I never thought I’d find myself at an exercise class grinning from ear to ear as I flail up and down on a trampoline, but that’s exactly where I ended up this week in my quest to get fit and mindful.
Here’s the thing about this whole exercise thing. These days it’s pretty easy to find at least one exercise activity that’s going to cover your interests. And then when you imagine an indoor trampoline park covered in hundreds of trampolines that’ll let you literally bounce off the walls, it’s kind of hard to argue with that.
After a long day at work Wednesday and an even more exhausting internal conflict that volleyed between reaching for a glass of wine and grabbing my runners, my newly-found sensible side won. And that’s how I found myself at Skyzone Indoor Trampoline Park, grinning from ear to ear while pumping up my heart rate on a trampoline and burning up to 500 calories in 30 minutes (or so the website says).
Upon arrival I was handed a pair of trampoline grip socks and after losing myself in a giant maze of trampolines, I found the rest of my cardio class waiting outside an open room filled with interconnected trampolines that form one giant trampoline. When the class instructor bounds over with previously unknown levels of energy, I realise I’m not in for a leisurely jumping class. And for the next thirty minutes I’m bouncing up and down and off the walls while doing crunches and dips and push ups, I couldn’t think of a more entraining way to raise my heart rate.
The downside is that the instructor is pretty keen to build momentum, and at one point in the class even encourages us to push ourselves harder while thinking about the impending bikini body season. Unfortunately this is exactly the reason I’ve shunned other exercise classes, since my preferred motivation is not body shaming. But I can’t spend too long dwelling on the body fixation as the instructor continues to shout with more encouragement. With only thirty minutes and quite a number of activities to jam into the class, there’s not a lot of time to dwell on the subject as I’m reminded of exactly how unfit I am all these years after my P.E teacher called on the unfittest kid in the class. Bouncing from wall to wall and back again, it’s not long before I’m out of breath, red in the face and sweating like I’ve only ever done during a bikram yoga class.
Thirty minutes later, when the instructor lets up and my body finally stops bouncing up and down (pro tip: you’ll definitely want to wear a sports bra) and I have a moment to regain my breath, I feel energised and my body is flowing with endorphins. And even if I’m not out to get myself that bikini body, if I keep up with these classes I might just finally be able to catch up with the fittest kid in the class.
SkyZone Sky Fit Classes span from cardio, to cardio lite, a cross-training xjump and suspend, utilising suspension ropes or just free jumping. Skyzone centres are currently only operating in Brisbane and Sydney but will no doubt be showing up in other cities soon.