THE BASICS: Drum & Bass Workout is exactly what you’d expect, minus the sticky floors and vodka redbulls. Dark room, thumping drum & bass, disco lights, boxing and MMA/combat inspired moves at Motion Fitness Studios at The Pithay in the centre of the city. This workout is bangin’. £7 drop in (class passes available and also on MoveGB – as of October 2017).
THE HBs: Carly
THE CLASS: Led by PT Holly, Drum & Bass Workout is a workout concept by Totally Shredded. I was terrified to be heading to a class choreographed by a company called “totally shredded” as I’d describe myself more “healthily padded”, so I wasn’t sure what was going to be expected of me!
Thankfully it was exactly the right level of do-able and “oh my god is is over yet?” that you’d hope from any high intensity class. We waited in the old cafe area at the multi-use Pithay studios (you might need to ring the bell/knock/wait for a few minutes to be let in) before being led down to the studio space by Holly. Once we were in, it all happened in a flash – bags down, lights off… the disco had begun! It was about as shocking as the transition of Wethies to the nightclub that I remember from my student days.
Luckily all of that clubbing practice in my youth had prepared me for what to do next (no… not kiss everyone whose shape looked vaguely human and then puke in the corner) but rise to the challenge of sweating through my clothes and styling it out despite not having been blessed with a single jot of coordination.
Holly worked us through 45 minutes of fast, cardio-based routines which were loosely based around boxing, MMA and combat moves. Think kicks, punches and all of the combos in between. We stopped for a quick breather half way through and threw in some core work on mats at the end, but I loved this class for barely giving me time to process what was happening and making me get the hell on with it.
I swear by the time we finished, my brain had only just realised this was a workout and not me revisiting my clubbing heyday. Oh and another thing – Holly was 100% more friendly and approachable than I initially imagined someone teaching something by “Totally Shredded” to be. Don’t let that name scare the crap outta you like it initially did me!
THE VERDICT: Fast, thumping cardio, sweaty, loud, immersive and really a lot of FUN! Expect your heart to start beating double time before your brain’s figured out what’s going on, and prepare to embrace those youthful days when drum & bass wasn’t something you wore lycra to flail about to.
