We all grew up wanting to be ballerinas and astronauts and we all at some point in time dreamt of being a rockstar. Along with the rocking out experience, we all want that rockstar body especially for that upcoming swimsuit season. There’s a new way to achieve both. POUND is a new 45 minute group fitness class that goes to the beat of the music using drumsticks. It is a mixture between pilates and drumming, an addictive rhythm-heavy workout that combines cardio and strength training.
POUND was created by two recreational drummers, Cristina Peerenboom and Kirsten Potenza, who wanted to find an innovative way to combine working out and rocking out. “We wanted to create a jam sesh of a workout,” Potenza explains. They first came up with the concept when they were drumming without a stool and realized that holding that position while drumming to a beat is similar to a workout. Along with their unconventional workout, Peerenboom and Potenza created Ripstix. Ripstix are green drumsticks that weigh a quarter of a pound, double the weight of a normal drumstick. “Your body has to absorb all of the shock when using the Ripstix, which causes your core and your lower back
to constantly contract, so you are getting worked three dimensionally and the result is a really lean, strong body,” Peerenboom explains. Each class gives you an entire body workout with energetic instructors and music that ranges from Rihanna and Macklemore to Rage Against the Machine. You are burning 800 calories per class without even realizing it. Many workouts are set to music but POUND is the first workout that allows you to become a part of it, and make your own beat. With your concentration fully on making music, you don’t even realize how hard you are working out. “It’s like nothing I have ever experienced before,” POUND instructor and participant, Amber Bruehl explains.
POUND has spread across the United States and internationally in Crunch gyms and it has also been in the talk show circuit, on shows such as The View, Access Hollywood, Extra and The Doctors. It has also been published in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Self Magazine and many more. POUND is not only in Crunch gyms.Founders Peerenboom and Potenza offer online classes as well as opportunities to become a POUND Pro instructor and have POUND be taught at your local gym, simply by paying a small venue licensing fee that lasts a lifetime. For more information or to sign up for online classes visit Poundfit.com, or head to your local Crunch gym and try a class that takes you away from reality, with the promise that no matter what level of ability you are at, you will feel like a rockstar.
