By Cornelius Frolik
Dayton Daily News, Ohio
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Class participants (or drummers) get a full-body workout as they jam out, but everyone can go at their own pace and intensity.
Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Drumming isn’t just for rock concerts anymore. It’s also a great way to lose weight and stay fit.
Pound classes, which officially started this month at the Greater Dayton Recreation Center, help people get or stay in shape by exercising with what look like drum sticks and “releasing their inner rockstars.”
Participants in the 45-minute classes can expect to burn hundreds of calories as they bang the weighted sticks around during intense cardio routines, said Brandi Collins, a “Pound pro” and instructor of the new class at the rec center.
The best way for people to get fit is to find exercises and routines they enjoy enough to stick with, and Pound offers a fresh and entertaining workout unlike anything else out there, Collins said.
“People get so lost in the music they don’t pay attention to how many reps they’ve done and they’re not watching the clock,” Collins said.
Collins has taught Pound classes at the Xenia YMCA on Church Street since January.
She said her “gym family” in Xenia secretly collected donations to send her to Pound training. She said she’s one of only small number of Pound-certified instructors in the Dayton area.
Collins earlier this month started leading Saturday classes at the Greater Dayton Recreation Center, located at 2021 W. Third St. The classes are at 9 a.m. Free demo classes began in late October
Pound says it infuses pilates with drumming. Participants get a full-body workout as they jam out, but everyone can go at their own pace and intensity.
Collins said people don’t need rhythm or musical skills to get a good work out in.
She said participants pick it up pretty quickly. It’s way easier than learning the drums.
Classes are dominated by rock music, but Collins mixes in a healthy dose of remixed hip-hop and pop songs. She said Pound is a great stress reliever that is most popular among women.
“I have people who every week say, ‘This is my favorite class,'” she said. “People try it and they fall in love.”
Dayton’s recreation centers want to keep up with the “new crazes in the fitness world,” and Pound has been a big hit at other fitness facilities, said Lisa Barhorst, Dayton’s recreation program coordinator.
Pound is fun and fast-paced and movements can be modified for different skill levels and abilities, she said.
The city’s rec centers have had some of the same classes for years, so it’s the right time to make some additions, Barhorst said.
TRX suspension training classes have been added at the Northwest Recreation Center. The Lohrey Recreation Center has popular Zumba, yoga and chair yoga classes.
In 2019, the Northwest Recreation Center is expected to start offering Swerk classes, which are a hip-hop dance fitness class. The name Swerk is a play on sweat, work and twerk (twerk is a kind of booty-shaking dance).
“We want to start some new classes to attract some new patrons and keep the patrons we have and give them something new and different to try,” Barhorst said.
Fitness classes make it easier to stay motivated to work out and push yourself, she said.
The public can buy monthly or yearly passes to the city’s recreation centers. People also can pay drop in fees of $3 ($2 for seniors).
