LONDON -- Working out is hard. I don't care what anyone says. So, naturally someone decided exercise needed to be made even more difficult -- just in case you weren't sufficiently challenged -- by adding ice to the equation.
London's latest fitness class takes exercising on ice to a whole other level, with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on ice. Forget elegant pirouettes, this is a workout full of high knees, lunges, squats and planks on a slippery ice rink designed to give your core, glutes and quads the workout of their life.
Egged on by my ever-enthusiastic colleagues, I decided to give HIIT on ice a go. I was feeling pretty buoyed as I made my way over to Broadgate ice rink near Shoreditch on Thursday afternoon. "The weather is really mild today. So this shouldn't be too arduous at all," I said.
Oh, how wrong I was.
When I first arrived at the ice rink, I didn't spot the layer of water that was sitting atop the ice, a result of the warmer weather that day. It was only when I stepped on the ice that I realised just how tricky this was going to be, and I immediately fell flat on by derriere.
Stretches
The class started off with some "simple" stretches. These stretches might have been fairly straightforward in the comfort of a fitness studio. But on an ice rink riddled with puddles? Oh hell no.
Mountain climber
"OK guys! Now it's time for the mountain climber!" yelled Daniel, our wonderfully chipper instructor. As my fellow exercise buddies nailed pretending to climb a mountain while on ice, I appeared to be having more difficulties than the rest.
Try as I might, I just couldn't get it right.
"Let's ramp things up a bit!" Daniel said, to my horror. Because who wouldn't want to do the mountain climb move at an even faster pace?
It did not go well for me. And, annoyingly, my classmates were pretty amazing at this move.
The plank
Next up came the plank. This part of the class felt like all my worst nightmares coming true at once.
Imagine doing the plank on a wet, cold, slippery surface while your hands and feet scramble to prevent you from falling flat on your face.
Eventually I managed about 10 seconds of the plank, during which time my core muscles felt like they were being repeatedly punched.
Squats
In the midst of an existential crisis, I knew I needed to channel my inner Beyoncé. When we came to the squats, I knew this was my time to shine.
Side lunges
This fleeting moment of glory was soon destroyed when we moved on to side lunges.
After several rotations of the plank, lunges, squats, mountain climber, we moved on to the mats -- much to my relief.
Bicycle crunches
That relief was short-lived.
It was time for bicycle crunches. I should probably mention here that my clothes were sopping wet by this point, which made everything feel gross. Nonetheless, I powered on like the trooper that I am.
For awhile, anyway...
Despite falling over and rolling around in cold puddles, every muscle in my body got a crazy workout during the class. Granted, it felt like someone was throwing snowballs and buckets of cold water at me as I engaged my core muscles, but that was all part of the fun. Even if my knees are slightly bruised now.