A couple of weeks ago a high school friend (and former childhood jump rope teammate, yep) introduced me to Trooper Fitness, a small group training bootcamp style class run by Prince Brathwaite (a fellow Equinox instructor) and it was fantastic. Depending on when you take the class there are different locations. Mine was a Saturday AM class held at a really cool shared studio space- Body Space Fitness.
The class was about 14 students and while varying in abilities I’d say overall it was a very fit group. The class was a circuit style workout made up of challenging moves involving resistance bands, conditioning ropes, ladders (for quick feet drills) and pull up bars. After an intense couple of minutes of warm up moves we split up into groups and went through the different stations. At each station you had a certain amount of time to complete the exercises (sort of crossfit style) and then after each set Prince would yell out a specific move to do until your next circuit began (so the in between moves would be things like push ups, squats, mountain climbers, etc).
After we all went through each circuit two times, that portion of the workout was over. To finish strong we did a quick relay race, letting everyone show off their competitive side. The winning team got free t-shirts and everyone got free wrist-bands which was a fun little surprise.
The full workout lasted approximately 45 minutes and I was sweating, my muscles were burning and I felt GOOD. I’ve been to a bunch of workout classes so I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that certain elements of the workout were moves I’d never done before. Always a plus to mix things up.
Another thing that set this class apart from others I’ve done is Prince’s amazing attitude. He is a positive motivator who kept us going with encouraging words the entire time. He knew everyone’s name and was paying attention, giving form tips and overall putting positive vibes out into our workout. Some instructors go for the “tough love” approach and I like that too, but sometimes it’s nice to hear what a good job you’re doing.
There are a few different categories of classes taught by Prince and his team (Run Con, Body Con, Trooper Camp) and I did a little sample of each at a recent New Years Day class run by the Trooper group. I’d happily go to any of them and know that I’d leave the class getting in a SERIOUS calorie burn.
If you’re interested in trying out Trooper Fitness (and if it wasn’t already clear, I highly recommend it!) visit the site and sign up. In the services tab at the bottom you’ll see there were some special promo prices for the beginning of the year. Not sure you can still cash in on these but take a look and try out a class. Let me know how it goes!
