Velocity at the Core Collective

The Core Collective is said to be 1 Rebel's West London rival, so I was keen to give this studio a try. I meant to sign up for their Thursday morning HITT class, but ended up getting confused between Velocity and Accelerate - one is HITT, one is spin, I still struggle to tell them apart... However, the staff kindly let me switch class without any problems.

Velocity involves 45 minutes of high intensity resistance training, using weights and various other bits of equipment. It's basically a fancy circuits class. As with 1 Rebel's Lower Body Reshape, there really isn't anything here you can't do on your own in the gym for a lot less money (a drop in class costs £28, although I used Class Pass, which is cheaper). However, if you need extrinsic motivation, this class offers a really good workout. It isn't as full-on as Lower Body Reshape, which makes it more suitable to people of different fitness levels.

And as with 1 Rebel, there is the additional motivation of getting to hang out in a fancy studio. The Core Collective's studio is actually very similar to 1 Rebel's. It offers stylish facilities, enormous towels, toiletries by Bamford, GHD straighteners and a smoothie bar. However, I have to say, is lacks some of the finishing touches that make 1 Rebel amazing, most notably there was no fridge with the lavender scented cold towels and no face products. The classes are more expensive than 1 Rebel (£28 vs £20), so I really do want that lavender scented cold towel!

On the other hand, the studio is in a really nice location, just off Kensington High Street. I could see myself going back on a Saturday morning and then doing some shopping or going to the park or to the V&A.

Let me know if you have any questions, plan to try this class, or if you've tried any other good classes at the Core Collective or elsewhere.

Lower Body Reshape at 1 Rebel

My cousin has been raving about 1 Rebel, so I decided to give it a try. 1 Rebel is a City of London fitness studio. It offers only three types of classes - Spin, Rumble (cardio boxing, if you were wondering) and Reshape - but they are full on! I tried Lower Body Reshape on Friday morning, 8.15 am, then crawled to my office and vegetated at my desk for the rest of the day. A warning to people who are thinking of trying this class: this is NOT for beginners. I wouldn't say I'm super fit, but I do exercise regularly (3-4 times a week), and this is by far the most intense class I have ever taken! At a minimum I think you need to be comfortable jogging on a treadmill at a pace of 10kmh for 10 minutes and then be prepared to push yourself way beyond that. 

So: Lower Body Reshape is a 45 minute class that consists of two sections - a treadmill section and a bench and weights section - that are alternated four times each. 

The first treadmill section consisted of running at a minimum pace of 12mkh and then gradually increasing the incline from 0 to 12%. The second, and third treadmill sections involved sprint intervals. The final section consisted of something I had never heard of before, which involved switching the treadmill to "dynamic mode". When done, the treadmill doesn't move automatically. Instead you have to push with you body against the machine to make it move. If the previous sections didn't sound tough, then, believe me, this was!

The treadmill sections were broken up by resistance training circuits for the lower body involving weights and a bench - think squats, lunges, sit up, etc. - if you are familiar with Kayla Itsines's workout programme, you will know all about this (I may do a blog post on her at a later stage).

1 Rebel also offers Upper Body Reshape and Full Body Reshape, which I haven't tried, but I image are similar.

Overall, I think this is a really worthwhile class. It's only 45 minutes, so easy to squeeze into a busy schedule, but it works you really hard in that short time. I would say that there is nothing in this class that you can't do on your own in the gym - if you are a highly motivated person. If, however, you are like me and respond better to extrinsic motivational factors, this class is great.

Now if I had known what this class involved, I might not have had the motivation to get up at 6.45. Having done the class, however, I will, in fact, drag myself out of bed for it again. The main reason is actually that I am a sucker for fancy gyms. The changing rooms are sooo nice! They provide towels and all the products you might need from shampoo and shower gel, to face wash, toner and moisturiser. I don't remember the brand, but they were really nice products. There are really powerful hair dryers and GHD hair straighteners. There is a fridge stocked with lavender scented damp towels to cool off with after class - I need about three of them. Finally, there is a bar that does the most delicious smoothies ever. I had a Willy Wonka, which is made of almond milk, banana and chocolate flavoured protein powder.

The final thing to say is that these classes aren't cheap - £20 for a single session, although they become cheaper the more classes you purchase in bulk. I accessed this class via Class Pass, so it worked out at £11. I will write a post shortly to talk more about Class Pass.

Let me know if you have any questions, plan to try this class, already have and what you think, or if you have any other recommendations for fancy gyms!