All posts by roger

6 Ways to sculpt your core with CXWorx

Fitness and Yoga, , , , , , , , , ,

I finally got to try CXWorx, the 30 minute core work out class recently launched in the UK by Les Mills the creators of Body Pump.

CXWorx for your core

Many clubs run classes sporting titles such as “Ab Attack” or “Core Extreme”. These too run for 30 minutes and feature endless sit ups and oblique curls. On paper CXWorx promises a similar experience but with the added Les Mills standard accompaniment of the hottest musical sounds from charts around the planet.

It is not the same believe me. The creators of this class have crammed much variety of exercise into the allotted time to work your core from every angle. You start by realising your core is not just the abs. As the instructor said, “What is your core? Well chop of your head, your arms and your legs and what is left is your core.”

So it includes the shoulders, the glutes, the obliques, and the muscular slings that criss-cross the body creating the X-shape of muscles referred to in the class’s title.

I was already tired having just taught a very busy Body Combat class but I promised myself I would stay as the CXWorx instructor came in. She started by giving out resistance tubes. There are three levels and I inadvertently chose the hardest one. They have handles because you need to hold on tight. Another optional extra is a weight plate.

We got started lying down on mats on the floor as the music kicked in.

  1. Warm Up: A rapid combination of leg extensions, crunches and oblique crunches. Even as early as this you learn the importance of a flat back against the floor and a strong belly and how easy it is to lose technique and arch the back. Don’t. It stops the exercises or from working.
  2. Core strength 1: Here come the hovers. This is tough stuff. The instructor introduces arm and leg movements but you have to keep the hover strong and centred. It only takes a few minutes for this to start burning.
  3. Standing strength 1: A series of lunges, squats and stretches using the resistance tubes and weight plate to heavily work the glutes and top half of the legs. I had started to shake by now.
  4. Standing strength 2: The resistance tube becomes more of a focus in this one. Range of movement is small but the tubes make it hurt. By now, only 20 minutes in, I am starting to struggle.
  5. Core strength 2: More hovers, side planks, and leg raises test you almost to the limit.
  6. Core strength 3: Lying on the belly or up on hands and knees, we finish with diagonal pointers, leg extensions, shoulder and leg raises with moves that tighten the butt. A few quick stretches and your half hour is over. And you feel elated but broken.

The people in the class were of all ages and all shapes. Judging by the moans and groans and pools of sweat, everyone was happy with their performance and would be feeling the results the following day.

“CXWorx – A great work out for your core.”

I loved the class. Will it take off all over the UK? I imagine there might be resistance initially from clubs. They won’t want to pay another licence fee when they can convince themselves that their PTs can produce a similar experience for free. I think ultimately their attitude might change as people hear about CXWorx through word of mouth.

So CXWorx is a great express workout, not at all sure about the name though.

Over to you: Have you tried CXWorx yet? How did you feel afterwards? Have you seen results in your core? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Review of Body Combat Release 50 – a celebration of a milestone

Fitness and Yoga, , , , ,

This is a fantastic release which is going down extremely well with clients. It creates moans and groans in the leg conditioning track 6 and the abs track 9, shouts and screams in the fun tracks and gritted determination in the endless last power track.

I love it too but when I first heard the music I was disappointed. Due to traveling with work I just couldn’t get to a quarterly workshop and I think this release more than any proves that you have to have the “masterclass” experience rather than seeing it for the first time in your living room.

I thought, “Oh no – two songs were in the previous release of Balance, that remix of an awesome Scooter song that has been used in the warm up to BC16 is bland, and T6 is dull hip hop”. Then you do it and you realise in this release that the moves carry the music.

Review of Body Combat Release 50

1) Warm Up (More/Rolling In The Deep): Good fun upbeat Upper body – nothing out of the ordinary but like the build up from combat stance only, double jab to jab cross jab – that works nicely. The lower body is fine as well – if not pretty similar to the last two. That’s three lower body warm ups in a row that have been very similar in construction – something different would next time would be nice.

2) Combat 1 (Frozen): This is the highlight of the release for me and in my opinion the best T2 since BC35. The double block gets you deep into the legs and the addition of the elbow and the roundhouse is powerful. Sound effects make the kicks even stronger – nice to see this nod to the past in the 50th. Sound effects are cheesy for some and joy for others. These are quite far back in the mix so they keep the latter happy without annoying the former. Then we have sword strikes – again with steel clashing with steel sound effects. Takes me back to BC10 and the cheesiest cool down ever – Funniculi Funnicula. The sword section raises the heart rate – this doesn’t feel like a T2 – it’s a cardio burner. The middle combo is good as well with its knees and double front kicks. Simply a cracker.

