Last summer, my wife started taking the classes at Dancers Shape and came home raving about how hard and satisfying they were as fitness classes. Having just finished my second consecutive year of doing a full Ironman, my body was in rough shape. My hamstrings and hips were giving me some serious trouble from an old injury.
When I heard that NFL players and University of Texas track stars were training at the Athletic Conditioning class, I thought it might not just be for females. Heck, if it was helping these types of athletes, I wanted in on the action!
It is a tough hour-long workout that will absolutely kick your butt. If you are a triathlete, cyclist, runner, or some other kind of fitness freak, this class is totally for you. It will rival the best workout you’ve gotten from a boot camp or brick workout. It’s a fantastic off-season way to build muscle strength and stability to prevent injury. It was super challenging, hard at first to get the form right, but after a few visits, I really got the feel for it.
My pay-off? I’m 42 years old and ran the 3M Half Marathon earlier this year in 1 hour and 30 minutes (sub 7 minute pace) with only light running training. That was a couple of minutes faster than my previous best two years ago and in the top 5% of all 5,000 finishers. I’ve also had four great times in triathlons this year at the Rookie, CapTex, Pflugerville, and Couples. I think my barre training at Dancers Shape has really helped me regain my form, helped me overcome my nagging injuries from last season, and made me stronger. I have liked the classes so much I’m now going regularly to both Core and Shape classes as well Athletic Conditioning.
