Fitness Review Series: Getting De La Fit

I don’t fancy myself a workout-aholic, but I do try my best to fit in a few workouts a week. Usually these consist of a long dog walk or tossing P90x into my DVD player; however, every once in awhile I like to spice things up with a workout at a local fitness boutique. One of my latest workouts was at Scottsdale boutique, De La Fit.

News about this gym had been filling up my social media feed for a few months, so I figured it would be time to go. My good friend and fellow workout guniea pig, Bobbi, joined me for one of their “Holiday Burn Classes.”

When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by the owners, DeeDee De La Mora and Stephanie De La Mora, a mother and daughter-in-law team, who opened the club in 2011, as well as another trainer Donna Torres. After the last people had arrived, we were split into three groups to do a type of extreme circuit training.

We were in group one, which started outside with Deedee. (Let me just say that I am beyond excited I didn’t have to do Deedee’s circuit last because I probably would still be laying passed out next to the building.) Her circuit was a high-impact workout of “mini circuits.” From throwing a 10-pound medicine ball in various directions against a wall to jumping rope to sprints, this workout was tough from minute one. If I ever thought that throwing a 10-pound ball around would be easy, I was wrong. We continued at station one for about 20 minutes until finally the whistle blew, and I could stagger to station two inside.

Once inside, the always-smiling Stephanie, who would be leading us through a shortened Gravity Strength Class, greeted us. Gravity Strength Class focuses on the full body using continuous, functional movements. The Gravity GTS System is an incline-plane resistance machine, meaning the higher the incline the more body weight you are moving.

I love this machine for three reasons:

1. It is a GREAT workout,
2. It can be a used for strength training and Pilates, and
3. It’s indorsed by Chuck Norris … CHUCK NORRIS! Who doesn’t love Chuck Norris?

We performed 20 minutes worth of movements on this machine, and it was great. The slower, defined movements really make you feel every muscle you’re working.

Our next stop of the class was 20 minutes with Donna Torres on what assumed to be some kind of assembly of torture straps. These straps hanging from the machine are known as TRX suspension training. TRX suspension training is a leverage bodyweight exercise program. Using just your body weight, you can perform hundreds of exercises that build power, strength, flexibility, balance and mobility, as well as aid in injury prevention.

By this point, I was pretty tired, but I loved the suspension training because it really makes you focus on your form more than any other fitness class I have taken. Being the injury prone person that I am, this is great because you are getting an intense workout while minimizing the probability of injury.

After all three 20-minute circuits were completed, the entire group was brought together for 20 minutes of yoga. I’m not gonna lie, at this point I was tried and wanted to just lay on the ground with a glass of wine. Yes, I understand wine is the worst possible thing to drink during or after a workout, but it sounded so good at the time!

I’m a competitive person, so I wasn’t about to be the quitter of the group. The yoga class was actually nice because it was low intensity and gave me a chance to cool down gradually instead of take a sudden stop. Plus it was fun to have the entire group in one room cracking jokes and getting to know each other.

Over the next few days, pretty much every muscle in my body hurt, so I was glad I didn’t have to work for a few days because I am sure no one in the office wanted to see me waddling down the hallway. I personally enjoy being sore like that the next day, it makes me feel like I really got a solid workout. Overall, I loved the people and the classes at De La Fit and can’t wait to go back for more, especially for those gravity strength classes!

Check back next week for the next review in this fitness series.