency, which lead to the rapid destruction of fat deposits and muscle stimulation. You just stand on the platform and do the exercises without any “iron” for 30 minutes, but the effect will be like after a full two-hour workout in the gym! You will observe and feel the result after the first experience, and you will achieve the desired appearance in just a couple of months.
Reality: this was my first experience of this kind of training. I stood on a vibrating platform and followed the trainer’s simple instructions. It seemed that nothing complicated, but it was only the beginning. If you turn off the vibration and repeat my feat, then everything will really succeed easily. But when the ground goes underfoot, everything is much more complicated. We worked out for about 45 minutes, which is enough for the first workout. The next day, nothing hurt, as usually happens after the gym. But the appearance of the buttocks, thighs and abdomen was impressive. I’m not saying that I found eight cubes on my stomach, but it was noticeable that work had been done on the muscles. I was impressed that I didn’t put in any special work, just a few types of standard exercises for one approach, and that’s it! It is better to work out with a coach. If you want to get the desired result as quickly as possible, do not skimp. For two months of work, you will not recognize yourself in the mirror, but you will pay money as well as for a six-month membership to a good gym.
I did not find any minuses, there are solid pluses all around. Saving time, quick results – in my opinion, what a city dweller needs.
Rating: 10 of 10 points. Recently my gym membership ended and I’m looking for a good gym. I got to know the Power Plate machine and I am serious about transforming myself by summer with it.
– I did not hesitate to choose aquatabata only on one principle – I adore everything related to water. And spending an extra hour in the water in winter is a definite plus.
Where: fitness club JANINN FITNESS, one-time lesson – 2080 rubles.
Expectations: Tabata is one of the most effective interval training methods that was “invented” in 1996. Classic is a workout with several intervals of 20 and 10 seconds. First, 20 seconds of maximum intensity work and 10 seconds of rest, such cycles are repeated 8 times in a row and make a total of 4 minutes. Later, various variations of tabata appeared, for example aqua, which I tried. Such training promises to burn extra pounds in a short time, tone your muscles and increase your endurance.
Reality: with On the very threshold, the trainer noted that aquatabata is a very intense workout that requires a certain skill. They put on a belt that helps me stay on the water. During the workout, only 4 minutes are given for each muscle group. During this time, you need to do at least eight approaches: 20 seconds – intensive work and 10 seconds of rest. Half an hour later, I began to get tired: swinging the press in the water, you involuntarily begin to choke and swim away from “your” place. I can say that this is the most difficult workout I have attended, because swinging your arms in the gym and in the water are completely different experiences. During training, the trainer gave a barbell, oversleeves, which imitated dumbbells, and a long stick, which was … jumping ropes. I advise you to try jumping rope in the water sometime. Tough job, I want to say.
The undoubted disadvantage of aquatraining is the inconvenience in time. You can’t schedule them for the morning before work, unless you’re a fan of waking up at 6 a.m. and finding a fitness center that kicks off with the first rays of the sun. At the very least, you need to shower, dry your hair, and apply makeup after your workout, which can take up to an hour. You need to come to such a training with strength, so the best time for aquatabata is the weekend. One workout per week is suitable for those who are combining them with another sport.
Rating: 9 of 10 points. I realized that aqua workout is the most intense type of workout, but I prefer exercise machines or, in extreme cases, home workouts. I will not continue training just because of their inconvenience in time. Someday, if an aquatabata course is opened in my fitness room, I would gladly go once a week.
– What did I know about the Body digital direction before visiting the Miltronic sports club? Never mind! Begin to envy white envy: I’ve never been on a diet in my life. There was always enough dancing and the daily pursuit of new labor records. But life makes its own adjustments. Six months ago I was injured. The loads became unbearable, since then I have been in search of the perfect gym.
Where: Miltronic club, semi-annual subscription – 49 thousand rubles.
Expectations: after another crying of Yaroslavna, colleagues advised Miltronic. An individual training complex for each visitor is developed here. The state of health, body composition, the presence of injuries and a lot of different factors are taken into account. Workouts are controlled by smart machines that will not overload unwanted body parts. And the classes last only 35 minutes (but in terms of effectiveness they are not inferior to the usual one and a half hour workouts). In general, what the doctor ordered!
Reality: snow-white hall, calm music … Stop-stop! And where are the sweaty, pumped-up handsome men? And where are the sounds of pancakes falling to the floor? Where are the lines in the locker room and shower room? There are no pushers here. There is plenty of space in the gym, and visitors also come at a specially designated time, so that the coaches can pay attention to everyone.
We start with the diagonal. In just 10 minutes, my consultant already knows more about me than I do about myself. Body weight is such and such, muscle mass is such and such, here is a lack of fat mass, and your legs are more developed than your arms …
We agree on what we want to improve, and where are the minimum loads, and we go to the gym with simulators. The robots have already compiled a list of necessary exercises. It remains only to adjust the proposed intensity and degree of exercise.
