Increase your body strength with a 'functional workout' program
Have you ever wondered why you can exercise rigorously without fail, only to throw your back out when you pick up your toddler or work in the yard?
Gym rats are seeing the light and gravitating toward "functional workouts" that use all the muscle groups you use in real life, instead of repeatedly working out the same muscles in isolation. That way, you can play with your kids without hurting yourself.
The concept is gaining momentum at gyms and studios across the Treasure Valley. Studio E2 in Eagle is one place to find a "kinetic" workout that studio co-owners Kirsten and Mike Cole say is all about function. The visible pieces of equipment in the small workout studio are flexible cables with handholds. Pulleys and the rest of the guts of the equipment are tastefully hidden behind a wooden wall.
Small groups, no larger than five people, get personal attention from a trainer who helps each strengthen their bodies at their own pace. Prices start at $12 for a 30-minute session in a small group. E2 also offers indoor boot camps and Pilates/Kinesis fusion.
Studio E2 is not the YMCA. It lacks the mixed perfume of chlorine and sweat, the pop tunes on the overhead speakers, the rows of weight-lifting machines, and the treadmills and cardio machines, most with their own small TVs.
The scent of a lit candle fills the air as exercisers walk past a bubbling water fountain. The workouts, individual or in small groups, are at the intersection of Pilates, yoga and weight-lifting.
"It’s definitely more of a boutique experience," Mike Cole said. "We are able to offer it at a reasonable cost, especially one-on-one personal training."
Exercisers pull on cables with handles to work out every part of their bodies.
Lara Bierman, 33, wife and mother of two young girls, can’t say enough good things about Studio E2. In the weeks since she’s been attending classes, she feels and sees the
difference.
"I’ve lost inches everywhere," she said. She dropped a clothing size, from 10 to 8.
"There’s no exercise like it," she said. "This really helps me with my flexibility."
