The mix 'n match workout in UAE

We catch up with the mixed workouts in trend these days - a combination of pilates, yoga, cardio and more - and get a feel of the full-body intensity

Saying that working out and keeping fit is all the rage these days would be stating the obvious.But in an image conscious city like Dubai, people aren't just keen to keep up appearances. There's a moving trend towards better and more varied exercise and workout routines, mixing it up for better and fitter results.
The fitness disciplines of yoga, pilates, cardio and mixed martial arts are all recognised for their own individual and multiple body and health benefits, but the modern, urban resident is constantly on the lookout for newer, fun workout routines. And local gyms and fitness studios are going all out to provide them with that fresh experience, but not at the cost of fitness.
Khaleej Times got its own tried-and-tested experience recently at the Piloga Studio in Business Bay (yes, that's an amalgam of pilates + yoga. They offer various "combo" routines like Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) + yoga, pilates + cardio, pilates circuit, and of course, pilyoga! So you can expect everything from kicks and interval strengthening drills, arm balances and hand stands during MMA + yoga, just to give you an example.
The benefits of these mixed workouts are limitless. Apart from keeping boredom at bay - from repeating the same exercises or machine sequences or aerobic routines - most of these one-hour (at a time) sessions are also designed to be complete, full body workouts. Instead of just focusing on one area of the body, these classes - working in a sequence - work out every single muscle and limb in a series of carefully designed movements.
The one I got to experience was the Total Body Burn Pilates class, which combines cardiovascular activity with core strengthening and postural benefits of the smart movement pilates method. Designed to make you sweat and tone up, the class maintains your heart rate for the entire hour, while building your core, upper body strength, and improving flexibility and posture. The results on your body are also supposed to show up faster, building longer and leaner muscles by combining cardio and pilates, than you would in a typical aerobic workout.
The instructor, Maja Pederson, put us through the following movement sequences during the one hour workout:
> A light cardio warm-up that consisted of skipping, high knees jumps, butt kicks and squat holds.
> We move into sumo wrestler-style squats, sumo pulses before the main workout.
> Our official workout routine starts with leg work that included static lunges, lunge pulses, knee repeaters and lunge pulses again, repeating both legs alternatingly.
> A light arm workout followed with weights of each person's choice (the weights are optional - you can do it without them too).
> The arm workout includes triceps kickback and pulses, lateral arm raisers, single arms raisers. We also do pulses, bicep curls, a bowl curl, an oval biceps curl, and hammer curls.
> Moving on to the abs! We do simple crunches with our legs bent, toe touches, V-ups, obliques and scissors.
> It gets tougher towards the end, when we do 3 continuous cardio circuits of 2 exercises lasting 30 seconds each, repeating each set 3 times! This is the part where we break off midway to rest, catch our breath (and stomachs and backs) often! The combo consists of squats and a mini burpee (where you plank and jump forward only using your legs, in 'frog' style), the creepy crawler (leaping with your feet back and forth towards your hands, while maintaining the plank position) and the walking planks, with the final strenuous one including push ups on knees and donkey kicks (the last one is optional too!). Of course, there is an appropriate rest period between each section, and stretching at the end. Overall, the class builds you up from a low energy plateau to a high intensity feeling just in the space of an hour.
The end result? I was struggling at the beginning (also thanks to having skipped my regular gym workout for about two weeks!) but my strength caught up towards the end of the class. Although I couldn't do the movements as fast or as consistently as the other members in class, it's fairly easily to build up the intensity and core strength if you keep up regular sessions.
marypaulose@khaleejtimes.com
(Class courtesy: Body & Mind, Colors TV Middle East)