Fitness for slobs: Poundfit

If you have been following the Fitness for slobs series, you would have noticed that I am not an active person. I do not like to exercise or indulge any physical activity for that matter.

Previously, I attempted two quirky exercise classes, Bounce Fit and SURFSET Fitness. For the final edition of Fitness for slobs, I put on my workout clothes for a Poundfit class at Kulture Studios.

Originating from the US, Poundfit is a 45-minute full body cardio workout class that helps you burn calories while toning your muscles with a lightweight drumstick, letting you work out vigorously like a rockstar on the drums while you sweat up a storm.

Each class can accommodate up to 20 participants, which is not that deafening as you will be pounding your drumsticks on the exercise mats.

The best part? You don’t need to bring your own exercise mat nor purchase a set of Poundfit drumsticks, better known as Ripstix, as the studio will provide them for you.

I was excited to get my hands on those bright green drumsticks after seeing a couple of Poundfit videos online.

At first, I was afraid of accidentally flinging the lightweight drumsticks across the room, smacking an unsuspecting participant. Thank goodness the plastic-like material had enough grip for me throughout the entire rigorous workout.

We started the workout class with basic warm-ups and stretching, which incorporated the drumsticks.

Naturally, I started hitting the air carelessly, as if there were imaginary drums all around me. However, the instructor quickly pointed out that we needed to keep our wrists firm, so that we can engage our biceps and triceps without straining our wrists.

Well, it is a workout class after all!

The exercise sets are designed in sync with the fast-paced beats and rhythms of high beats per minute (BPM) songs, which are mainly rock and EDM remixes. In each exercise set, ranging from three to five minutes each, we had to move continuously from side to side, while pounding the floor in sync to the music with our drum sticks.

Sounds intense, doesn’t it?

At the end of the class, we managed to complete a range of leg, core, and cardio workouts such as squats, lunges, crunches and the superman pose.

The only problem I had wasn’t the exercise. I just couldn’t pound the air in sync with the beats of the song. My hand-eye coordination is basically zero, which made it hard for me to execute the different exercises while listening to the song.

Thankfully, all hope is not lost, because once the instructor sees a handful of participants struggling to keep up with the rhythms, they will shout: “Modify!”

Modify is a magical command given by the instructor to turn down the intensity of the exercises by a notch. For example, instead of doing a full squat, we can do a half squat instead!

Overall, Poundfit is definitely the most intense workout I have experiences, as opposed to the previous quirky workout classes I attended. It is also the one I struggled the most with.

But, it was also the most exciting class for me, as it amplified my energy from the start to the finish, thanks to the on point playlist of songs. I almost forgot about my aching limbs when I drummed to one of my favourite songs, ‘Victorious’ by Panic! at the Disco.

Also, our instructor, Farah, was extremely precise when she demonstrated the different workouts and moves with us. She also paid extra attention to our forms and our ability to cope.

Poundfit is a workout most youths would probably enjoy as it is the perfect mix of jamming to your favourite tunes while breaking into a sweat!

It is definitely more of an advanced class if you’re a fitness noob. But if you love drumming to good music and have an average hand-eye coordination, Poundfit is 100 per cent noob approved!