I believe that your commitment to being fit and healthy should be year-round. However, I won’t lie: I do slightly care about looking (and feeling) my best for summer. Since I practice moderation and exercise on a regular basis, I never have to do anything drastic to achieve this (and you shouldn’t either). But workout boredom and plateaus do set in, and I often find myself in need of a revamped fitness regimen around this time of the year.
Enter RGYM, a circuit training and martial arts gym that reopened its doors a few months ago. I was introduced to it by Lolitta, who is a big fan of the fitness studio and its amazing owner Rocky.
R Gym is a great spot to get your butt whipped into shape and help you bust through workout plateaus: the workout classes are designed to constantly keep your body guessing and improve different areas of fitness – strength, endurance, power, speed and agility.
I took a circuit-training class with Rocky and lived to tell the tale. We were about 10-15 participants and Rocky set up the equivalent amount of exercise stations. After an extensive warm-up that included muscle activation drills and agility moves (crawling like an animal is so awkward/fun/challenging at the same time), we completed each exercise for a set amount of time before moving to the next station — without any rest in between the exercises. We repeated the circuit twice (and I was a sweaty mess by the end of it). 
Rocky is no stranger to training professional athletes and it shows in his training approach and the way he designed his gym. There is a boxing ring in the back and a huge artificial grass field that dominates most of the space. The grass is surrounded by pieces of equipment ranging from cable machines and squat racks to kettlebells, medicine balls and TRXs. It’s a space designed for physical conditioning – and I loved that it wasn’t trying too hard to be fancy. It’s a real gym to do real work.
I also liked the fact that we didn’t only focus on bodyweight training (which is so popular these days) and that we used a variety of equipment. I even used an elliptical machine like I never did before (and I’ve tried tons of workout moves in my life): In a plank position on the ground, I had my hands on the foot portion of the machine. I then had to move the machine with my hands – which was a killer, killer move for my core.
The exercising stations concept made the workout feel complete and fly by. Personal training is also available if you need that extra push, but I will be back at RGYM for a class because I loved the non-judgemental atmosphere of the group (there were people of all ages, genders, backgrounds and fitness levels).
Anouare xxx
R Gym, 279 Sherbrooke St. W., Suite 319, 514-690-3939, rgym.ca
