Gym: Core Fitness Chicago, 1030 W. North Ave.

Class Focus: Train Like Jane is a primal cave-woman inspired class that pushes women of all shapes and fitness levels to their limits. You’ll push sleds, flip tires, lifts weights, squat and lunge your way to fitness.

Cost per workout: $20

Money saving offers:

• $99 for  10-class pack

The Fab Fit take:

I’ve wanted to try a “caveman” style workout for a while. When I saw that Core Fitness Chicago had a female-focused “primal” class (don’t worry, gents, there are also male-focused classes), I had to give it a try. What is primal fitness? It’s exercise based on the movements that our caveman/cavewoman ancestors needed to hunt gather, outrun hungry animals, etc. Don’t get it? Watch The Croods and it will all make sense. There are different levels of primal “extreme” – some groups actually use boulders and logs as weights and do everything barefoot.

I, for one, am happy to embrace the invention of the shoe and so is Core Fitness Chicago. Our workout took place in a weight-room that will inspire you to feel tough. We did a circuit of 10 exercises three times with sprints up and down the stairs in between. We did everything cool that you see in combine style workouts. Am I the only one who is jealous of those? We pushed and pulled sleds, did pull-ups and squatted and lunged our way to total exhaustion.

(Image courtesy of Core Fitness Chicago)

This class was comfortably full, so we were partnered up with someone who worked out with us from station to station, which is a great way to make fitness friends. I’m a sucker for a good gym-class bonding session. Somewhere between the dead-lifts and the triceps pull-downs, my partner told me that she had just started taking the class with a Groupon – the gym offered 10 classes for $49, AKA obscenely cheap.  That deal is now closed, but keep your eyes peeled for another offer of a similar caliber.

If you need someone to push you to your limit when you’re weight training (ladies, I am looking at you), Train Like Jane is a must-do.