#lululemonfail

Class number 4 was supposed to be Pound. Per their website, Pound is a full-body cardio jam session, combining light resistance with constant simulated drumming. Lululemon was holding a free class at the Natick Mall. Free and fun, game on. Well thanks a lot Lululemon, besides selling sheer overpriced leggings (that I worship anyway), you cancelled the class the day before, leaving Rachel and I scrambling for a class. Now anything worth going to is hard to get into, well at least that’s what everyone wants you to think. And so Rachel found a class. A TRX Power Barre class that seemed promising, even if it was all the way in Medfield. A hop skip and jump for her, a solid 30 minute drive for me. But being the forever optimist that I am, ahem, we headed off to HYP Studio, a studio with several locations that I have actually heard is wonderful for yoga.

I had dabbled in TRX back in my gym days and always loved the workout it gave me. HYP described the class as combining the power of a heart pumping, cardio TRX work~out with the lengthening, toning & stretching benefits of a barre-oriented sculpting class. We weren’t psyched but thought that it would be a good workout. We were also excited to try out the TRX component of class. The studio was easy to get to, even if the icy sidewalks were a bit of a challenge to overcome. The receptionist was far from welcoming especially since Rachel and I bounced all, heyyyyyyy we are here, its our first time, isn’t that so exciting? Apparently to her it was not. She gestured to the back and briefly told us where to find things. The locker room was a little worn (none of the lockers worked) and the bathroom was a little ripe, but the studio itself was bright and sunny. Though crazy hot, apparently the a/c was not working and the sun was roasting the room. The TRX contraption consisted of two strap like devices held together and hung from the ceiling. You use your own body weight and resistance from the straps to complete the exercises. It was hard, it hurt, and I liked it. I knew I was tapping into muscles I don’t normally use. But then the TRX was over and we moved to the barre.Now bless the teacher’s heart, she was newly trained in some new techniques and was so excited to challenge the class. And here were two newbies to the class, unimpressed and clearly killing it at the barre.  Rachel and I gave each other knowing glances at each other like, we are so good at this and she has no idea that we are Barre-bies! You see between the two of us we have probably done at least 500 Pure Barre classes, clearly the cadillac of barre classes. She did a sprinkling of the same exercises we do in class, but to be honest I totally checked out once we got to the barre. To me, and to Rachel (if I can put words in her mouth) if we are going to do barre its going to be Pure Barre, there is simply nothing that compares to their workout. Which as a devoted barre studio, makes sense, it should be the best. We finished up, thanked the instructor and walked out, knowing we wouldn’t be back for that class anytime soon.