Member blogger Kathleen Hermann reflects on the fresh beginnings a new year brings and how Midtown can help you achieve your 2012 fitness goals.
While I haven’t set New Year’s resolutions for years, I periodically take stock of where things are and where I’d like things to go.
As adults, we feel that twinge of time passing. There is always more we want to experience and accomplish. New Year’s is momentous as it reminds us of the value of time. It is a point to remind ourselves that there is never a better time to act than the present.
Whether your fitness goals for yourself are to walk a mile or to establish a new personal best in the marathon, the club has the necessary tools for success. These tools come in the form of the facility itself, and also in the form of the network of people and professionals that work within it.
If 2012 is your year to finally achieve well-rounded fitness, you have unlimited options at Midtown.
Maybe you have a great physique and excel at swimming and cycling, but still find yourself often stressed and hurried. Try expanding into the peaceful, regenerative world of yoga and meditation. Perhaps you love the inner strength yoga has added to your life, but still find yourself slowed by extra weight. Try adding a cardio class to your routine.
Need help getting started? The club has a packed January schedule filled with events and classes specifically designed to help you kick-start all your goals.
Pick something that works for you and mark it on your calendar!
1. Intro and Launch Classes
If you are expanding your routine, or just beginning your fitness journey, but are intimidated to walk into a weekly group class, start with one of the many complimentary Intro classes Midtown offers in January. You’ll learn everything you need to know, as well as proper setup and technique.
Intro to Cycle: Wednesday, January 3, 7:00 – 7:45 pm
Intro to Group Power: Saturday, January 7, 8:00-9:00 am
Intro to Zumba: Sunday, January 15, 2:00-2:45 pm
The Launch classes introduce the new quarterly series of Group Step and Group Power.
Group Step Launch: Saturday, January 21, 9:30-10:30 am
Group Power Launch: Saturday, January 21, 11:00am – noon
2. Yoga and Meditation Classes
Bring balance to your life by trying these Mind/Body classes.
Sunday Afternoon Meditation with Suzanne: Sunday, January 8, 4:45-5:45pm
An Evening of Restorative Yoga: Friday, January 27 6:30-8:00 pm
3. A Proper Goodbye to 2011
What better way to end the year than with a great workout and drinks afterward to celebrate!
Boot Camp and Mimosas with Trainers Justin and Steve: Saturday, December 31, 8:45-9:45am
4. A Fresh Start on New Year’s Day
Kick off the New Year’s right with our packed New Year’s Day class schedule.
No matter what your fitness resolution is, Midtown will be there to help you achieve your goals.
Here’s to a healthy 2012!
MXT (Midtown Xtreme Training) has fast become one of the club’s most popular classes.
Body by MXT
Part of the reason is the class itself. It’s physically demanding but not impossible for those in relatively decent shape. It includes a great mix of exercises and equipment and it changes all the time, so it never gets boring.
But a big part of the class’s success is because of trainer Vinny Mogavero, the creative force behind MXT.
Vinny’s teaching style, unwavering encouragement, and propensity for keeping the class fresh and interesting makes the class wildly popular and has members singing his praises.
MXT doesn’t have participants. It has disciples.
One such disciple is member Kathleen Hermann, who credits MXT and Vinny with changing her life and her body.
This is her story of MXT on the Great Lawn.
Like many, I read the MXT class description, deemed it harmless, and walked into my first class unprepared.
I snuck out halfway through class, thinking, “What was that?!” I should have paid attention to the “Xtreme”" part.
And yet, I came back. Again…and again..and again. You could say I’m addicted now, and there are many more like me who have been taking MXT even longer. You won’t be able to guess an MXT fanatic by age, sex, weight, or body type. The class represents a cross-section of all groups. All you really need to survive in MXT is the desire to get better, faster, and stronger, and the willingness to push yourself to the limit to achieve those goals. I have been trying to go to MXT three times a week, but I especially love the outdoor classes on the Great Lawn.
Here’s Why:
1) Vinny is a miracle worker in dispensing motivation. No matter the group size (which is often large as the class gets more popular), he will make you feel as if you are getting a private training session. He is everywhere, running from one station to the next, correcting form, yelling out encouragement, and jumping into the exercises with people. In fact, sometimes (for example, when you are flipping over a huge tractor tire), you may even hope he is not watching, as you stand back to take another break.
But before you can pause, there he is, right up next to you with words of encouragement. He always manages to be everywhere at once. He does such a good job that I almost feel like I should be paying him a personal training fee for the class.
2) There is a difference between yelling and encouragement. Don’t be scared to try the class because you think you will be ridiculed in front of everyone. Vinny doens’t do this, but he isn’t soft either. He doesn’t mind if you have to drop to your knees during a push-up exercise or modify a different activity as long as he can see you are trying your hardest. In fact, he often reminds us to not worry about what everyone else is doing and just work on doing the best that we can as individuals.
He will point out that what we think is the best we can do is often not; that we usually have a little more in us, and it is through pushing that tiny bit extra that we will see results. He will help push you to that point, beyond your perceived limits.
3) There are different props used throughout class, including body bars and kettlebells, along with a lot of body weight resistant movements. I’m pretty uncoordinated, so I was pleased to find there are no complicated choreographed moves to follow. In the outdoor class, fun things are added like huge ropes and tires, and we even use the ramp leading down to the Great Lawn. Don’t fear the kettlebells. Vinny will demonstrate the movements and help you if you feel lost.
4) MXT will not allow your body to “adapt” because every class is different. The exercises are never completed in the same order and the activities change class to class. You never know what will be thrown at you next.
On the Great Lawn, stations are set up and you move through them as a small group. This allows you to bond with your groupmates. There is something about mutual suffering that can really create a friendship between people.
However, there is little chit-chat during class. There is just not enough oxygen for it. But there areshared looks of understanding and soft utterings of, “I can’t believe I just did that.”
5) There is something motivating about exercising outdoors. There is plenty of room, allowing for activites that would be impossible indoors, such as sprinting or tire-flipping. On hot days, the club provides towels and water. With the heatwave of two weeks ago, temperatures were brutal, and the club provides huge buckets of ice for chilling our towels in, as well as complimentary sports drinks on ice. There is also a great stereo system that you can hear on all parts of the lawn.
6) You will see results. I am actually starting to see defined abs, something I thought had long vanished following two pregnancies. You will feel stronger, and fitter, and faster. You may find yourself standing in front of the bathroom mirror and flexing or doing a little dance before getting in the shower. Or maybe that’s just me.
7) Vinny reminds us that we are, indeed, strong enough. Before MXT, it had been awhile since I had crossed my own personal red line. I went up to it, brushed against it, and maybe peeked over, but then I backed off.
Now, I sprint over it, and then add a mile more.
Vinny reminds us that in order to achieve real results, we need to stop shying away from lactic acid and burning lungs. Only when we embrace fatigue and get intimate with it can we rise to another level. MXT is definitely about pushing limits, whether those limits are real or imagined. I think that is Vinny’s goal, as he often reminds us of this when we’re at the point of collapse and just want to stop. Here, Vinny tells us, “This is where it counts.”
But for me, the best part about MXT is not the feelings of suffering and resistance as I push it out, but the feeling that soars through me when I realize, “I’ve got this.”
MXT runs on Mondays (outside, weather permitting) from 6:15-7:15pm, 12:15-1:15pm on Wednesdays (Group Ex Studio), and 12:30-1:30pm on Saturdays (Group Ex Studio).
Have you taken MXT on the Great Lawn? What do you think of the class?