3) Power 1 (What’s Up): Simple stuff. Two separate combos that eventually merge into one heart pumping face puncher. Great uplifting song with many vocal hooks (big big hill, brotherhood, what’s going on!). Sometimes T3s blur into one – this one will be brought back.

4) Combat 2 (Let it Die): The new advancing side kick is a great addition especially in the faster section towards the end, though I understand why we need the slower demo at the start. The rest of the track feels a little “bitty”. It doesn’t seem to do much but at the end you have a sore butt so I guess it does its work subtly.

5) Power 2 (Nessaja): Continuing a trend for excellent shoulder wasting T5s – this is as relentless as it is fun. Love the block feeling to the choreography and the full on 30 second blasts. I often use the previous version of this track – a bonus warm up from BC16 – so I was delighted when my class sang along with “It must be Dave who’s on the train”. And we get the Alvin and the Chipmunks sing-a-long in the middle as well – that was missing from the BC16 version. The fact the final combo (Jab, hook upper) was the exact reverse of the choreography from the last release does mess with the head a little.

6) Combat 3 (Gimme Dat): Ouch. In my last mix I did “Not Gonna Get us” from BC18 – a T9 with squats and lunges just like here – but this goes on for three times as long. Esquiva, lunges, gingas, front kicks. This is very hard. Very good. And as Dan says will lead to lean lean legs. Hardest one to learn as well there is a great deal going on (with a bit of lopsided choreography).

7) Muay Tai (Eye of The Tiger): The cardio burn returns with a roar as the tempo goes into overdrive. The transitions are quick, cueing is difficult, but the work out is intense – especially if you manage all those running man knees. Once more we have an orgy of downward punches – which aren’t really Muay Tai moves. I know they get the heart rate sky high but I would like to see a break from these. The Tiger growls are a gift for cheese merchants like me.

8) Power 3 (You’re the feeling): Long and tough this is a major endurance test. I love the power of the body hook to the kidneys. However, when was the last time we had a T8 that didn’t finish with millions of jabs in front stance? Okay so it finishes the main workout on a blistering high – but it’s getting predictable.

9) Conditioning (Pause): This is short, sharp and savage with a great piece of music, great core strengthening moves and guaranteed deep sighs from everyone. It’s really a taster for some CXWORX isn’t it – like all conditioning tracks in Combat and Balance over the last 12 months we have been getting hints at this great new programme. People feel they have achieved something after this track. “Look at that girl she’s like, OUCH!”

10) Cool down (ISHFWILF): Good to have a heavier, rockier cool down. This creates a good musical contrast. A pretty epic way to finish.

When I look over what I have written in my review of Body Combat release 50 I notice a few niggles – but the release has gone down better than many that at first glance I might have given a better score to. What I think works here is a perfect balance. This release has a bit of everything that has made combat what it is over 50 releases. An old school T2 with fun sound effects and swords which don’t detract from the intensity; sing along but intense power tracks; a lifetime achievement award hard core leg track, the sharpest conditioning track for ages and an overall workout that can break even the fittest.

So it is a perfect celebration of 50 releases of Body Combat.

Over to You: Are you a Body Combat Instructor? What did you think of release 50? Was it the milestone class you wanted it to be? Are you a participant? Have you enjoyed number 50?

Can you turn your NY fitness resolution into a habit you won’t break?

Fitness and Yoga, , , ,

As a fitness instructor I love the New Year. Loaded with resolutions to get fit and to eat more healthily, people flock to the gym and classes are jammed packed full of people desperate to burn calories.

Old hands stand alongside new members and all of them give it 100%. I love the sounds of exertion. The moans and groans brought on my a particularly tough abs routine, or the pained looks as the leg conditioning phase seems to last forever. Faces become beetroot red. Sweat pours down and off the end of noses. And most satisfying of all, everyone looks happy if a little dishevelled.

Body Combat as part of your fitness resolution

The problem with resolutions is that they don’t last. By February the frequency of attendance starts to dwindle. Eagerness is replaced by complacency. Which is a shame. If only that January buzz could become a year long habit rather than a resolution to be broken after a few weeks. I will certainly try and motivate my clients to stick to the January habit. In fact I like the word habit much more than the word resolution.

