Day Six: AIR (Aerial Fitness)

Summary:

Class: AIR Foundations with Ryan Castillo

Duration: 50 minutes + 15 minutes of “playtime”

Intensity: 5/5

Fun: 5/5

This class is such a fun way to get in great shape! My roommate, Nicole (the same one who got me ClassPass for my birthday!) has been going to AIR classes for a few weeks now, and she’s had nothing but positive feedback from her experiences, and I can tell she’s getting stronger, so I figured I had to try it out. I am so glad I did! This class, at AIR Chicago – River North, uses silk fabric loops that hang from the ceiling as the basis of all the fitness work, and today’s was mostly focused on strength training. We used our arms to climb up the silks for a bit, and then we put one leg in the silk loop and did one-legged squats, pulses (like barre classes I’ve been to), push-ups, planks… you name it, we did it one-legged if we could! I’m already feeling it in my arms in particular (the weakest part of my body), so it was definitely an effective workout, but the novelty of hanging from a silk “rope” distracted me enough from the struggle that I got a lot more out of the workout than I normally would.

The most complex/silk-specific part that we did, in my opinion, aside from climbing the silks with our arms, was inverted sit-ups. We put the silk behind us, just above our sit-bones, leaned back, and looped our legs twice through the silk on either side, so we were hanging upside down by our legs. Then we crunched up so many times I lost count, and my abs were definitely feeling it!

Based on Nicole’s reports, it sounds like each instructor brings his or her own experience, knowledge, and preferences to the classes, so every day is pretty different. I can’t wait to try out two more classes here this month with ClassPass – there are so many ways you can move your body and work it out that wouldn’t be possible without the silk, so this class is a fun departure from the classic workout or fitness classes that you can find a lot of other places.

After the class was over, there were 15 minutes allotted to what Ryan, the instructor, called “playtime.” What this meant for me was Nicole got to show me all the awesome poses, moves, tricks, whatever you want to call them, that she’s learned, and then taught me a few, like the one below.

AIR fitness – one of the most basic “cool things” you can do with the silks. I look forward to learning lots more!

Overall a good day and a great workout! Plus, it’s my birthday today, so I’ve received several emails from gyms I’ve visited with ClassPass offering discounts on classes or apparel, and my personal favorite, a free class from Pure Barre in Old Town! I’ll definitely be using that one!