Last night, I had the opportunity to work out with Nike Women at the launch of their Nike+ Training Club app gone live. The class, attended by approximately 20 girls at 7 Sports Center at Victory College in Maadi, was the first of several to be offered in various locations around Cairo over the next month. If you would also like to improve on your fitness levels but are worried that some fad diets don’t work, then it may be in your best interests to join a exercise or fitness class in your area to help you on your way to a healthier life.
To start, I should tell you that I came to this class in “less than tip top” physical condition. Therefore, I am speaking from the perspective of someone who is getting back in shape after about six months of relative sedentariness. Sponsored by Nike Women and based off of the exercises included in its new Nike+ Training Club app, I came to the event expecting an hour of what I call “organized stretching”. After all, Nike+ Training Club is just a stretching app, right? Wrong.
As I was approaching the cordoned-off turf field where the class was being held, it became clear that this actually would be a legit, high-intensity workout session. Two exercise leaders, who reminded me of Energizer Bunny/drill instructor hybrids, explained to us the basics of the class and then we all got started with a warmup, which led into the full workout consisting of non-stop, back-to-back calisthenics.
Expletives screamed through my mind as I pushed my aching body as far as I could into rotations of deep squats, walking planks, burpees and other active exercises included on Nike’s new app. About halfway through, I started seeing yellow static and feeling nauseous. These are classic signs of exertion and are actually positive signs that the work out is impacting your body. Fortunately, the motivational energy of the group and the leaders was contagious and preserving, and at the end of the class, I was glad to have been pushed to my limit.
A wise friend once told me, “You know you had a good workout when you’re cussing at the instructors in your head.” She used this to describe a particularly intense yoga instructor we had as part of our hot power yoga membership a few years back. The truth? Those are the instructors you want. And the Nike+ Training Club live class has them. The instructors were selected due to their mastery of Nike’s “Train the Trainers” workshop held last March, which was attended by standout female athletes in Cairo, and the care taken in their selection really showed through.
The beauty of fitness is that your limits are always expanding. You can build yourself up from any beginning and to whatever level of fitness you desire. Your fitness level is a direct product of your level of exertion, which is directly correlated to your level of will. You get exactly what you put into it. And as Nike Women says, you will be #BetterForIt.
As I am writing this review, I am quite sore but I feel fantastic. I enjoyed the endorphin high for an abnormally long amount of time last night after the workout ended and slept better than usual. This morning, I feel much more committed to getting back in shape with the first workout’s effects still lingering.
Suffice it to say, if you want to get back in shape or you’re looking for a good workout class in Cairo, I highly recommend that you attend Nike+ Fitness Club’s live class. They’re for women only and will be held weekly at various TBA locations around the city, featuring both indoor and outdoor venues. Interested ladies can register for classes through a link that will be announced by Nike soon. So stay tuned!
If you can’t make it to the class, you should at least download the Nike+ Fitness Club app on your smartphone. Offering over 100 exercises for various fitness levels (and ones that you can do in the comfort of your home), it’s a must-have app for everyone. There’s really no excuse. The app is free, it’s been downloaded 16 million times internationally and yet it still maintains a rating of 4.5 out of 5 on the AppStore.
WE SAID THIS: Stay tuned for registration details!