Olympic Endurance – Denver, CO

What: Circuits class using weights and endurance training
Where: Explore Fitness in Denver, CO
Who: Lead by 2 time Olympian Car Van Loan
Booked Through: ClassPass

Ambiance. Explore Fitness is a gym located in LODO that offers gym space, one-on-one personal training, and of course group fitness classes! The gym has all the amenities of any regular gym plus bonuses like rowing/skiing machines, tires, and a barre/yoga studio.

The gym is located in an office building in Downtown Denver next to Skyline park. That being said, there were floor to ceiling windows that overlooked their outdoor turf area with the park right next door! I loved the open feel of the gym and how CLEAN everything was. I have some OCD clean freak in me, so a clean gym is always something that either makes or breaks it for me.

The Workout. Olympic Endurance is a class designed to test both strength and cardio. Although it is a circuits class, you won’t get bored with the workouts. Carl changes up the workouts each class by switching between well-known Crossfit inspired workouts and more unconventional exercises.

In today’s class, we worked cardio, core, and strength by utilizing the rowing/skiing machine and heavy hand weights.

5 Rounds total with 3 circuits each round:

Round 1: 1000 yards row/ski + 10 ultimate burpees (Push-up with weights to one row each arm to standing tall into an overhead press) + 30 Cross-body sit-ups
Round 2: 800 yards row/ski + 8 ultimate burpees + 26 cross-body sit ups
Round 3: 600 yards row/ski + 6 ultimate burpees + 22 Cross-body sit ups
Round 4: 400 yards row/ski + 4 ultimate burpees + 18 cross-body sit ups
Round 5: 200 yards row/ski + 2 ultimate burpees + 12 cross-body sit ups

Although it sounds simple, sometimes simple is best and this class proved it. The workout alone was tough as is, but adding in that altitude change took it over-the-top in the best way possible!

What to bring. I highly suggest bringing a water bottle and towel. Especially at altitude, you want to make sure you’re staying hydrated and a towel because if you’re anything like me, you sweat A LOT.

Final Thoughts. Great workout, great sweat, and honestly its pretty cool to say you worked out with an Olympian. My favorite part was using the ski machine! It is built much like a rowing machine just vertical instead of horizontal and it is a CRAZY GREAT workout for your arms and lats. It’s now my mission to find one of those in Austin. In the meantime though, if you’re ever in Denver, I recommend hitting up Explore Fitness and taking one of Carl’s classes!

Get a free consultation for new clients – http://explorefitness.com/pages/how-does-it-work