The Nerdy Girl's Guide to SkyFitness (Trampoline cardio)

Basketball dunk after the class

Today I tried a Skyfitness class at skyzone. The kind you might have seen on Keeping up With the Kardashians (the episode where Khloe has some camel toe, but still wears tight pants and short tops.)

Granted, I've been taking trampoline cardio classes for a year, but I wanted to try another gym and see what their classes were like.

Atlanta traffic is unpredictable so we left very early. It took an hour to get there and we were super early. The manager signed us in and printed out our tickets (to jump afterwards). I signed up and paid online the night before.

Your first Skyfitness class is $5, and after that $10 each. Or you can buy a monthly membership for $20. Classes are offered at 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday. 

There were 13 people in our class. There was a high school aged guy, 3-4 older couples, and a lot of 30-something women, maybe teachers. Most people came in pairs.

The instructor, Josh, was a beefy guy who I guessed played high school football. The class started with some light stretching, balancing on one foot, stretching shoulders, ankles, legs etc. The warm-up was 10+ minutes of running mans, jump up and touch your knees, side-to-side jumps, lunges, pulses, jumping front to back, tracing all the corners, butt drops, There were pushups, plank holds (where my feet slipped because of the socks), butt drops (but no spins), jumping jacks, donkey kicks, jumping really high for a minute—to get your heart rate up. I was definitely ready for a water break when it came. 

The third part of the class was cardio. 60 seconds of laps around the trampoline, 60 seconds of curls with a band, or 30 seconds of lunges and 30 seconds of tricep dips on the floor. Then it was back on the trampoline, where we raced up and down the lanes for 30 seconds, while our partners did a sidestep with the band. We took the bands back to the trampoline and did some leg extensions, push ups, planks etc. There was also popcorn (back bounces), V-ups and butt-ups for abs. The class ended with 7 minutes of stretching.

After the class, we stayed to jump. We went to the foam pit and flipped until some 10-year-old boys showed up. Then we tried the basketball court and attempted to dunk the basketballs. We went back to the main trampoline to jump. I wanted to flip, but wasn't rotating enough and it wasn't happening. Kids also kept jumping across our pads (though the trampoline was pretty empty.) We went back to the foam pit and tried to flip some more. I kept under rotating. And Matt finally figured out how to dunk! And that was our 30 minutes.

I liked that there was a clock on the wall that counted down the seconds. We need that at my gym.

Socks: I would prefer to jump barefoot. I really hate socks. (I'm a Southern girl and would rather be barefoot or in flip-flops.) The Skyzone socks didn't bother me for the most part. The didn't bother me at all while I was jumping. They did make holding planks harder in the class (I kept slipping on the sock) and the foam pit foam tends to stick to them.

Quick Guide: 

Verdict: Fun way to burn a lot of calories. You will get your heart rate up.

Thoughts: It was a good class. It got my heart rate up. There was nothing too confusing for me. Most of it was super easy. I rather thought I killed the class—jumping higher than most of the pros, etc. But there was no high-five from the instructor after class. The participants filed out and he put up the equipment. I missed the personal touch from the instructor, or maybe I just wanted to be told awesome job.

And overall, an Aerofit class is more fun. (Skyfitness also didn't use the walls at all). Alex's classes are brutal, but when he's singing Britney Spears off key it just makes the class more fun. 

Atmosphere: Standard workout class. The attendees seemed very quiet. The instructor seemed to be a no-nonsense trainer. 

Intensity: The first 10 minutes are the hardest. It will get your heart rate up. If you're new to working out, just take it easy. Do as much as you can and watch the others. If you're a pro, you won't have trouble with the class. It isn't too hard. And there were two water breaks built-in. 

Price: $5 for a first class and $10 afterwards is pretty good. 

What to wear: Workout clothes and the socks they sell there. I wouldn't wear anything too baggy. I like to wear capris and a tank. 

If you go: Ladies, make sure you pee before you jump. Trampolines do weird things to bladders. 

Would I do it again: Aerofit doesn't offer Friday or Saturday cardio classes anymore. (There is a noon class I can't make, but no Friday evenings or Saturday noon.) If gas wasn't $15 a trip, I'd consider it. Until then I'll wait until Aerofit expands. I've heard rumors of a basketball court, tumble track, climbing wall and foam pit.

Staycation Adventures: Climbing in Atlanta

Today the hubby and I went climbing at Adrenaline in Atlanta. We had a Groupon.

This shelf was NOT easy to get over.

I think it's my favorite place to climb. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The space is a tad small, but not too busy. There are lots of paths to climb—and it's very beginner friendly. So if you've never been climbing before, you can find paths to climb and have fun. Want something harder? They have paths along the roof, under a boulder. So something for everyone. They use an auto-belay, so it's easy to learn and they'll give you an intro before you start. Or you can opt out and pass their belay test—which they're super chill about.

