Aquacycling, roller derby: Trendy fitness regimes help burn holiday pounds

Global Business

With the holidays come a lot of celebrating with food and drink, which often leads to weight gain. Exercising can help shed those extra kilos, but let’s face it, a lot of us dread it. 

Well fear not, CGTN’s May Lee went on the hunt for the latest, most unique fitness classes out there. And where better to look — than trendy Los Angeles. 

Staying fit is an obsession in Los Angeles and that means there are plenty of choices when it comes to the latest exercise regimens.  

First class May tried out was the Lagree Fitness class on a patented machine called the Supra. The studio in LA is the only place in the world that has the unique machine.  The class is only 25 minutes, but don’t be fooled…the class is brutal because of the Supra’s constant movement.  

The machine, which looks a bit like a Pilates reformer, tilts side to side and up and down…all at the touch of a button on an iPad.  

Sebastien Lagree is the founder of this space-age fitness regime. “Every single time you tilt the Supra you’re working every muscle in the body ” Lagree said.  “You have over 600 muscles so all of them are working.” 

Next class May tried out was Aquacycling, a spinning class underwater. The 45 minute class is done in a warm indoor pool.  Cirselda Esguerra is a certified instructor. “Because we have the resistance of the water we can do upper body, we can do core, we can do back so basically we can do a full body workout which is very different from a regular cycling class on land,”  Esguerra said. 

Third a final fitness class…Roller Derby, a sport that started in the U.S. back in the 1930s as a co-ed sport, but then it morphed into more of a theatrical all-female show where fights and crashes were the highlight. After a few decades in hibernation, a new form of Roller Derby emerged. For the LA Derby Dolls, the sport helps women find courage and power on skates.  

Instructor Sweet Home AlaBamm’ya (her derby name) said, “We’re told so much you can’t you can’t, it’s not your place, you’re not allowed to be aggressive, you’re not allowed to do this, you’re not allowed to do that.  No, Roller Derby says that’s not true.”  

The Derby Pour Vida class caters to skaters with a wide range of experience and teaches them how to skate, stop, block and jump.  But because the track at the Dolleseum in Los Angeles is banked, skating without falling is extremely challenging.  But this is Roller Derby, so falling is a rite of passage. 

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