New Kid in Class Series: Athletic Conditioning

September 20, 2013 Crystal Zuzek

I’m a big fan of the Athletic Conditioning class at Dancers Shape. The new iteration of Co-ed is a challenging workout that makes even NFL players sweat. No worries, though, because you don’t have to be a professional athlete to endure the exercises and reap the benefits.

I recently attended Athletic Conditioning with my husband, Patrick. I was pleasantly surprised to see that men outnumbered women seven to three in our class. I admit I felt a little intimidated at first, but my trepidation washed away once the routine gained momentum. Athletic Conditioning focuses on balance and core exercises. If you took Co-ed, which my instructor aptly described as “Shape without the shimmy,” then this class won’t seem foreign. Athletic Conditioning features many of the Dancers Shape signature barre moves, but the class ditches the weights in favor of stability ball work for the core.

My husband, a runner who suffers from a back injury, says he enjoyed the low-impact, high-intensity exercises in Athletic Conditioning. “I could tell the exercises were strengthening and stretching my back in a good way. I just can’t get this kind of workout from running,” he says.

Here are a few highlights from the class:

Pike extension on the large balance ball,
Pilates-style hundreds with the large balance ball between your legs,
Yoga moves like downward-facing dog, and
Barre exercises that target the deep stabilizer muscles (key for injury prevention).

Dancers Shape offers Athletic Conditioning four times a week. If you’re up for some serious cross-training that puts your muscular stamina to the test, I encourage you to check out the class soon.

About the Author

Crystal Zuzek is an Austin-based writer with more than a decade of experience in the journalism industry. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism in the magazine sequence. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, going to movies and concerts, and spending time with her husband, Patrick, and her dachshund mix, Saffron.