We climbed a little, but mostly bouldered. I think I did all of the red (very beginner) bouldering paths. I found those challenging enough.

Beast Mode muscles.

Another shelf that gave me a challenge.

Matt bouldering in his Aerofit shirt.

Climbing in Atlanta: Stone Summit

This photo was taken from the second floor balcony,
 so those climbers behind us are super high up.

My friends rave about Stone Summit, a giant climbing gym in Atlanta. We brought a groupon and visited one Sunday.

You check in at the desk—they give you shoes and then you have to pass a belay test before you can climb anything.

So we bouldered for a while first. They have two big bouldering walls. Fun-ish. With enough easy paths for beginners. The experienced climbers were bouldering, resting, repeating, then going to climb.

But back to the belay test. You're on your own. There's no person to teach you. Unless you sign up for their hour-long class. You have to look at a chart on the wall or ask someone to show you. AND they don't use auto-belays. You actually have to thread your own rope. I looked at the wall chart and knew there was no way in the world I'd pass it. BUT I couldn't even climb on their auto-climb walls upstairs without passing the test. That royally pissed me off.

And then if you did want to take the test, you had to ring a bell and wait 20+ minutes for a staffer to come certify you.

This place is a huge gym, with lots of room to climb. There's even exercise equipment upstairs. But the belay-certication left a horrible taste in my mouth. This place isn't friendly to beginners at all. It's great if you're a climbing enthusiast and know exactly what you're doing.

Verdict: Not a fan of their belay test. If they make climbing more accessible, I'd look forward to going back.

Atmosphere: Casual. Not too judgey. It's lots of fun to watch the really good climbers.

Hazards: Dry, chapped hands and I always get bruises on my legs afterwards.

Intensity: Moderate. I can boulder for 60-90 minutes (with lots of breaks in between)

Price: $18 Groupon for two people. Pretty good.

What to wear: Capri's, a workout shirt. You will get sweaty. Bring socks.

Would I go back? There are other places to climb. I might go back, but I'm in no hurry.

Climbing in Atlanta: Adrenaline Climbing

I don’t think I’ve been indoor rock climbing ever. I think I did some too-easy climbing at summer camp once or twice as a teen, but it was always something that looked fun. My husband used to love climbing, so to surprise him I bought a Groupon to an Atlanta climbing gym.

Overall, I’d say that climbing was super fun. There was a steep learning curve and it was harder than I thought at first.

Climbing on the walls wasn’t the cake-walk I thought it would be. Sometimes it was really hard to know where to put a hand of a foot next. I’d panic on the wall, Matt would yell a direction and either I’d try it or I couldn’t do it. But having the direction helped. 

And then belaying. Also hard. God bless the poor girl who tried to teach uncoordinated me how to belay. I was practically in tears trying to learn it. I kept doing my hands wrong, or bending over the belay. She kept saying “you’re not the worst we’ve ever had” which means I was pretty close. Finally, I figured out how to belay, up, up, down, down and slide my hands. And I tried belaying Matt who is 70 pounds heavier than me. It was a struggle to bring him down.  His weight would bring me up. I had to brace and make a staffer spot me.

Mostly we bouldered. I was honestly angry and ready to go home after 10 minutes. It was SOOO HARD. Then, I started watching what the kids were doing and what seemed super easy for everyone else. And copied them. That worked! I could do some of these routes.

Then, I found the color-coded route guide on the wall and voila! I figured it out. I found the easiest routes and tried those. And climbing was so much more fun when I could do it.

I goofed around on the upside-down-holds, though I wasn’t strong enough to climb it. I tried the easiest way around the routes all the way around the gym (and just didn’t any colored holds if I was really lost). And finally had to call it quits when I was too tired to do anything else. The hubby said I did really well and took to it surprisingly well. (He does sugar coat things but I loved climbing trees when I was little.) We left the gym and he threatened to go buy a bunch of climbing gear. He was hooked.

Random thought: I did spend a lot of time spent deciding what to do next or waiting for a path to climb.

Quick guide

Verdict: A fun way to spend an afternoon. A little more challenging than I’d anticipated, but fun once I figured it out. Don’t give up too soon! Ask for help or watch others.

Atmosphere: Very casual and family friendly. Everyone was doing their own thing without staring at you.

Hazards: The day after my hands were a little chapped from climbing. Not too bad.

Intensity: I didn’t break a sweat but I could tell my shoulders got a workout.

Price: $22 for two people to climb. Includes gear. Very reasonable. Rented shoes are awful though.

What to wear: Workout clothes. The website urged against shorts. Bring socks.

Would I do it again? Yes, I’m going climbing again later this week. Matt is completely hooked.