What: Piloxing — demo class
When: Wednesday @ 7pm
Where: Street Dance Academy (160 Spadina Avenue)
Who: Jessica Sayde

 

A few months ago, Jill and I went to CanFitPro and discovered a new workout that is supposedly sweeping Hollywood: Piloxing. (In the promo video, Hilary Duff and Melissa McCarthy are supposedly fans.) It was just beginning to break into Canada and we knew we had to try it.

Well, on Wednesday night, I tried it.

One of the few Canadian piloxing instructors, Jessica Sayde, knew that Jill and I wanted to take a class and when she had set up a free demo class at the Street Dance Academy, she let us know! Jill was away running a half-marathon, but I jumped at the chance, having no real idea what I was getting into.

 

 

The class was small, about 10 people. We all wore dance or yoga gear and were barefoot.  (If you take a lass, bring a towel, mat and water. No shoes necessary!) Normally when you Pilox (is Pilox even a word?), you wear half-pound gloves, but they hadn’t arrived from LA yet. Since it was the very first class, we were all fine with this. Gloves would just make everything harder, right? After a quick introduction to the basic moves, we jumped in: 45 minutes of bouncing, punching and what felt a whole lot like dancing, followed by 10 minutes of floor work. The class was set up in “blocks”: we’d do a punching sequence, following by a skipping/dance sequence and some ab-centric stuff. Repeat. The blocks got more complicated as we progressed through the class and we worked out way up to a combo: punch, punch, uppercut, punch, skip, skip, skip, skip, repeat.

But the dancing. Oh, the dancing. I recognize it’s not really dancing, but there was definitely choreography.  Despite the fact it’s called Piloxing (Pilates + boxing, get it?!), the workout felt more like boxing plus dance aerobics with a focus on abs. And it felt like dancing because the music was LOUD. So loud I found it impossible to follow Jessica. Even turning down just a smidge would have helped me immensely. My complete lack of coordination (I cannot punch and kick at the same time to save my life) didn’t help.

But I had fun. I liked the punching stuff. I liked constantly moving. The hour flew by and we were all drenched by the end. I liked the concept of making boxing fun, acessbile and female-friendly. Unlike the Muay Thai boxing class Jill and I took, this class was mostly women — only one man was brave enough to join it. Will I go again? Sure. Will it become a regular part of my workout routine? Probably not. Will I tell others to give it  try? Hell yes.

 

 Take this if: you’re looking for a high-impact aerobic workout or if you want to box but don’t want to do it in a traditional boxing gym.

 

Jessica is teaching classes at the Street Dance Academy every Wednesday from 7-8pm, a drop-in is $15.

Want a better idea of what Piloxing is all about? Watch the video below: