Beatrice, the Virgin Active team member who wrote our previous blog post about Lift Club, is back with a fresh new take on going to the club and challenging herself. This is her experience with our Strength and Conditioning 6-week programme.
There is a moment, just as the beat drops, when I know we’re about to get into it and the outside world starts to disappear. In this place, as the music pulses and I’m moving my body along with everyone else, I can escape from the emails, the traffic and the commitments.
I’m in the club, but not the kind you’re thinking of. Instead of dropping it like-it’s-hot or putting my-hands-up-in-the-air, it’s squats, thrusters and a SkiErg that’s making me sweat. It’s 6am and I’m doing a Strength & Conditioning class at Virgin Active. It’s become my morning ritual.
It all started when I metaphorically woke up in January feeling the burning need for change and direction. I needed to get out of a rut. If you have read my previous blog post for Virgin Active, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. So, long story short, it was time to get out of my house and find something that would get me back on track and keep me coming back for more.
My exercise goals have always been simple – when a friend says “jump”, I want to be able to say, “how high”. All the moms can sit down, I don’t really mean that. What I mean is, I want to be able to get up tomorrow and hike in the Drakensberg, or run on the promenade, or chase my nephews around the park after a day at the office. I want to be fit and healthy enough to experience life.
That is where Virgin Active’s new Strength and Conditioning class (S&C to the regulars) comes in. It’s a mix of resistance training, HIIT and functional movements designed to tone muscle and boost metabolism, set to a banging playlist and led by energetic instructors. In my opinion, it’s the perfect workout for anyone looking to improve your ‘everyday fitness’ by building strength and stamina.
It’s an intense workout, leaving little time or energy to think of anything outside of the movements, music and people around you. Don’t let that intimidate you though, just like in the club in my 20s, there is enough energy in the room to keep you moving till the music comes to an end and the lights come on.
While the vibes are always vibing, part of what keeps me coming back for more is the 6-week programming block which is designed to deliver weekly sessions focused on strength, sprints, conditioning and sweat sessions that become more intense as you progress through each week. The skilled and encouraging (see: pushy) instructors have you select kettlebells and dumbbells based on the workout so that you can start wherever you are and push yourself as you get fitter and stronger. If you want to increase your strength and stamina, push yourself, and leave in a pool of sweat like I do – this is a winner.
S&C has become more than just a workout for me. Surrounded by others chasing the same endorphin rush, I’ve found a space that’s as energising as it is grounding – a new kind of nightlife, at 6 a.m.
Finish your workout off with a sauna session, grab a breakfast at Kauai or dial in for your first meeting at the work cubicles. Everything you need is inside.
Strength and Conditioning is available at these clubs;
Century City, Claremont, Constantia, Durbanville, Hillcrest, Mitchells Plain, Paarl, Steenberg, Stellenbosch, Sun Valley, Table View, Wembley Square, Westville, Centurion, Groenkloof, Hazeldean.
Coming Soon;
Roodepoort, Cape Town Foreshore.