From that moment on, training turns into a real pleasure. I sit down on the simulator, insert a special ID-card by which the machine recognizes me, and start the lesson. The exercises themselves have long been familiar to me from traditional gyms, but all the necessary parameters have already been set automatically, in addition, using a special display I can adjust the load during exercise and monitor how well I am doing.
35 minutes pass as if it never happened. The T-shirt is wet. And I am happy and satisfied. How many calories did you burn there? On a special monitor, the robots have already prepared a report for me. And not only about the successes, but also showed where she cheated. And finally, we determined the date of the next workout. Yes, in Body digital it is extremely important to adhere to the schedule of classes. Since training (despite its seemingly short duration) turns out to be very intense, the body desperately needs to rest in order to avoid exhaustion.
Evaluation: 9 out of 10 points. Do you want to achieve great results in a relatively short time? Save time at the gym? Do you like gadgets? Then this type of fitness is especially for you. It is preferred by busy and motivated people who have money for time. Yes, I’m not kidding. According to the staff, all top management from local business centers really comes here. And they will not waste their precious time, and the honestly acquired time.
In general, I recommend it. Why did you take away the point? I’m just a man of the old school. I also go to training for emotions. Here to chat with phytonyash, here at the cooler to crowd. There is something in this for me, at least …
– The dream of any woman is to lose weight without straining. Hence the popularity of all these “warming belts” and couch trainers. Or plasters – you put them on your belly and you lie there waiting for it to decrease by 10 centimeters. Well, we tested and saw through all these devices a long time ago – they don’t work. The turn has come to a new fashionable EMS training. This is when your muscles are “turned on” by current impulses. 20 minutes sausage you, and in terms of efficiency – like working in the gym with weights for two hours! And you won’t even sweat. Well, isn’t it great joy on our street, girls?
The lunge is imperfect, but during impulses you simply cannot control your body
Where: JustFit club on Mendeleevskaya, one-time lesson – 2900 rubles, unlimited for six months – 73 900 rubles.
Expectations: what did I even know about this workout? That they put on a suit with wiring on me, there will be some kind of current discharge, which will increase the efficiency of the elements being performed. In general, I am a person savvy in terms of sports – I went to find fault with the full program and did not believe in the superload, which, they say, the apparatus provides. And here…
Reality: all EMS training is individual. You work one-on-one with a coach. I fell into the hands of an experienced and fit Alla.
“Here’s a suit for you, change your clothes,” she handed me a “diver’s kit”: rubberized shorts and a T-shirt. The first plus is that you don’t need a form! No bags and sweaty T-shirts that you forget to immediately throw in the wash (I don’t believe if you say that this has not happened to you). You don’t even need sneakers: I stuffed my uniform into a locker, put on disposable underwear, a suit, and spanked into the gym right in my socks. By the way, it is quite small and very cozy. Small because all you need is a couple of machines …
“Now we will get you wet,” laughs Alla, watching my reaction. “Water is needed for better electrical conductivity.” Over the suit, the trainer put a vest on me – it is responsible for the abdominal muscles and pectoral muscles, connects the lower back and latissimus dorsi to the work. Separately, they pulled a belt on my buttocks, each hip and on my arms. The principle of the EMS simulator is as follows: usually, in response to some action, the brain gives a signal to a certain muscle group to start working. In our case, the signal is given by the simulator using bioelectric impulses. With its help, you can use all the necessary muscle groups at once, even deep and small. And it turns out a very good load, while the joints are not injured. And you don’t have to be an advanced athlete at all.
Let’s go! We started with a cardio workout: I walked on a stepper (sometimes, for a change, Alla offers a treadmill), and the coach gave a shock. The legs were connected first. I don’t know what I expected, but definitely not such sensations. The muscles began to contract and kind of tingle – like when you sit your leg a little. Then the buttocks. Well, further down the list. Alla selected her maximum load for each group. When all the muscles were connected, I realized that I do not control my body at all, it itself contracts and pulsates. Not to say that the sensations are pleasant. But I imagined how with each contraction my butt was tightened, and my back straightened, and it somehow became easier.
Next is the power section. Again, we connect different muscle groups in turn, but the impulse is already different, shallower and deeper. The nature of the training also changed: the impulses went in intervals between work and rest. And at the time of the contractions, I had to do the exercise. Just bring your arms bent at the elbows in front of you. About nothing, right? But I couldn’t complete the task the first time! It seemed to me that my hands did not obey me. Due to the frequent impulses, I did not feel the muscles at all and could not cope with them. With grief, she subdued the naughty body and legs in half. It seemed to me that every part of the body was simply too heavy! It is for this reason that you see me in the photo in very strange positions. What a beautiful lunge there – I could hardly bend my legs!
