Defying Gravity

I went on an adventure yesterday with some of my very favorite people to Pharonik Pilates, the only studio in Colorado offering a Bungee Workout. Check out the video to get an idea of some of the moves we learned in the first lesson. We had such a blast!

I have been a fan of Winsor Pilates for years (see, To Resolve or Not To Resolve? for a little more about that), so I was familiar with the method. We began the workout with a Pilates mat work warm-up, which was precisely what I am used to.

Then we strapped on our harnesses (that sounds a bit kinky) and belayed onto the bungee cords to start the real fun!

Pro-tips:

• The bungee cord is essentially reversing gravity for you, so instead of the Earth pulling you down, the bungee is pulling you up. This might sound like a “duh” moment, but the feeling in your body is anything but intuitive. A simple lunge feels entirely backwards because the work is now to lower yourself toward the ground, not to stand back up out of the lunge.
• Men, your center of gravity is in your chest! So when the instructor keeps telling you to lower your hips in order to achieve the correct plank position, you won’t make it if you lead with your chest. In moving away from the anchor point, you need to think “pelvis first!”
• Your first leap is going to be a doozy! The force is going to pull you up and backward by your waist, so if you give too much forward momentum on your spring, you will be top-heavy and come flying toward the ground with your face. Yes, this happened to one of us and let’s just say it’s a good thing she has ample boobage to protect her face from the impact. She’s fine!

According to one fitness tracker, we burned about 250 calories during the bungee segment, which lasted about 40 minutes or so. I really didn’t feel like I was working very hard; I felt more like I was just playing, but I will say that certain muscles are already feeling it today. Tomorrow will surely be worse, so I know we did in fact work out.

I would highly recommend this workout. You don’t need to have any experience at all, not even with Pilates. Unlike some aerobic workouts like Zumba, you don’t need to be great at learning choreography either. It’s just a nice, fun workout that your instructor will guide you through. You can easily modify and do it at your own pace.

Denver-Metro readers, go see Magda at Pharonik and be sure to check out her great introductory offers! I’ll be going back so give a shout out if you’d like to join me sometime.

🎶 Today’s Jam 🎶

“You Won’t Know Where You Stand” by Aquilo

This is a new section of Dilly Dabbler posts. Each post will highlight a song that the author loves and is jamming to. Enjoy!