From left, Rumble’s boxing classes add variety to workouts, Club Pilates should buff up its trial class and Basecamp burns high calories in a chaotic class environment.
“Jab, cross, left hook, upper cut, duck!” shouts the instructor as the sound of punches hitting boxing bags mixes with blaring hip-hop and house music. It’s group fitness with a nightclub bent at Rumble, a boxing concept under Xponential Fitness that made this participant feel ready to jump in the ring. Outfitted with hand wraps and boxing gloves (available to rent or purchase in the retail shop), I was ready to unleash some tension during a full-body workout, with 10 rounds of exercises split between bag work and strength and conditioning training with dumbbells and bodyweight moves. The fast-paced workout felt chaotic at times, as the instructor called out various moves to different sides of the room, but digital projections on the wall offered cues to keep up with the combos. Anyone inexperienced with boxing (ahem, me) should take care to keep proper form or risk injury, and to Rumble’s credit, it did emphasize showing up early for a pre-class breakdown of punches. Regulars, meanwhile, moved through the various series with ease at this Minneapolis location, one of about 60 in the system.
The upshot: At $25 for a drop-in class (memberships range from $89-$179/month), Rumble is an appealing option to mix up the workout routine. —L.M.
Laziness usually wins, but wanting to finally give pilates a try, a visit to a Club Pilates location in Minneapolis for a trial class provided a good glimpse at the workout. Dressed in my gym best for the free 30-minute session, I arrived at the newer neighborhood location to find a clean studio that thankfully didn’t have the stale sweat stench of many gyms. The equipment likewise was in solid shape and didn’t appear overused. After snagging some $18 gripping socks—it was either that or go barefoot, I was told, and no one wants to see or smell someone else’s feet—it was time to go to work. The session was adjusted to suit me, though a half hour isn’t really long enough to get a good impression of just how hard the workouts can get. Once done on the full-body Reformer, it was time for the sales pitch. For that day only, the $99 membership enrollment fee would be cut in half, but I didn’t bite. Like a lot of gyms and fitness studios, Club Pilates followed up with several pestering messages, which is a bit of a turn off.
The upshot: As trial classes go, this one was OK but barely scratched the surface of a typical 50-minute session. Some more shopping around is in order before committing to a membership. —M.G.
Prepared for the worst, I walked into a Basecamp Fitness studio after work. I hate doing cardio and, while I enjoy strength training, I’m on the weaker side. (I was the only person using a 20-pound barbell.) The staff at this Minneapolis location were friendly, which eased the intimidation factor, and there was even a “Welcome, Emilee!” sign on my bike. Basecamp’s high-intensity workouts feature 60-second intervals of cycling and strength. Every minute, you switch to a new station to perform a different strength exercise (each day has a designated focus), alternating between the bikes and weights. I was huffing and puffing, but my watch told me the 35-minute workout burned about 400 calories. Impressive. The small size of the studio meant disorder between intervals, but the experienced members didn’t flinch. Membership prices vary by studio, but web sources report the unlimited plan is around $170 a month. Any gym franchise with a recurring membership model, i.e. most of them, would be attractive from a franchisee perspective—especially because they’re known to be so hard to cancel.
The upshot: I’d drop in for more classes, but the unlimited membership is out of my price range. The cost is well worth it if you’re going four or five days a week, though.—E.W.