The third part of the workout sounds nice: lymphatic drainage massage. It is needed to accelerate the flow of lymph and remove waste products from cells, thereby improving cell nutrition. As a bonus, cellulite is destroyed and the skin is smoothed.
“Lie down, relax,” Alla puts me on the rug. Then, on reflection, he warns. “Well, try to relax. This is how it will lift you above the floor. “
This is how I learned the art of levitation. Again the same scheme, when we selected the maximum load for each muscle group, again a slightly different impulse density. This is not the kind of relaxing massage you get in beauty salons. This is where you really bounce during contractions. But the effect is also cooler.
Twenty minutes later, puzzled, I was changing in the locker room. She also left the hall with mixed feelings: she seemed to have worked, but, as it were, she didn’t do anything. Only triceps ached slightly – this is my weak point. The realization that I was doing very much, overtook me in the evening – I suddenly barely got up from my chair. And the next morning all my muscles ached so much, as if I really did my best in the gym after a long break! It was especially pleasant to ache somewhere deep in the buttocks – I definitely never reached those muscles with my squats, pulls and lunges.
I still have an imbalance in my head – the load I felt is quite real, but this feeling that I didn’t seem to do anything, but everything hurts, puts me into a stupor. Although, as Alla explained to me, despite the short time, this is an absolutely full-fledged workout. All the rules that apply to the gym also apply here: you must definitely drink water, you cannot train every day, you need to let your muscles recover. Well, and the result should be expected no earlier than after 8 sessions. The main plus here is that the level of your physical training and age are not important – you will not overload yourself and you will not harm anything.
Rating: 9 out of 10. The point was removed only because of the high price for training, you will think hard before you decide to buy a subscription.
– I heard about cycling (aerobic training on stationary bicycles) for a long time. It was interesting to try.
Where: TERRA SPORT Copernicus, subscription price – after individual consultation at the club.
Expectations: practicing in the gym with a trainer three times a week (to be honest, more often than twice a week, but let this loud statement on my part lie here and serve as an incentive and a silent reproach), I think that I get a sufficient aerobic load. As a rule, I always finish the lesson with a 20-minute “bike ride”. The technique is simple – pedal until the simulator gives the command to finish. The “smart bike” program itself sets the intensity of the load and counts the time itself. And you just follow your pulse. Therefore, I first of all went to cycling with the aim of gaining new knowledge: perhaps, on a bicycle I perform the program in the old fashioned way? Who knows, what if, while I was here distracted by work and household chores, the world has long gone ahead? Even so, it’s never too late to jump on the last carriage. So let’s go!
Reality: To begin with, cycling is a group workout. If you go to sports not only for the sake of sports, but to distract yourself and be alone with yourself, you are definitely not here.
Training takes place in a separate room on special stationary exercise bikes. Alas, I managed to be 7 minutes late. An important meeting in the Belorusskaya area … While I reached Bolshaya Yakimanka (those traffic jams!), The cycling group, which I was supposed to get into for the first time, had already managed to change clothes, go into the gym and start warm-up. I ran into the locker room with a bullet, disguised as a soldier (the match would not have burned out yet). The lovely girl led me to the trendy gym (the atmosphere at the Terra Sport Copernicus, in my opinion, is wonderful). And she gave a brief “help”: “In cycling, people on exercise machines imitate riding bicycles through mountainous terrain, desert, and highways. The lesson lasts 50 minutes, during this time you change the speed mode more than once, use different riding techniques. Good luck!”
Exercise equipment, clean towels, drinking water … What else does a novice “cyclist” need to be completely happy ?! If you find fault, then I would advise you to take out a couple of simulators from the room in order to unload the space (the warm-up before the “marathon” and the cool-down after take place next to the bicycles, and there is not so much space there yet).
Another important point: it is still advisable not to be late for group training. Especially for beginners. Because the coach does not have the opportunity to come up, explain how to build the load for you. Working with the group, he almost continuously gives commands, gives motivating comments, puts on the right music. In other words, he runs twenty cyclists at the same time (about the same number of people in our group).
In fact, the training is very similar to a real bike race. With obstacles. “Let’s get up! Let’s go! Let’s sit down! We spin the pedals! ” To endure 50 minutes, 35 of which at an active pace, you need to prepare not only physically, but also mentally. It won’t be easy. Cycling is a powerful aerobic exercise. I suspect that it is effective. Muscles do not let you forget about yourself the next day. I would not be surprised if in 50 minutes a person really loses almost 1000-1300 kcal (so I was told). The pulse beats perceptibly, so be careful and consult your doctor. My colleagues on the “bike ride”, despite the stress, left the gym happy (a pleasant feeling after class, as if you had accomplished a feat). It can be seen that they have been studying for more than a day and are satisfied with the result (or a sense of accomplishment – whatever they like).
Evaluation: 7 out of 10 points. Cycling is still too “hot” pace for me. But, if you like fast driving with energetic music, you will rate the lesson 10 out of 10.