Turbo Jam exercise classes are now being offered for the first time in Springfield, Illinois on the YMCA’s Fall 2008 fitness schedule. I’ve become addicted to Turbo Jam in the last year and absolutely love this workout, so I wanted to check out the classes offered by the YMCA to see how they compared to the Turbo Jam DVDs I’ve come to know and love. I took advantage of a membership promotion the YMCA is currently running that offers 10 free visits to try out their facility and classes.
Wondering “What the heck is Turbo Jam”? Turbo Jam is an intense high-energy, calorie-burning aerobic workout combining kickboxing, dance and martial arts, created and instructed by Chalene Johnson. I have quite a few Turbo Jam DVDs in my home exercise library, of which my favorites are Cardio Party Mix 1, Cardio Party Mix 2, Cardio Party Mix 3 and Fat Blaster. Here is a good example of what the workout is like:
I attended the Springfield YMCA Turbo Jam class on Monday, September 29, 2008 from 7:15 to 8 pm. Unfortunately I have to report that I was disappointed overall with the class, but only because I am very familiar with Turbo Jam. The instructor kept the moves extremely basic and continued with each move for an extended period of time, probably so that all the participants in the class could easily master the moves. There was no fun dancing or kicks involved, and for me the class dragged on and on. Repeatedly looking at the clock and willing it to move faster is not a good thing, and I found myself doing just that often. I will say that my heartrate remained extremely high for almost the entire class, so it was a great cardiovascular workout with a big calorie burn. In 45 minutes I burned approximately 600 calories. But overall the class left me wanting to return to my Turbo Jam DVDs once again. Maybe as this new class progresses and people get used to it, it will get better.
I’d recommend this Turbo Jam class at the YMCA in Springfield, Illinois for those interested in learning basic Turbo Jam moves who haven’t had any previous experience with this type of exercise. I’d also recommend those who try it be in pretty good cardiovascular shape to begin with, because it is a hard workout. You should only try this workout if you like (or at least can tolerate) urban dance and hip hop type music. Once you master the class at the YMCA, check out the Turbo Jam DVDs with Chalene Johnson, because they are a lot of fun and they kick butt! But only if you like to dance and shake your booty. You have to take some time to learn the moves, it doesn’t come right away and for a while you feel like a fool, but once you master Turbo Jam the time just flies by and then you can get your groove on, listen to some fun music, and get a great workout all in one. There is no strength training included with the Turbo Jam Cardio DVDs though (there are some other TJ DVDs with sculpting and weights, but I don’t find them very effective or like them as well), so I alternate Turbo Jam cardio DVDs with other workouts that incorporate strength training and weights.