Calorie burn is the main focus for members during this time. The desire to shed Christmas pounds is strong. But I also encourage adding a holistic session to the cardio blitz. That’s why I love to teach the Body Combat and Body Balance double. One hour of high energy, fat burning martial arts mayhem, followed by one hour of deep Yoga based stretching and strengthening exercises. This is the perfect combination for it promotes weight loss and improves flexibility.

“Turn a fitness resolution into a habit.”

So let’s turn a fitness resolution into a habit. Stick with it all year long and combine your breathless cardio work with some Yoga based exercise as well. Just wait until you see the results and I guarantee the January excitement will continue throughout the whole of the year.

body balance as part of your fitness resolution

Over to you: What are you doing to keep your resolutions this year? How do you stick with it when the temptation to lapse begins? Please leave a comment.

Why the Backlash against the Detective and the Time Traveller?

Entertainment, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Given that both Doctor Who and the first episode of the second series of Sherlock gathered nearly 10 million viewers each, you would think that they must have been pretty popular. But whilst there have been positive reviews of both in the traditional media, online it is different.

Tweeters are angry at how the Christmas day episode of Who presented an unsubtle environmental message and resolved the storyline with a “men are weak, women are strong” device. They also felt that there was a forced happy ending by wimping out on the implied death of Reg Arwell, the father of the children in the story.

Bloggers are fuming with anger over the way the same writer, (Stephen Moffat for he wrote both) recreated Conan Doyle’s original Victorian opera singer, Irene Adler, as a modern day dominatrix prostitute. Even the mainstream media were furious over her nude scenes shown before the watershed. In fairness her hands and the camera angles hid anything “rude”.

Is Moffat being too stereotypical in his portrayal of the women in his stories? Or are we reading to much into it and what we actually did was to create two great stories which actually entertained huge audiences?

Think about the Christmas day episode. By the time it came on air at 7pm, most people will have eaten a huge Christmas feast, drunk wine and champagne, guzzled Quality Street chocolates and eaten them even more Twiglets. Some may even have had a second plate of turkey for supper. Brains were fuzzy. Eyes were heavy. What we did not need at this point was the usual complexity of a Moffat plot weaving different time streams and interlinked stories of incredible intricacy. We wanted a light, family oriented story that would fit with our Christmas evening stupor. It’s what we got.

Doctor Who and SherlockIn 1941 Madge Arwell receives a telegram. Her husband is missing in a presumed crashed Lancaster bomber. She takes her children to a remote country house where they are entertained by a mysterious “Care-taker”. They get transported to a “Narnia” inspIred snow filled forest where they help the trees to escape from an imminent environmental catastrophe. Only Madge is strong enough to operate the spacecraft that is their salvation. And as she flies the children home the ship becomes a beacon that her husband Reg can use to make a safe landing.

For those who accuse Moffat of wimping out on the father dying, they miss the point. The episode raises the possibility of the death of loved ones and that’s something that any child has to face eventually. But it doesn’t go all the way and for a Christmas day family episode that is exactly right. Reg Arwell was “missing” but he wasn’t dead. As it turned out he followed the space craft -time jumped over a few days and arrived at the country house. For him, he was never missing at all.

Doctor Who and SherlockSherlock’s episode was a modern re-imaging of “Scandal in Bohemia” and unlike Christmas Who, was multi-layered, complex and therefore satisfying. I suppose I can understand the critics of the modern Irene Adler being a sex worker, and that it might have been done purely for titilation. Is this indicative of our society that modern writers have to reinvent heroines of old to conform to the plastic sexuality of the Reality TV world? Actually, I don’t think Moffat had these debates with himself. I think he just wrote two great stories both of which demanded very strong female lead characters and it was the stories that decided their circumstances .

Taken separately they might appear stereotypical, but separately they were just two examples of different women. Madge was a loving mother protecting her children at Christmas, Irene was an ambitious woman using her sexuality to make herself safe in a dangerous political world.

Doctor Who and Sherlock

“Doctor Who and Sherlock carried by two strong women.”

So two strong stories carried by two strong women. As for the males  I thought the leads, Matt Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch were both at the top of their game. Pages could be written on the relationship between Holmes and Watson, and even the most ardant critics must have shed a secret tear when the Doctor was reunited with Amy Pond for Christmas dinner.

Stephen Moffat served up two exquisite slices of Christmas pudding. Okay so Doctor Who might have been a little too syrupy, but I was one of those with a wine softened brain who needed something light, happy, family oriented and above all “nice” to enjoy on Christmas night. It worked for me.