Physique 57?

My friend - and international renowned model Kerstin M. - told me the other day, while we were having coffee at Starbucks, about this new workout routine called Physique 57®. Since she seemed really into it (and told me a lot of deal about it) I got curious, did some research and then decided to give it a try.

Some info on Physique 57®

I logged on their website and found out that Physique 57® “is a focused and proven cardiovascular program of isometric exercises and orthopedic stretches.”
According to the website “Physique 57® tones your seat, abdominals, thighs and arms; strengthens your legs and back; and improves posture to produce a beautiful, sexy body. Our interval training sets use your own body weight for resistance, and through dynamic exercises your muscles are targeted and overloaded to the point of fatigue, then stretched for relief. We call our process Interval Overload – overloading the muscle to create long, lean sexy muscles.”
Good description right? Who doesn’t want to have long an sexy muscles?

But, first of all, in order to understand what this is all about we shall figure out who is behind this new workout routine.
Physique 57®’s was founded by Tanya Becker. Ms Becker was extensively trained in this revolutionary exercise routine developed in London by the world-famous ballerina, Lotte Berk (1913-2003) and her orthopedist.
Being a former instructor at The Lotte Berk Method for almost a decade, Becker updated and fine-tuned the long-respected technique.
She opened her first studio in 2006 in New York and soon after, with the recruitment of pilates expert Shelly Knight she opened a studio in Los Angeles. As of today, Physique 57® serves clients from four different locations (3 in New York and 1 in Los Angeles).

Why Physique 57®? The name comes from the 57 minutes it takes to complete the sprint-and-recovery routine. Based on a method they call “interval overload,” the workout targets muscles to the point of fatigue: and then provides relief through stretching.

My experience at the NYC studio

With all this info I went to the NYC location to give it a shot. Let’s start by saying that overall I liked the experience.
The room is pretty small but really cozy and clean. There’s carpet on the floor and it’s dimly lightened, on its perimeter there are ballet barres.
We were around ten people and your should wear stocks.
Then the instructor walks in, smiles, cranks up the music and the class starts.
In the next hour she leads us through a series of intense exercises followed by some stretching.
We worked almost every muscle in our body, including the upper-body.
Some exercises are strength-training using dumbbells for others you use your own body weight (several sets of push-ups are part of the class). There is  little or no downtime between exercises so at some points it totally feels like doing intense cardio activity.
The final stretching is then the welcomed part of the class, especially after all the effort you put in it!

Conclusion

I have to say I was pretty satisfied with Physique 57®, and the fact that I was the only dude surrounded by pretty girls made the experience a lot better.
Even as a triathlete there were time during class when I felt really challenged. Also after years of intense training and strenuous competitions I tend to like a lot workouts like Physique 57® that focus on core and flexibility.
First of all because they are pretty gentle on the body and the joints but still pretty intense. You leave with the feeling of having burned a really good amount of calories. Also the variety of exercises makes the routine not boring at all.
So if you’re in NYC or LA I think you should give it a shot!

TheIronYou

For more info on Physique 57® click on www.physique57.com