A few weeks ago I tweeted about having my personal trainer seriously kicking my butt during a recent session. This prompted a childhood friend to invite me to a class at David Barton. Never one to turn down a good workout, I took him up on the offer. While the first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club, I just can't help myself. Everyone needs to know about this one.
Let me start by saying the David Barton gym is ridiculously nice. It almost made me feel bad for sweating in there. I didn't checkout the locker rooms, but if the coat check was any indication I am assuming those showers are top notch.
The class itself was incredibly intimidating. The description on the Website "Mixed Martial Arts. All aspects of martial arts packed into one class with a focus on using your body weight and momentum to your advantage. Strike combinations,partner work,kick techniques,grappling,standing holds and leverage technique." pretty much made me want to hide in the corner. The fact that you have TWO instructors (Robert Ramsey & Adam Razak) makes that nearly impossible. P.S. They are both incredibly hardcore.
They pack you into a tiny exercise room and get you going right away, throwing everything from jumping jacks to standing mountain climbers your way. At one point we were literally expected to do 100 push-ups consecutively. Running in place, high-knees, plyo-squats and burpees were also on the list. I was dripping sweat about 15 minutes into the class.
Then they threw the mat down and asked us to do these power somersaults down it. I lost my headband and my balance. So much so that Alex literally had to catch me and tell me he had me. Yeah, I felt a little foolish, but it was nice knowing I wasn't the only one.
After that more push-ups and then breaking us into two groups. One against the wall to hold a squat and some sort of knee strike thing. The other group punching on the mat. Then we switched. By this time I was begging to stop and my butt felt like I had been punching that instead of the mat.
Some more punching with weights and MMA-style kicking and the class was over. A full hour and 15 minutes later that is. The music was fantastic and I enjoyed watching the giant muscle man next to me have just as hard a time doing the push-ups as me.
If you can get a guest pass to David Barton, I highly recommend it.