Training Day class offers smarter workout

LOS ANGELES Kendell Hogan, a regional group exercise coordinator at Crunch, says Training Day is a cure to your same old fitness routine.

"This takes some of the benefits of personal training, some of the cool, unique things you'd do in a personal training session, and put it in a group fitness class," Hogan said.

The way the class is structured, students are constantly doing something.

"There's not a lot of time to rest and cheat and do that. It's like you go from one station to the next," Hogan said.

Training Day instructor Mike Donavanik said before the class, there was a lack of a true strength and conditioning class.

"It takes definitely more athletic elements into it ... and also it takes in Tobata training or high-intensity interval training," Donavanik said.

The format of the class can help teach those who regularly do interval training on their own or even boot camp classes to take their workout up a notch.

"It really gets the muscles burning and everything, so that's why I like it. And you get the cardio in at the same time," said student Keziah Okonkwo.

Targeting your core is nothing new there, but what is fresh is how you condition your core. At Training Day, they go well beyond the tried and true.

"It's not just going to be like crunches, sit-ups or hyper extensions," Donavanik said. "It's going to be stuff where you are moving, but you're still utilizing, engaging your core to the fullest extent."

The 45-minute workout uses 45-second hard-core intervals, with 15 seconds of rest - only the rest is something called active rest, where you work at a moderate pace rather than simply sit out to gear up for the next interval.

The stations use compound moves affecting many joints and muscles, which is something trainers try to incorporate in most programs.

"You go hard for a considerable amount of time, then you get some rest, then you go hard, and when I say hard, I mean like all out," Donavanik said.

All out is something most won't do alone. Classes like Training Day help keep you honest.

"We're only halfway through, and I'm thinking, 'I wouldn't mind a little break,'" said student Edward Allen, with a laugh.

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