Pacific Arts Center's Beginning Ballet
4 out of 6 weeks completed in PERSU's Kickstarter campaign! Last week, I decided to try beginning ballet with Shiva at the local little Pacific Arts Dance Studio in Westwood for my #fitnessexperimenter class #7. The last time I did ballet, I was 9 so this was pretty much a first for me.
- Class Set-Up: Shiva's class takes place in the smaller room in the dance studio with portable ballet bars. All ages are welcome at this class! There was a tiny 5-year old girl as well as one person older than me.
- Class Style: Shiva starts us off with a basic warm-up and goes into a variety of plies, demi pointes, grand pas, coupe, sous sus, arabesque, and additional french terms that I don't remember lol. All I know is that there were lots of jumps and I definitely felt my calves working. Halfway through the class, Shiva leads us through flexibility drills on the floor. The last half of the class consisted of leaps and spinning drills across the floor.
- Conclusion: It's not often that I find beginning ballet classes for adults so this was a great experience to try! I've taken barre fitness classes in the past but now I know that the real thing (ballet) is so much different! And really difficult! In Shiva's class, the speed of the ballet moves is far quicker and tighter than barre classes so you definitely feel the legs working. You also get a mini French lesson from all the vocabulary used in the class haha.
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Additional Details:
- Pricing: First time class is $10. Class packages available at different tiers.
- Location: 10469 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
- Parking: Tiny parking lot behind the studio so best recommended parking are the meters in front or residential parking on Thayer.
Crunch Gym's "Chisel"
I've always heard that Crunch Gym had some of the best fitness classes so last Sunday, I signed up for a free one-day pass to the Sunset location to check them out myself. I took the 10:00am "Chisel" class with Debbie. The 9:00am Powerwave Battle Roping class was just finishing up and I was able to see the tail-end of it (pictured above). The back and forth drills with two long ropes looked really interesting - definitely need to try that one day! Back to "Chisel" - it was my first time trying any calisthenics and weights class like this and I loved it!
- Class Set-Up: Chisel was in the main, large room upstairs at Crunch. Following the lead of other students, I grabbed a step-up, mat, weights, weighted bar, and resistance bands to set-up for the class.
- Class Style: So much is done in one hour in that class! We start off with light stretching then quickly go into aerobic moves with weights, lunges, squats, and mountain climbers both on and off the step-up. Both arms and legs get worked with the incorporation of weights and the weighted bar. The class ends with our backs on the slanted step-up with pilates moves, resistance bands, and hardcore abs.
- Conclusion: I was surprised with how much we were able to do in just one hour. I felt that every part of my body was worked, and in interesting ways. The set-up required quite a bit of equipment but it was well worth it! The resistance band work on our legs and thighs at the end was particularly painful - I felt sore for days after! If Crunch Gym was closer to my home, I would consider joining. Not only was the class good, they had many other fun classes on the schedule (pole, cycling, broga and yoga, buti, battle rope) and a well-equipped facility.
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Additional Details:
- Pricing: Members only, pricing varies.
- Location: 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046
- Parking: Free validated parking for 2.5 hours in the shopping center it's in