The RAWC hosts several complementary fitness classes of various kinds for UTM students. Last week on Wednesday, November 21st they had a class on Cycle-Barre Fusion in the Fitness Studio. This class basically constituted of an indoor cycling segment combined with exercises using resistance bands. For the novices or individuals whose daily exercise is derived primarily from running between classes, cycle-barre fusion can be an exceedingly intense experience. A vital tip is to always bring along a healthy drink for dehydration, eat a balanced breakfast and bring a towel along for the tons of sweating.
The indoor cycling segment is meant as a cardio exercise to initially get your heart pumping. It was pointed out that throughout the cycling, one must keep his back straight and adjust the level of resistance of the pedals to their preference. The speed on the indoor cycle is measured in terms of rotations per minute. The instructor started the class off with an RPM ranging 80-90 and was the recommended speed throughout the class, while being punctuated by short bursts of activity. There were in fact two types of activity emphasized towards the latter half of this segment. The first was a sprinting workout where individuals lowered their upper half of body, ducking low and sprinting as fast as they could for about 20 seconds. The other type focused on intensity, where individuals stood up on their cycle and pedaled as fast as they could. This latter workout was really useful in burning up the muscles in the thighs.
The latter half of the class was focused on exercises using resistance bands. These were simply long elastic bands that could be used to provide resistance to your muscles as you stretch in various workouts. To illustrate, in Dragon Ball Z, the writer invented a gravity machine where fighters could train under a higher intensity of gravitation force pulling them down, thereby imbuing each workout with that much more strength and pressure. Resistance bands have a similar effect by blending in with countless forms of exercises and allowing you to exert much more energy in a shorter time period. Although the workouts did go over various muscles of the body including abs, thighs, biceps and glutes, they were mainly inspired by Pilates to strengthen the core stabilizers.
The instructor led the class through several different kinds of workouts over the thirty minutes. The class did bicep curls where they stood straight and planted their feet in the middle of the band, while pulling on the two ends by extending and lowering their forearms. Another was kickback, where one gets in a plank position, the band circles around the body, with the ends being held in both hands and the middle adhering to the soles of the foot. Hence, one could extend and compress the band by pushing and pulling the leg. Other workouts included shoulder reach, squats, cross body reach, lateral raises, tricep extension, reverse wood chop, as well as others. The class ended off with workouts on the exercise mats to cool down with some stretches that helped unwind from the preceding intensity of the workouts. Overall, the exercise regime was quite thorough, having imparted considerable stress and micro tears over various muscles to leave the individual physically refreshed.
As a side note, it is important for novices to also remember that after the class is over, one must do the courtesy of wiping his mat, bicycle and putting all the equipment back into its place. In summary, the cycle-barre fusion is quite an exquisite regime, especially in the morning to invigorate yourself with an exhaustive workout, before starting the day being physically keen.
