Coordination is not my thing. Asking me to do a coordinated move to the beat of the music and at warp speed is not my idea of fun. But when a workout buddy says, "Let's Go to Cardio Kickboxing!" you know I can't say No.
Angela and I made plans to try a Cardio Kickboxing class at Tribe Fitness. It was a 7:30 PM class which made me a little nervous. As someone who likes to be in bed by 9:30, the thought of working out a few hours before bed is never exciting. Unfortunately, the hardest part was getting there. Going from NE Seattle to Capitol Hill apparently takes 50 minutes on a weeknight :( And we all know how hard it can be to find parking in Capitol Hill!! So I arrived at the studio at 7:29 PM (but only because there is a pay to park lot right next to Tribe). Fortunately, the place is small enough and the staff was prepared for me since Angela had given them a heads up. When you walk into the studio, the front room is a long room that hosts the front desk, a retail wall and about 8-10 reformers. Of course my gut reaction was to jump onto a reformer and skip out on Kickboxing but I knew my body needed a new/different workout.
Once you walk past the main room, there is a small area with water fountains, restrooms and cubbies to store your things. This leads to the back studio. The studio is small, probably one of the smaller studios I've been in but they make good use of the space. The studio is set up for silks, TRXs and any type of cardio activity. Three of the walls are covered in mirrors while the back wall stores all the equipment. The only note is it was HOT in there. Fortunately they had the back door open and a fan on. Angela was smart and had us in the spots directly in front of the fan. When class started, I was a bit thrown off. The instructor didn't introduce herself or give an overview of the class. We went right into it and it was unclear whether it was a warm up or whether we were diving right into it. I think it was a bit of both - we did squats, jumping jacks, etc. but then it flowed right into kickboxing. The class itself wasn't as intense as I would have liked. There were typical upper cut, kick, jab, jump roping moves. But after taking a few of Tricia's half Tabata/half Kickboxing classes, this one felt a bit slower. Ironically, the music was all techno beat with the intent of motivating us to move faster and harder.
The class also included a hand weight series. The instructor had recommended that we use 3 lb weights but I think we could have gone higher. It was about a 5-7 minutes series of jabs, punches, bicep curls and tricep raises with the weights. I didn't fee last hough we spent enough time on each muscle group to wear them out so should I go back, I'll be grabbing the 5 lb set next time.
All in all, it was a nice studio. Tribe Fitness makes great use of the space but if you are looking for an intense class, I would not recommend this one. It is a great class for wanting to get a fun workout in after work and in a great location to grab a drink with your workout buddies afterwards!
Workout Scale:
Cardio: 3/5
Core: 1/5
Legs: 1/5
Arms: 2/5
