Reformation Fitness – Shaw

Reformation Fitness is a two-floor boutique fitness studio in Shaw that offers a range of classes including Pilates Reformer, treadmill-based bootcamps, HIIT and TRX conditioning, and barre. The variety of classes they offer ensures there is something for everyone and the Metcon HIIT class we took was a total beatdown.

RUNDOWN

WORKOUT

Sarah opened up the class by informing us it was Endurance Week and the workout would be following that theme. It was broken up into three sections: a 2000m row, 10 rounds of “the Cindy” (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 air squats) and 100 burpees. Yes, you read that right – 100 burpees. Let’s just say this workout was not for the faint of heart and after leading us through a quick warm up, Sarah had us form groups and select our starting station. Then she gave us 40 minutes to get it all done. We started with the rowing to get more warmed up and then moved on to get the burpees over with. Sarah provided time guidelines for each station and suggested 8-12 minutes for most of them. Doing 100 burpees was intimidating, even for the class regulars, and to be honest, it was really tough to stay motivated for 10 straight minutes of burpees. We would have preferred some other exercises added into that station to keep things more dynamic and interesting. By the time we got to the Cindy, we were exhausted but happy to move on and it felt good to add some leg movements back in with the squatting, but our upper body and back muscles were sore for days!

INSTRUCTOR

Sarah made a point of introducing herself to people she didn’t recognize at the beginning of the class and tempered expectations by explaining the endurance theme of the workout. She let us know that the class would be steady-paced so we could complete everything on time. She provided some time check-ins throughout class, but as there was a digital countdown at the front of the room and everyone was going at their own individual pace, it wasn’t super relevant. We wish there had been a bit more assistance with motivating us to keep at it (especially after the first 50 burpees).

SPACE

Reformation Fitness packs a lot of individual studio space into their building, with multiple rooms on the top level and ground floor. Each level has its own section of lockers (with personalized keypads to lock up your belongings), towels, cubbies, bathrooms, and changing areas. Reformation doesn’t have any showers or luxurious amenities, and we assume that’s so they can maintain so many different studio rooms to offer to their guests. Our room felt a little bit crowded because of the wide and narrow set up but they keep their class sizes small to make it manageable.