Warrior Sculpt: Yoga, But Not As You Know It!

When it comes to yoga I would have to say that I’m a traditional kind of girl, I love the gentleness and focus on the breath that I get from Hatha Yoga and the precision and attention to alignment that I get from Iyengar Yoga, but even though I like these particular styles of yoga I’m not adverse to trying other types of yoga because it’s only when you try various styles that you find your best fit.

What I’m not so good at though is trying styles of fusion yoga. I mean let’s face it over the last few years there have been some crazy ones! There’s been Beer Yoga, yoga while downing a pint; Harry Potter Yoga, yoga while casting a ‘spell’; Naked Yoga, self explanatory I’d say, Doga, yoga with your dog of course and my personal favourite NamasDrake, yoga with a bit of hotline bling to name but a few!

Having said that, it could be that the activity the yoga was being ‘fused’ with didn’t appeal to me and that’s why I’ve never been tempted, until now that is … So, what’s tempted me down the fusion path you ask? The answer is Warrior Sculpt.

Warrior Sculpt is an energetic flow yoga that uses weights to intensify the stretch and tone and sculpt the body, well that’s what it says on the tin as they say but it’s not entirely what you might expect it to be. When you walk into the studio the mats are all laid out for you like a normal class except at the front of each mat you’ll find a couple of dumbbells or as was the case this week a basket of brightly coloured resistance bands. The lights are down low like any other yoga class but you can already sense that this isn’t going to be your average yoga class and the silence you’re hearing is just the calm before the storm …

The music begins, soft and slow and we’re straight into the asanas we all know and love, the beautiful extended child pose, cat/cow and of course downward facing dog. So far so good, then the beat of music begins to pick up speed and we all know that can only mean one thing, we’re about to take it up a notch, but let’s make that three notches!. We move into Plank and hold, but from here on in we move into a whole new world, Utkatasana (Chair Pose) on your tip toes with pulses, airplane arms, squats and low lunge circuits with the teacher shouting out ‘How low can you go?’ and ‘Are you feeling this?’ … Err yes would be the answer to that one.

Then just as you get used to the pace in come the weights. We do combinations of squats, press ups and elbow kisses with 2kg weights before moving into Warrior and Reverse Warrior. The sequence of movements is very similar to what you’d do in a Vinyasa class but with the addition of the weights. I actually found that having weights in my hands made certain poses like downward facing dog and Plank a lot easier as it eased the pressure on my wrists so I could stay in the pose for longer and my movements were more “free flowing’. Synchronizing the breath to each movement really helps when the flow is so dynamic and the teachers are very good at telling you when to inhale and when to exhale. You feel really empowered as you go through the sequence and I was really impressed with myself that I was able to keep up!

We’re more than halfway through the class and I can already say that I’ve been sufficiently challenged, then the music picks up tempo yet again and you can tell by the excitement etched on the teacher’s face that we’re about to be rocketed through the stratosphere! In come the jumping jacks, the jumping rope, the knee to nose pose, the squats, the lunges, the front, back, up, down, the instructions just kept coming thick and fast, almost at lightning speed! You can feel the burn in your legs and arms and your heart rate is racing and it feels like you’ve been going for an eternity when you finally hear the most beautiful words ever spoken ‘bring your knees to the mat and into child pose”

I feel my body melt into the mat and as my heartbeat comes back to its normal rhythm and as I’m sitting in Sukhasana I feel a great sense of achievement and I’m feeling so empowered. I feel so good about myself and that I managed to keep up and I didn’t give up. The class challenged my body and my mind and the instructors were brilliant. I’ve done the class a few times now with two different instructors and they’ve both been really motivational and have made the classes so much fun. There are plenty of laughs (if you can laugh) and you leave the class each time feeling really good and that’s a great advert for any class.

What I didn’t realize until recently is that Warrior Sculpt has been around for a few years but it’s only been available in certain fitness centres. It’s definitely one to look out for and if you like yoga but also like cardio and strength workouts its definitely worth a try!