(Image courtesy of TruHarmony Yoga)

Class: Yoga Sculpt/Bootcamp

Studio: TruHarmony Yoga, 900 North Franklin St. Suite #508, Chicago, IL 60610 (Note: this location has since closed)

Class Focus: This basis of this class is vanyasa flow yoga with light weights for sculpting. Layer on the heat of the ~90 degree room and you’ll find yourself breaking a little bit of a sweat.

Cost per class: $18, which is well-priced for a hot yoga class in this neighborhood!

Money saving offers:

• First week is free, I believe you just drop in to claim your free week.
• $85: 5 Yoga Class Package
• $160: 10 Yoga Class Package
• $300 / $250: 20 Yoga Class Package (the lower price represents the auto-renewal price)
• $175 / $150: 1 Month Unlimited Yoga (the lower price represents the auto-renewal price)
• $425 / $375: 3 Month Unlimited Yoga (the lower price represents the auto-renewal price)
• $1400: 1 Year Unlimited Yoga

Who should take the class:

• Any yogi looking for a new challenge
  
• Anyone looking for longer, leaner muscles

The Fab Fit take:

This studio was my first introduction to hot yoga and yoga sculpt about a year and a half ago. The energy there is great! This is a studio where people know each other, which is a nice change from some studios where everyone is looking to get a workout and GTFO.

Yoga Sculpt/Bootcamp is a nice mix of lengthening and strengthening moves. The flow of the class follows a vinyasa flow class which usually has two flows or (Sun Salutation A & B) with a few variations. The addition of weights, a body bar and strengthening moves makes this class a bit more challenging.The strength moves are tough and will help to tone or to strengthen any yoga practice, but there are ways to take each move up or down a notch.

The class flowed through theses poses for most of class: forward fold, halfway lift, plank, chaturanga, upward facing dog, downward facing dog, low lunge, warrior two with an intermittent chair pose here and there. With that as the base for class, we added strength poses throughout. While in low lunge, we pulsed the back knee down and worked our arms with curls. While working the other leg, we did hammer curls instead.

During the class, the instructor never missed a chance to work multiple muscle groups at once. While pulsing and holding in chair pose, he kept our arms extended with our heavier weights in hand. a killer for both balance and strength was low lunge with airplane arms and tricep kick-backs. For good measure, we also did some squats using the body bar for support.

Poses that stretched and lengthened muscles were interspersed through class, which was a welcome break between sets. The class also ended in a traditional Shavasana, which I never fully appreciated when I was doing yoga every day, but that was a welcome mini-snooze.

The verdict: I love incorporating lower impact strengthening into my week. This is a great class to get yoga-strong and lean.

Date/time taken: 11/3/12 at 9:15 am

Disclosure: TruHarmony Yoga allowed me to take this class free of charge, but did not compensate me to post about the class. I will always only post about classes that I like.