I just finished the last class of my 30 day trial at Dragonfly Hot Yoga in Middleton and let me tell you, it went out with a bang. It was a Power Up™ class featuring three sets of 400 reps. A class format that I hadn’t come across in the previous 30 days. It was one of those classes where as the instructor is explaining the progression of exercises and everyone looks around and silently says to each other, “She’s just kidding, right?”
It was an awesome challenge and all I remember now is hearing Nelly come over the speakers and magically finding the energy to push through the last set of burpees.
My usual post Dragonfly red face and sweaty hair.
And that is what I love about Dragonfly Hot Yoga. Every class is different and every class is a challenge.
That being said, Dragonfly prides itself in being a studio for every shape, every size and every person. I have been blown away by their honor and commitment to this philosophy. From the front desk staff to the individual instructors, everyone fosters a friendly and welcoming environment. The instructors always offer modifications plus encouragement to challenge you. I’ll be honest, I expected a bit of a snobbish elitist type of environment and I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Dragonfly Hot Yoga is a family of yoga studios in the Madison, Wisconsin area which offer yoga as well as fitness and barre classes. I think it’s great that Dragonfly gives you 30 days to decide if their studio is right for you. They offer so many different classes that you would never be able to try everything in a standard two week trial. I recommend going through the schedules at the beginning of the 30 days to make a plan for how you are going to trial all the classes and instructors you are interested in. I encourage you to be open to trying anything and everything because you might just find something you never knew you liked. In fact, that is how I developed a new found love for Yin.
Highlights for me
Power Up™
Power Up™ is a HIIT style class that includes strength training and cardio. Sometimes the workouts follow a ladder, tabata or AMRAP format and sometimes they are completely freestyle. The instructors do a great job of timing and know just when it’s time to get your heart rate back up with a burst of cardio. The one thing you can count on is walking out of class drenched in sweat. And burpees. You can almost always count on burpees.
Yoga Up™
This is another fitness class offering at Dragonfly. Yoga Up™ combines yoga (with or without weights) and cardio. It’s probably one of my favorite fitness classes I’ve ever taken. It’s such a unique workout with really effective strength moves. You’ll probably have some soreness in muscles you didn’t know you had. If you can make it work with your schedule, try Yoga Up in the mild room in Middleton. It’s a great option to get comfortable with the class format before adding heat into the mix.
Aroma Assisted Yin
Like I mentioned above, I love Yin. I had never ever considered taking a Yin class before as the description sounded like a bunch of laying around. Well, my interest in aromatherapy was enough to push me give this class a shot. Yin is an awesome addition to not only your yoga practice, but your fitness routine in general. Yin focuses on stretching your connective tissues, essentially lengthening and strengthening them which is not something traditional exercise does. This class goes to a whole other level with the addition of aromatherapy! The Middleton studio offers this class on Friday evenings and I really can’t think of a better way to end my week. It’s way better than happy hour!
BarreAmped
Having not enjoyed barre classes previously, I nearly skipped over this class, but figured I should give it another shot since it was included in my introductory month. BarreAmped is a bit different from the previous barre classes I’ve taken and I found it much more approachable and doable for a beginner. This class focuses on small intentional movements to strengthen and lengthen your muscles. You’ll use one and two pound weights for a really effective full body workout. BarreAmped works in a neutral spine position and doesn’t require any special barre grippy socks. In fact, you’ll be on your mat the entire time. If you’re like me and haven’t liked barre in the past, I encourage you to try BarreAmped at Dragonfly, you might just find you’re actually a “barrefly!”
If you go
Your first class at Dragonfly is free. Simply show up, sign a waiver and be on your way. Be sure to bring a water bottle, hand towel and mat if you have one. If you decide to move ahead and sign-up for the introductory month, I’d also recommend investing in a non-slip yoga towel. You can buy one at Dragonfly, otherwise Amazon and Target also carry them. It will keep you from sliding around on your mat when you start to sweat. 🙂
Finally, as someone who isn’t very tolerant of heat, I found it helpful to show up early and acclimate myself to the temperatures. Giving myself a solid 5-10 minutes on my mat before class started, really helped me adjust to the heat and feel ready to focus on the movements instead of the temperature.
Have you tried a hot yoga studio? What did you think?
nice