What is Power Yoga?

When Kareena Kapoor once spoke of her workout routine, I remember her saying that she couldn’t lift a leg when she first tried to do a surya namaskar. I always wondered why the seemingly fit Kapoor had said that. And today, curiosity got the better of me.

Power yoga sessions, at my gym, take place twice a week at 7 am, and last one and a half hour in all. I say ‘in all’ because, as I discovered, a good 30 minutes are spend warming up. Everyone rolled out their mats, minus any footwear, and were visibly gearing up for what was to come. Anupa walked in right on time, and off we were with the stretching.

I aped her through at least two ways, each, of loosening up your arms, legs, neck, back, and pretty much every corner of the body. In my opinion, the stretching bit was all the workout I needed. I wondered if I could go home then. Yeah, no. Right after, in rapid succession, she began with the surya namaskars.

Power yoga is a combination of stretches, relaxation exercises, and a lot of surya namaskars, which are an amalgamation of 8 or 12 asanas from regular yoga. You stretch your back out, touch your toes, slide forward, make a ‘V’ out of your body, stretch back—you get the drift. 

I never realised how tough it is to go from the ‘on-your-mark’ position to strategically pulling the folded leg back, and then forward, and then just generally confusing the hell out of your lower body. Also, there was also a lot of planking involved in the middle. QED, I was Kareena Kapoor this morning.

I persevered for what I was sure was at least two hours. 15 minutes into the class, I was ready to give up and never get off my yoga mat. But Anupa was very encouraging, and the hour eventually ended with lots of slow breathing exercises. The silver lining of this torture session was that the easiest thing in the world for me, and the least of my concerns, during the class was to bend and touch my palms to the floor.

Pretty mats, won't you make the pain go away?

Recommendation level: I can’t wait to go back but that may be because I've entered this weird masochistic phase of life. Basically, this is not for the faint-hearted.   

Good for: regulars at the gym, people with no knee or back problems, anyone with really solid endurance.

Pain points thus far: Everything; without a doubt. 

Zumba and dancing

A couple of months ago, a few of us from work—over the umpteenth cupcake—decided we wanted to finally drag ourselves out of our chairs, and for a change, try our legs at something. So, six of us joined a Zumba class. We’d carpool or cab it after work and rush to make the 7 pm session. The class was a motley crew of 12-14, at a small studio, where I discovered that Zumba was quite fun. I got to make a new friend, and most importantly, it was my first-ever tryst with dancing. But the studio's rent was too high and the troupe eventually moved.

Cut to me reading the pamphlet that said the new gym had a Zumba class. I quickly dialled my friend from the previous class and asked if she’d like to come with me for a session. She readily agreed. 

We got there early and generally caught up while stretching at the studio. A 55-year-old regular joined our conversation and began discussing her daughters in The States, and her love for working out. Slowly but steadily, girls and boys were trickling in. 

When it was time, Shalini, the gym’s founder and by far the fittest 40-some-year-old I know, entered with her stack of CDs. 

Now, I’d done Zumba before, and it is one of the easy peasy workouts I’d actually look forward to. But this session was something else. We were about 35 people at the studio, and we danced the hell out of the hour that followed.

Zumba is a complete dance-oriented workout, with set dance steps to certain songs regardless where you do it, which sometimes includes free-weight exercises like squats or lunges to tracks you can’t really make sense of unless you know Spanish or the language in question. Ideally, the trainer needs to be certified to teach you.

My friend and I knew the steps to a song or two but Shalini’s pace of dancing was unprecedented. That evening was retro night so she also made us dance to songs like Queen’s–‘We will rock you’ apart from the usual. One song’s steps involved nothing but grooving to it while squatting the whole time. Literally red in the faces by the end of the hour, and gasping for breath, we unanimously agreed that the energy of the class was absolutely mad.    

Recommendation level: Dance nahi kiya toh kya kiya!?

Good for: anyone who likes to dance like no one’s watching. And trust me, no one is. Also, age no bar. 

Pain points the next day: Thighs. A LOT. And the love handles pretty much will hate you too. 

Spin classes at the gym

It’s that time of year when I finally roll out of my bed and pyjamas, and enrol at a gym. Since I have a history of giving up on plain vanilla (yummm) cardio and weight-training programmes (not so yum) post haste, I’ve decided to experiment with my workout schedule. The gym I’ve registered at for the next three months allows me to pick a different group activity three times a week. These exercises, as per the schedule I was handed, promise to be intense. 

In my first series for this year on the blog, I am going to document my journey through a new group workout every few days. I’m hoping to survive at least six types; wish me luck! 

Spinning

I woke up at six am on Saturday without an alarm. I dressed quickly; fumbling with my track pants in the dark hallway at home, and was out into the cold morning a couple of minutes later. My first spin class was at seven. 

Before I decided to put down my name for this batch of spin, I had a vague idea that this exercise involves a cycle, and is much like cycling with a group. I readily agreed to join because I love to cycle. 

So there I was, 15 minutes early, ambling around the various studios at the place. Some time after, I spotted a few women outside the spin room, and decided it was time to settle down. Three or four of them picked their bikes together, chatting too happily for that time of day. One of them was very loud about her impending trip to Pune, and the other two just wanted “Sangeeta to go easy today.” After we had all settled on our bikes, I realised that the average age in the room was easily forty. And then, Sangeeta walked in. 

I must add that Resham, who inducted me to the gym and gave me a nice tour before she explained the different workouts available, had warned me about this particular section. “This is an advanced spin class; all our regular members come in the morning.” But I am clearly a sucker for punishment.

We began with normal, full-speed cycling while imagining the wind in our hair on a pothole-free road, we were then asked to crank up the resistance on our bikes and pretend we were on a hill, and then the tough terrain of a mountain descended on us. We did this three times in 60 minutes. Sangeeta, without an inch out of place, was in full form.

Spinning is like cycling indeed, but imagine trudging uphill soaked in sweat with remixed Bollywood item numbers blaring in the background and an angry instructor screaming, “Faster, FASTER!” 

That one hour was pretty much the longest of my life; but the energy and stamina around was fascinating and fantastic. 

Recommendation level: Super high. Make sure to stretch well before and after. 

Good for: anyone who can keep up with the pace of such an intense workout; taking breaks or slow cycling defeats the purpose. 

Pain points the next day: “Your legs should be on fire by now,” she said at the end of the session. The feeling kind of continues till the morning after.

Let's do this!