INSANITY workout - review

A couple of months ago, I began to hear whisperings - around SW London and beyond - of a workout so tough it left even regular marathon runners trembling in their trainers.

The INSANITY workout, which began as a DVD sensation, was created by Shaun T - a man so bulging with muscle that he makes Hercules look like Rodney Trotter (American, obviously...) - and pushes participants to their very limits to hone the body and improve fitness levels. 

INSANITY has now well and truly reached British shores, and as well as the DVD workout taking the UK by storm, live classes have been popping up nationwide to help us Brits battle the bulge.

The lovely Tanya got in touch with me back in July to let me know about classes starting in Putney, Fulham and Hammersmith, and asked me if I fancied coming along to a session to give it a go.

Her very kind invitation happened to coincide with my lovely boyfriend popping the question, so what better time to kick-start the bridal body regime and give something new a go?!

Off I trundled to St Mary's Church hall in Putney at 7pm on a Monday evening, completely clueless about the 'experience' that lay in wait.

Tanya reassured me on arrival that I would be absolutely fine, but several references to the need to 'dig deep' and '100% effort' had me thinking otherwise...

I was right.

INSANITY does exactly what it says on the tin. IT IS INSANE.

But, I LOVED it!

The website tells you with  confidence that 'you'll be dripping with sweat, you'll be gasping for breath, your heart will be pumping out of your chest, and you'll wonder if you can keep going'. 

They are absolutely spot on. 

INSANITY is a variation of high intensity interval training (HIIT); you get your heart rate up as much as possible through a series of high impact moves for two minutes at a time, with a 30 second recovery in between. 

Each class starts with a 'warm-up' to get your heart rate up, which consists of six different moves that are repeated three times.

As a fairly regular gym-goer and a big fan of cardio classes like Body Attack and Body Combat, I was flummoxed - to say the least - at having to indulge my inner dweeby asthmatic and reach for my puffer after just this section alone.

Once the warm-up had really gotten the blood pumping, it was just a 30 second break before we were into the first of three 'blocks' of interval training. 

Starting with more cardio (god help me) before moving onto balance & agility and strength, each block consisted of four moves of 30 seconds each, followed by a 30 second recovery period.

For each move, there's a lower intensity option you can take if you're really struggling. I was reassured to see that even the super fit members of the class were resorting to these every once in a while (phewph). 

As Tanya encouraged us from the front of the room, it's all about how many reps you can do and keeping perfect form & technique. So long as you're working at 100% effort, it doesn't matter whether it's the higher or lower intensity option that you're taking. 

By the end of block three I thought I might quite possibly keel over / vomit / cry, but I just about managed to make it through to the final abs and stretching sections.

After a much needed towel down and glug of water, I even mustered the strength for one last diamond jump for a picture. (In the bright pink).

It may have been the most difficult workout class I've ever done, but it was also the most rewarding. Afterwards, I was knackered, but buzzing! 

Six weeks down the line and I'm just about to sign up for another batch of classes, having completed my fifth week of INSANITY workouts on Monday.

I've certainly slimmed down as a result, and - according to my heart rate monitor - am burning up to 650 calories in each 50 minute class!

Tanya is currently running three classes each week:

Putney: Monday, 7pm, St Mary's Church Hall

Hammersmith: Thursday, 7pm Westside School

Fulham: Wednesday, 7pm, Vanstone Place Community Hall

Give it a go, SW6ers - it's a workout unlike any other!

Plus, your first class is only £5!

For more information, check out the website: http://www.londoninsaniacs.co.uk/ or send Tanya an email: londoninsaniacs@gmail.com 

Pilates with precision

For some people, it's not exercise unless they're panting, dropping in sweat and aching all the next day. As far as I'm concerned, that all has it's place, but sometimes it's the minuscule things that make all the difference.

