The value of an hour-long class (and this week's class release)

Nov 05, 2021

The quickie vs. the whole shebang

Happy Friday, Guys. (yay!)

I want to share something that I’ve been experiencing. I recently started teaching Rolling classes on one of these mass fitness platforms called forte.fit (think Pelaton, Apple Fitness, etc). These platforms generally host 10-30 minute classes, which I personally LOVE for working out. I love the idea of getting some quick, challenging, sweaty movement in where I can fit it. I’ve noticed though, that rolling for 10-30 minutes doesn’t really do anything for my body and I’ve wondered why that is. Here’s what I came up with:

Rolling one or two spots might alleviate the aches in that spot for the moment, but there is so much more involved than just that group of muscle. In an hour-long class, we generally comb through the lower body AND the upper body, and that results in a feeling of completion. The body creates dysfunctional patterns (read: pain) in systems, not just in one place. So, when someone has the request in class of alleviating their lower back pain, I’m taking us to the quads, the glutes, the lower back AND the lats. These groups work together to create pain patterns and if you’re just hitting one element, you might be missing out on the relief you can get.
Having the time to work both lower body and upper body spots makes you feel like you just got a full-body massage simply because of how much time you give yourself to relax. Dropping into your parasympathetic nervous system enough to relax takes time, so doesn’t happen if you’re like, only rolling the calves. If you can roll enough of the body to where the brain starts to drop into a state of acceptance and surrender (the parasympathetic) then you’ll get WAY more out of your rolling sesh because you’re in a state where you’re able to absorb the work more effectively.
Not to mention, when you’re in that state of acceptance, you’re in a state of flow, and the time just FLIES BY. I used to dread having to drive to my old Barre + Roll studio after a long day to teach a 7pm Barre class, because it was just so hard to muster the energy to flow when I was tired. Now, I look forward to driving to my 7pm Roll class with you on Thursday nights because that tiredness primes me to get to that state of acceptance with my roller and I am continually blown away with how fast the class goes by. Like, most nights I wish we had more time.

Ok. LONG message today and it’s all to say that if you’re rolling at home, etc, and you’re not really getting the results you think you should be in terms of alleviating aches and pains, maybe you should give a full class a shot. Join me with this lovely hour-long session On Demand, or join us live on Thursday nights! Tired by the time it’s 7pm? Perfect.

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Ok, but-an hour of Barre is also pretty great.

While I love a 20-30 minute sweat sesh, Barre gives us the time it takes to focus on form, go deep into the movement and to REALLY work with integrity. This week’s class is athletic, focused and challenging.

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