The Star Wars Workout: Yes, It Exists (And It’s Pretty Awesome)
The Star Wars-inspired workout, Awaken Your Inner Force, will have you sweating more than a tauntaun on Tattoine. (Photo: Everett Collection)
Unless you have been living under a rock, then you know that the most anticipated movie of the decade opens in theaters on Friday: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
As a little girl, I dreamt of being Princess Leia wielding a lightsaber and taking on the Empire. Now three days before the movie’s opening, New York Sports Clubs promise to awaken my (and possibly your) childhood play memories with their Star Wars-inspired workout: Awaken Your Inner Force.
If you want to know what a Star Wars workout might look like, just ask a 7-year-old boy. He’ll lunge, dip, and twirl around with an illuminated lightsaber as if he’s Luke Skywalker. Now, imagine translating these moves into circuits of lunges, squats, and glider exercises, and you have a taste of the workout created by New York Sports Club Master Trainer Amira Lamb.
The Star Wars workout at New York Sports Clubs features lunges, lightsabers, and other exercises inspired by the legendary films. (Photo: Getty Images )
“When I created the workout, I thought of the force as our breath that taps into chi,” Lamb says. “And so, after every circuit you recover back at the breath.”
Thank goodness. Because the Awaken Your Inner Force class is 45 minutes that would destroy Princess Leia’s trademark cinnamon buns hairdo.
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A mixture of yoga, tai chi, martial arts, and fencing, the workout puts you through the paces of a lightsaber duel with moves brandishing names like “Padawan Pushups,” “Walker Press,” and “Lunge Like Luke.” It taps into the tools needed to battle against the forces of evil: driving, rolling, squatting, lunging, and kicking butt (that of the Empire and your own).
Circuit training using strength moves make this workout an effective calorie burner. Part of that has to do with the Jedis’ weapon of choice, the lightsaber. The toy version used in class may weigh just about a pound, but after slicing, swiping, and raising it over your head during the three or four 5-minute circuits, it feels heavier.
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Oh, and forget the peace that Jedis covet. Lamb’s class soundtrack is driven by John Williams’ score remixed into techno beats to match the energy and intensity of the class.
The new group fitness class, Awaken Your Inner Force, will be offered free through the beginning of January. (Photo: Getty Images)
All in all, the class is fun, challenging, and a great way to kick workout boredom to the curb. Sure, it’s a little gimmicky. But with the flurry of Star Wars merchandising surrounding us right now, I rather participate in something that is going to do my body good, and transport me (sort of) to a galaxy far, far away.
Feel like getting your Star Wars geek on? The Awaken Your Inner Force Workout will be offered free to members and non-members at New York Sports Clubs in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, throughout December and beginning of January.
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