Housed in a little brick mews just off the Munster Road, The Pilates Room is a compact but really well equipped studio that offers both group and private pilates sessions 7 days a week. Group sessions are in really small class sizes, the maximum I ever had was of 4 people, and you'll use a range of specialist equipment - the chair, cadillac, and reformer bed - as well as the floor, pilates rings, bars and ropes to stretch whilst reducing the impact on your joints.

To a casual observer, pilates can seem like a pretty lazy excuse for "exercise". Apart from the scary torture-rack style beds you practice on, the movements are gentle, slow and controlled. But as I learnt through my several sessions at the studio, that's exactly why it's so tough. With pilates, it's all about the precision. When the moves are done properly, you're moving with control and balancing just so, you REALLY feel it in the muscles. Although sessions at felt too 'easy' to have an impact at first, the instructors have got an eagle eye for the slightest clues in your posture that you're not doing the moves exactly right, and the smallest adjustments make all the difference. After 5 or 6 sessions my stomach and thighs really did feel 'sculpted', and I could really feel the difference as I learnt the minutiae of the postures. Pilates is definitely not as easy as it looks!

Although pilates will never be the only form of exercise I do (I like a good sweat occasionally!) it was amazing to notice my body stretching further, and just the smallest of stomach muscles emerging, as I continued to attend classes. The sessions at The Pilates Room offer loads of personal attention, essential for beginners, as you do need be very precise with your practice to reap the benefits, and I hadn't been able to practice on the chair or cadillac at other studios I had visited, so that was great to do. Sessions are quite expensive, but what pilates studio isn't. This gets a thumb up from me.

The Pilates Room
9 Filmer Mews
75 Filmer Road
London SW6 7JF

The Pilates Room also has a Putney studio located at 22 Upper Richmond Road, London SW15 6TG

Shaking all over SW6

From my extensive observations, I have concluded this: West Londoners love to dance. It is, after all, one of the key things that keeps the likes of Embargo 59, Raffles and Mare Moto heaving on several nights of the week. I have a secondary observation too: most West Londoners are pretty good at keeping in shape. I frequently experience sharp bouts of tube and pub body-envy, punctuated with stabs of regret at all those evenings when I have skipped the gym in favour of TV, chocolate, or aforementioned pub visit. So, by my not-so-considerable powers of logic, I have concluded this. I reckon there are a few West Londoners out there who would love Zumba.
















































This Monday I got my booty shaking (with varying degrees of success) with ZumbaFunk London, at Eddie Catz, Putney. Zumba derives from Colombian words for "move fast and have fun" and is a really enjoyable and energetic way to burn off some calories, jump about to some really upbeat Latin Pop (Shakira is a firm favourite - I had Waka Waka in my head for days afterwards!) and bust some serious moves. The classes are led by the irrepressible Rebecca Rogoff, possibly the owner of the widest smile in West London. She was great at getting everybody into the spirit, ensuring we all had fun and crucially encouraging us to keep going and enjoy ourselves even when we knew we looked more Comedy Central than J.Lo. I found some of the routines quite hard to master at first, as you move about pretty quickly. However, there is plenty of repetition and Rebecca was great about verbalising what you needed to be doing so by the end of each track I reckon I'd got the hang of it.


There was a real sense of community in the class. The sessions at Eddie Catz had only been going on about 6 weeks but Rebecca knew all her regulars' names and hobbies. Every detail had been considered: there are jugs and glasses of water for those of us too disorganised to pack a gym bag correctly (I'll put my hand up to that) and at the end of the class we were all treated to a moist scented towel to refresh ourselves after a sweaty workout. Little things like that make all the difference and I was pretty impressed.

If you're interested in giving Zumba a go, Rebecca holds classes at Eddie Catz (68-70 Putney High St) on Monday evenings at 7pm, or for parents and babies at 9.45am on Thursdays. Drop in classes are £7or you can buy a block of 6 classes to obtain a discount.
Contact Rebecca at @ZumbaFunkLondon or visit their Facebook page here.