Up-and-Coming Fitness Craze Involves Music and Drumsticks

With workouts that incorporate dancing on the rise, such as Zumba and Sean T’s Hip Hop Abs, it is no surprise that what was launched in January of 2012 known as “Pound” is now gaining quite the following. Cristina Peerenboom and Kirsten Potenza created this workout that combines pilates, cardio, isometric moves and plyometrics into a 45-minute session. In three-quarters of an hour, you experience an intense, full body workout – but what also makes this specific routine unique is the only required piece of equipment: drumsticks.

Cristina and Kirsten combined the percussion instrument and fitness into a “Cardio Jam Session,” that incorporates the use of drumsticks, or “Ripstix,” which each weigh one-fourth of a pound. As the logo goes, while you rockout, you workout, burning an impressive 600 to 900 calories per session. The name itself is a nod to the instrument, as these ladies promise that anyone who commits to the routines will “pound” off the pounds.

What draws in this workout’s following, or the “pound posse” as Cristina and Kirsten refer to them as, is the workout’s ability to not only show results, but the fact that it makes fitness fun. It always seems easier to enjoy a workout with background music, but in this case, the workout is found in the music. As you follow the beat with your body and “Ripstix,” your heart rate is bound to shoot up. You are constantly working alongside an intense rhythm, and as the music accelerates, your instructors speed up, and, in a domino effect, so do you. The best part of “Pound?” It’s flexible. Take a class at selected studios or follow along at home – I follow along in my dorm!

We all want to find the workout that makes us enjoy and look forward to fitness, and Cristina and Kirsten have found the formula to make that possible with “Pound.” Listening to music will make working out easier and you’ll lose yourself not only in the sound, but in the concentration to keep up with the beat – after all, you can feel how well the routine is working by how hard you hit the “Ripstix” note by note. When the workout becomes a challenge, bang the “Ripstix” harder! If you were to start smacking around the treadmill in the Bradley Center, you’d be sure to turn some heads, but “Pound” is designed for your body to transform and for your hands to make noise. In most cases, fitness routines get overshadowed by big names like Sean T’s “Insanity,” but this up-and-coming workout is making a bang, and you’ll definitely want to give this a try.

jhorniac@ramapo.edu