Anna W.
Yelp
Since college, I've wanted a bottom as round as a luscious Georgia peach. I acquired this terminology when I was searching Amazon for exercise DVDs and came across Callanetics. The founder, Callan Pinkney, claimed that by utilizing micro-movements in the exercises on the--yes--VHS, you would find yourself in possession of a precious little peach (and other variations on the peach theme throughout the video). Given my short attention span and seemingly conflicting desires to get a killer workout and not murder myself dead, I didn't stick with it long enough to get a bottom that could fill out a cobbler, but the imagery's stayed with me since.
I realized I'd gained, shall we say, some (it's all relative, yes?) weight after Yelping up a storm, and remembered really liking the free workout Hank, the founder of Define, had done at lululemon. The movements weren't frenetic, a la kickboxing (which I do enjoy, except when my shoulder pops out--ow), yet I was all aquiver. I've been able to do it somewhat consistently for the past month, and, when my sister visited, though one of the first things she said to me was that I needed to lose weight (as is a customary first greeting in the W. household), she did say my legs looked skinnier (though, she last saw me two and a half years ago, but I will assume she has a fabulous memory).
Each class starts with a warm up, which means swinging the opposite leg and arm and marching in place. From then, you move on to the plank, but with variations (dropping the hips, pedaling your feet), then to push ups and tricep dips on the floor. You work out your arms, back, quads, and glutes with the aid of light weights, the barre, a firm silver ball, and a smooshier blue ball. You usually work out your arms and back with some light weights. You work out the quads by employing the ballet barre and/or taking the first or second position on your tippy toes. Quads kill--one day, nearing the end of the final set, my muscles were quaking so hard, it was as though I was riding a motorcycle. You might be on the floor or holding on to the bar to work out your glutes. After all that, you do abs, stretch out (there's stretching throughout class), relax in svasana, then finish with three breaths.
I brought up Callanetics not just for the peach imagery, but because Define's similar in that there's a mix of stretching and muscle work by using gravity, and the moves are most effective when you use small movements. I'd wager the Define workout is also similar to the Lotte Berk Method or Bar Method. I really like Define, because though I get my tush kicked, I don't sweat so much where I can't go back to work without taking a shower. That's fortunate, as the studio has no showers.
The restroom and changing room are on the first floor, along with a small studio space, perhaps for private lessons and really small classes. The second floor has the two main studios. Define has a Mind class, which employs Yamuna ball rolling to massage out the kinks (you lie flat with the firm ball below you, so gravity does the massaging). The 30-minute Express class, which has less stretching, but still works the same body parts, was the boon to my existence for a week or so, except when I would skip breakfast and have a ginormous lunch before. Fortunately, the Define workout is such that you can, hypothetically, have a mad craving for some barbecue, decide to skip class so you can get the barbecue, then feel as though you should still go to class, so eat the barbecue as you drive to class, and successfully complete class without too much trouble. Hypothetically. Also, I believe that more classes are being added (DefineCaliente, which is the workout with a Latin beat; maybe yoga?).
Oh, and not only are the instructors friendly and knowledgeable, they're gorgeous!
