This week, I tried three new yoga classes at Some Like It Hot. The first was Restorative Yoga on Monday night:

An amazing way to chill and completely relax. This gentle practice is perfect for everyone. Postures are supported; using very little muscle. Props, such as bolsters, blankets, straps and eye pillows (all provided) are used for your comfort. Peaceful music and candlelight allows your body & mind to rest, renew and relax and attune to the wisdom in your body.

I thought this would be a regular yoga class but done at a slower pace and with more focus on stretching and holding poses. After doing BodyPump in the morning, I was looking forward to a nice stretch but as soon as class started, I realized I was in for something completely different.

I arrived in a candlelit room, was told to grab a blanket and props and then proceeded to lie down and do nothing.

For sixty minutes.

Oh wait, at one point we propped our legs up against the wall (our second pose of the evening).

Okay, maybe I should’ve researched “restorative yoga” before I signed up, because based on the Google image search I just did to find the picture above, restorative yoga is basically just a glorified nap (a few people were even snoring in the class).  I have nothing against napping, in fact, it’s one of my favourite ways to kill time, but if I’m going to get dressed, leave my house and waste gas to go somewhere, I want to do a little more than just sleep for an hour.

I really tried to be open-minded about it. For the first few minutes, I focused on my breathing and focused on how warm and cozy I felt. Within ten minutes, however, my thoughts quickly turned to: What the fuck is this?!? Are we seriously doing this for a whole hour?!?  Yeah, it was pretty much torture. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough (although ironically, I went straight to bed afterwards to continue my “restorative” yoga practice for the next 7.5 hours).

Thursday morning’s class was much better – I did Yoga for Athletes, which could alternatively be named Yoga for People Who Sit at a Desk All Day. We spent most of the class holding  hip opener poses like this one:

This class made me realize how tight my hips are. I do hip opener poses fairly regularly but I guess I don’t hold them long enough because this was intense.

Finally, this morning, I did a class called Body Sculpting:

Sculpted arms, a strong core, tight glutes and firm legs are the focus of this challenging muscle toning workout that features muscle toning movement and stretching. All routines are set to great music. This class is for any fitness level.

I really debated with myself whether to try this class or go to BodyPump in the morning. The words “muscle toning” in the description made me wary that this would be a Barbie dumbbell sort of class but I figured that any new workout is usually effective by virtue of novelty so why not give it a shot?

The verdict? It was basically what I expected. A lot of repetitions with small dumbbells (the heaviest they had on hand were 8 pounders) and a crap ton of ab work (probably half the class was spent on abs).  On the upside, I really liked the instructor – she was warm and funny and made the class really enjoyable. I’d like to try some of her yoga classes. 

Even though it wasn’t really my kind of work out (or maybe because it wasn’t really my kind of workout), I suspect I will be sore tomorrow. After class, I went for a quick 5 kilometre run to take advantage of the nice weather. So that caps off my week of workouts- Happy Sweat It Out Saturday!

Sunday – OFF
Monday – BodyPump
Tuesday – RPM
Wednesday – BodyPump
Thursday – Yoga
Friday – OFF
Saturday – Body Sculpting + 5 km run

What’s the worst class or workout you’ve ever done?