review - sweat1000 nicolway |

I have previously blogged about joining GetFit Jozi (exercise challenge – getFit jozi) and yes, I am doing the next and final challenge for 2014, which starts on Monday 8th Sept. However, for this challenge I want to increase the number of days I exercise a week…my aim is to exercise five days a week instead of only three.

I am rather useless at gyming on my own as I find that I have no idea what exercises to do…if I am doing them correctly and generally feel unmotivated. This is why I prefer to attend specialised group classes hosted by instructors.

I have read a lot of good things about Sweat1000, but was a little nervous to try it as I am not a runner, actually I am barely a jogger. The main concept is for you to be able to burn 1000 calories in an hour workout through a combination of running on a treadmill and floor based exercises.

I managed to convince myself and my husband, Garith that it would be a good idea to at least try it. The bonus is your first class in free – all you need to do is phone and book it.

On Tuesday morning, we went to Sweat1000 Nicolway for the 6am class. We arrived a little early as we were not sure of the procedure. The staff were so friendly and helpful and made us feel at home. If you are a ‘first timer’ the instructor, who was Ryan, explains how the class works, how the treadmill works, etc. Once the 5am class finished, we entered to the studio. It was a little scary but I chose a treadmill and thought I can do this.

sweat1000 people running on the treadmill

Running on the treadmill – photo courtesy of Sweat1000 Nicolway

The Class:

The class consists of a lot of running on the treadmill at different speeds and inclines (they have special treadmills that can go to a 30% incline – at this incline I had to hold on so I didn’t fall off!) with a combination of leg, arm & core focused floor exercises, such as squats, lunges, bicep curls with weights, crunches, etc.

They focus on 3 different speeds – walkers, joggers and runners. If you are sticking to a walkers pace…you will not be walking much but it is just for the instructor to differentiate between all the speed and fitness levels. However, if you are like me a ‘first timer’ and not a runner, they recommend that you stick to the speeds that you are comfortable with. I wasn’t able to go faster than speed 9…but I think that will improve after a few weeks.

The floor exercises are not too intense in comparison to GetFit but they are challenging, especially for me after having been running (well more like jogging – which is like running for me) on a treadmill…and let me tell you my legs were extremely sore the next day…so it must have worked!

It was great fun and I definitely want to add it to my gym/GetFit routine as something different and challenging…I want to see if I can get to speed 10 🙂 I didn’t burn the 1000 calorie aim, but I did burn about 700 calories. This was mainly due to the fact that I couldn’t keep up for the entire class and had to start walking after 40 minutes for fear of passing out.