Resting Is The Hot New Gym Class
Resting isn’t something that you associate with the gym unless you’re talking about the thirty-second intervals between sets. But what if after a workout you felt well-rested instead of leaving feeling exhausted?
According to a report in the “Wall Street Journal,” more and more gyms are embracing gentler classes, like yoga and meditation, as Americans focus more on improving how they feel rather than how they look. More and more gyms across the country are expanding their offerings of “recovery” type classes, with some even adding rooms with massage lounge chairs and self-massage offerings.
For example, Life Time gyms offer a class called “Surrender,” an hour-long restorative yoga class. It’s so popular they’ve increased the number of these classes by 50% since 2019. And in May, Crunch fitness is bringing back their “rainbow” meditation classes, focused on “chakras” and energies that come with different colors, plus they are adding classes on breathwork and stretching. They are also adding “rest and recover” areas to more of their facilities. 24-Hour Fitness says they too have increased recovery classes 33% since last summer.
The move just makes sense considering Pilates and slow-paced yoga classes have become just as, if not more popular, than high-intensity workouts. Tom Manella, vice president of personal training at Life Time, notes, “We’re seeing the same customer return, but they’ve come out of the pandemic less focused on looking good at the pool and losing weight.”
This article comes at a really ironic time for me because just yesterday when I was scrolling on Instagram I saw this post that really resonated with me. It was a quote that said, “if you don’t pick a day to relax, your body will pick it for you.”
This brings me to the caption of that post that I think would be really good to leave this one.
“I have the ability to make progress, with ease, today. I have plenty of time when I decide to tackle things one thing at a time. I release all negative attachments, thoughts, and feelings that are blocking me from receiving and blocking my path. I move forward with confidence and no longer press rewind.”
Happy Monday, y’all!
