I’m not a negative person, but I’ve reserved a special place in hell for the person who decided to name this class ‘The Games’. When I arrived at KXU in London’s swanky SW3
I was thinking throwing and catching, colourful dumbbells, yummy mummies and a bit of fun, right? Wrong. There’s nothing playful about these games. Ignoring the fact that everyone around me is stripping off and absolutely ripped, I throw myself into the warm-up – slow bear crawls, squat jumps and lateral lunges – so far, so simple. Then we’re introduced to the circuits: three 45-second sets of eight different exercises, with a 15-second rest between them. Instructor Will demonstrates each with a dumbbell the size of a small dolphin dangling effortlessly from his hand, and urges us to use the highest weight we can manage throughout.
I start off with dumbbell lunges, and I’m not ashamed to say that barely 20 seconds in, I switch my 10kg for eights. Next up is TRX rows, something I’m quite sure I’ve seen used in torture chambers, but apparently perfectly legal here. With heels on the floor and a TRX strap in each hand, you hinge backwards, keeping your body straight, then pull yourself up, elbows tight to your body. The lower you go, the harder it is – so needless to say, by the last set I’m essentially upright.