Wild sweat session

INTERVAL TRAINING: BURN 1 000 CALORIES IN AN HOUR

Alternate between floor exercises and running on a treadmill and keep moving.

The puddles of sweat almost reminded me of a post-modern art canvas. The streaks are irregular but seem to follow a pattern. There’s an art to it.

Sweat 1 000 is where fitness merges with the art of burning calories effectively. In a 60-minute class you can burn up to 1 000 calories (that’s a whole amagwinya and polony with mounds of cheese), making these classes popular among people with limited time.

But relative fitness aside, at one of these classes the most essential asset is hearing and a towel. Ahead of Fibo Global Fitness Africa at the Ticketpro Dome next weekend, I joined one of Mika Stefano’s Sweat 1 000 classes at the Illovo studio in Joburg and learnt one valuable lesson – you can surprise yourself.

I consider myself relatively fit so the idea of a class combining cardio and strength training didn’t scare me, but I’m fully aware that when it comes to stamina I’m a sub-seven at best.

That’s the twist to Sweat 1 000 – if you are relatively active you should be able to keep up – even if every muscle in your body screams for days after the class.

The 5.15pm class last week was split in half so when half of the class is on the floor, the other half is on the treadmills.

One of the first things we did on the floor was a set of the dreaded burpees. Stefano motivates from all over the room and you have to keep up as he gives instructions for both groups. Floor exercises included push-ups, lunges and jumping jacks. There are weights to further challenge participants.

The treadmill is where Sweat 1 000 gets interesting.

There are three speeds: for walkers, joggers or runners. I often switched to walking speed as there is no break so you get winded quickly.