Many women would rather spend a free hour in their dentist's chair than on a treadmill, which is why Crunch has always been right on target with their alternative fitness. Strip Bar and Pole Dancing are meant to release the vixen within, while Masala Bhangra accesses Bollywood fantasies. Now there's BOING with Kangoo, which taps into one's inner eight-year-old.
In this 60-minute cardio workout the first thing you'll do is hop into a pair of Kangoo Jump shoes, kooky rebounding footwear that looks like rollerblades from the Jetson's era. From there, you pretty much don't have a choice but to bounce, bounce, bounce. "Everyone in my class has a perma-grin on their face from start to finish," says fitness expert Mario Green, who's known as "the Kangoo guy" around the Crunch Gyms. The class combines cardio, strength training and dance elements that constantly engage your core, toning the entire lower body with each hop, skip and jump. The shoes absorb 80% of the shock, making this an ideal workout to protect knees and joints.
While Kangoo Jump shoes have been around since the eighties for rehabilitation purposes, the group fitness aspect got started a decade later in Europe. Green brought the BOING class to New York in January and added the dance factor --- in each class you'll do the Macarena, the Hand Jive and even the Thriller bit from Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.
I'm always up for fitness with a fun spin, and BOING fits the bill to a T. It took a few minutes to find my sea legs, but once I did, I felt my heart rate quicken and was happily bouncing along to the music for the entire hour. Plus I'm happy to report that the BOING hangover wasn't too severe and I was able to get through the next day with minimal soreness.
Crunch offers BOING at their West 38th Street and Union Square locations. See kangoojumps.com for additional information.
— Mussarat Bata
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