He Sweats: It’s always such a pleasure when a fitness instructor or studio reaches out to HE SWEATS SHE SWEATS to take a class that we would not normally take. HE is not a member of Equinox so honestly Lorna’s KettleX class is something that normally would not cross my radar. And to be candid, this is perhaps one of the first classes I have taken at Equinox that made me think about re-joining. I’m not an expert in kettlebell yet but have been putting my fair share of time in at The Fhitting Room. I convinced that instructor detail to form is as important as anything when it comes to kettlebell with the back so involved. So I made sure to set up right behind Lorna. SHE was to my direct left of course. Now let’s circle back in history for a moment. A couple months back HE and SHE took Pon De Flo (http://www.hesweatsshesweats.com/he-she-sweat-at-pon-de-flo-a-caribbean-reggae-dance-based-fitness-class/) and as fantastic an instructor as Heather was, it just wasn’t for me. But if I was holding kettlebells while moving around the floor like a graceful ballerina, I probably would have become a dancer a long time ago. There was something calming to getting my ass kicked in this class. And what made this class even better was the lack of verbal instructions. You just had to basically follow along as Lorna changed things up. Once in a while this happens in some of my indoor cycling classes and it’s actually one of my favorite things. You have to completely focus on the instructor while there’s no talking. Only music so it’s almost meditational in a sense as your mind doesn’t wander. It can’t really when you think about it. Not when you are holding 15lb kettlebells. Whether we were squatting, moving to our left and right like a speed skater on ice, hopping up on a bench lifting the ketttlebell in the air, the class had such a fluid motion to it that it just seemed like one exercise that lasted 45 minutes. Not to mention she played some of the best music I have heard yet. I almost felt like I was working out in some underground club in Spain. It would have been nice if SHE filled my water bottle with sangria. At one point I cracked a smile because The whole Pon De Flo comparison hit my noggin. Lorna was fantastic staying on me with regards to form specifically when it came to holding the kettlebell for lifts and figure 8s. Lorna is in sick shape too and smiled throughout the whole class. Bottom line is I loved Lorna. I loved KettleX. I almost wish she taught this class in her own studio as I guarantee it would be the next hot thing to partake in. I will most certainly be back when SHE decides to share some of her guest passes with me. Hoarder  

She Sweats:  Sometimes Kettlebells scare me a little. They’re heavy. They’re easy to drop when you’re swinging them around. I bruise really easily and often have bruises on my wrists after I take a class. Lorna definitely helped ease my fears a little because she brought wrist bands for everyone! I felt more comfortable and ready to attack the Kettlebells the second I put them on. I’ve taken Kettlebell classes at Equinox before and I’ve used Kettlebells at the Fhitting Room and Exceed, but there was something completely different about Lorna’s class. We were told to grab very light Kettlebells and that we would be doing lots of very fast repetitions. When I grabbed the lightest ones I kind of thought, “I wonder if this isn’t going to be too hard?” but a few minutes into the class I started wishing there were even lighter ones! Lorna’s first instruction was to just follow along to the beat of the music. It was great because she didn’t give too much other direction, we just watched and followed along with everything she did and it was all timed perfectly to the beat of the music. The class was very fast paced and a lot more cardio based than other Kettlebell classes I’ve taken. You feel like the class was choreographed to the music and I loved it because I was definitely sweating more in this class than I have in other Kettlebell classes at Equinox when you’re not moving around as much. Lorna had a great energy about her. Even though she doesn’t talk that much throughout the class she was very upbeat and enthusiastic. It was just fun to follow along and try to keep up! We did most of the typical Kettlebell moves that I’ve done before but it was all just a lot faster paced because the weight was lighter than you’re typically used to. Which, again, I thought was great because you sweat a lot more and the class really flew by! The hardest exercise, I thought, was when we had to lift the Kettlebells up in the air and had to alternate each arm doing a shoulder press. Even with the lightest of the light Kettlebells, I almost thought it was impossible and then I looked over at HE and caught him laughing to himself while watching me. I’ll need to work on that one. Lorna teaches group fitness classes at Equinox and at a private studio called The Fitness Cell Collective. We will be attending a class there sometime in the near future so in the meantime, I’ll be practicing my shoulder pressing skills so I can out-perform HE at our next class.

http://www.lornafit.com/home.php