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I hate to exercise.  I resent the whole time I spend doing it.  I don’t get that endorphin high — I’m convinced it’s a myth.

But I really must exercise.  My back and my feet need a certain amount of core maintenance.  My ego requires me to stay a certain size.  I want to lose at least 15 pounds, since I’ve regained pretty much everything I lost in 2010-2013.  That would put me at 5’8″ and 145 lbs and a comfortable size 6.  More importantly, I’d like to lose inches around the waist, hips, thighs, and calves.  (To confess, I’d like to get to 135 lbs and size 4, but I don’t think that’s realistic.)  So I think I need a combo of fat-burning and toning.  I do NOT want to bulk up.

In a perfect world, I’d want both high intensity interval training (HIIT) and barre classes, 2-3 each per week for a total of 5-6 workouts per week.  Barre plus HIIT seems like a winning combo for my goals.  So I’ll flirt with these four studios (2 barre, 2 HIIT) and see if I like any of them.  I’m personally inclined to stick with a barre program and use DVDs for HIIT exercises, but I need some structure right now to get my arse into gear.

Given my recent job change (which I might blog about later), I find I have a lot of free time during the day right now.  I think I need a kick in the arse to get going, so I started to investigate local exercise options.

1. Classpass.com — this looked interesting.  Theoretically unlimited exercise, although I’d be limited to visiting the same place to 3 times a month.  At $79 (which was the first price that appeared on my phone when I started looking into this), it seemed like a decent deal.  But just last week they raised their price to $119.  For that amount, I’m thinking I should shop around and find one place that I like that has a cheaper monthly cost.
2. Barre classes — there’s two options nearby, The Bar Method and The Barre Code.  Intro prices are similar (unlimited first month for $99), but from there, The Bar Method gets much more expensive.  I’m going to check out both early next year.
3. HIIT options — there’s a couple of studios nearby that offer HIIT classes.  I’ve done HIIT DVDs (P90, S90) before, but never in a class setting.  One studio (Hustle Fitness) just posted a Facebook offer of 3 weeks for $41 — I’m starting that after Thanksgiving as a trial run between Turkey Day and Christmas.  Another has a 2 month/$100 promo that I’m going to try early next year.
4. Yoga options — an alternative to barre classes.  There’s a hot yoga studio nearby that also has an attractive new members offer on Groupon ($55 for six weeks).  But I haven’t done much yoga and I don’t want to look like an idiot.  Still, 105 degrees F has a lot of appeal during a Chicago winter, so I’ll get this a go early next year too.