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I’ve been hearing whisperings about Sweat1000 and how unbelievably amazing it is for a while now. The ladies I play netball with were always raving about their bi-monthly ‘Sweat’ fix and so after months of being the only one who hadn’t tried the blasted class I decided to give it a go. It was only once I’d told them that I’d made a booking that the stories started to come out – “I couldn’t walk for a week after my first class,” warned one friend; “ I fell off the treadmill, twice, my first time!” chimed another. I felt betrayed, and started to think it might be some kind of cult where you’re only allowed to talk about how horrible it is to people who are also in the cult.
I’m a sucker for punishment so despite the crazy stories I dragged myself to a class. And, unlike my so-called friends I’m going to skip the bulls**t and tell you the cold hard truth about how I almost died at Sweat1000. Ok, it wasn’t exactly a near death experience but it sure as heck felt like it. I’ll admit I went in a little cocky thinking “Psssh, I play 3 netball games a week I can handle this” but boy did the class whip my ass. About 30 minutes into the session I felt like I was going to pass out and my muscles were screaming at me to “please, please make it stop!” Sweat1000 is not for the faint hearted.
The 60 minute high intensity class helps your body burn a massive 1000 calories in each session. Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that in order to burn that many calories in one session you’re going to have to work – hard. The great thing about Sweat1000 is that the classes are never the same and you alternate between the treadmill and floor work. In a nutshell, it’s a workout using the treadmill, step, weights and floor-work – all rolled into one.
The treadmill workouts ranged from walking up a steep gradient to sprinting up to a speed of 20. And everything in-between. But these are no ordinary treadmills! While treadmills in the gym only go up to a 15% gradient, these go up to 30%! The class is non-stop and there’s none of this flailing about between sets – at Sweat1000 it’s Go! Go! Go! for the full 60 minutes.
So what’s my verdict? I can’t lie, as much as I ‘hated’ the class I felt fantastic 20 minutes later when my muscles regained feeling. The only advice I can really give to newbies is: don’t try to be a hero. Pace yourself in your first class and don’t compare yourself to anyone else, or you’ll be completely de-motivated and will never go again.
At R180 a class it’s by no means cheap, but most people who attend the classes told me they buy the 10 class package at R1650 and go twice a month as a way to give their boring gym routine a bit of a boost.
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