Turning to nature to work every muscle in your body is a growing fitness trend that can burn some serious calories. Stoked Primal is an animal-inspired movement class, which promises to burn 350 calories in a half hour. Anna Kooiman recently visited Reebok Sports Club in New York City to see what Stoked Primal is all about. With moves like gorilla, panther, and komodo dragon, Stoked Primal is a total-body workout that doesn’t require any equipment—you only use your own body weight. Fitness instructor Kira Stokes has 20 years experience in the industry and said she created the class for some exercise variety. "I wanted to come up with a class really different than your traditional push, squat, lunge type of workout, really got your heart rate up and really has a lot of movement not just a stationary exercise," Stokes says. The challenging routine tests strength, flexibility, mobility, and agility. Stokes says the best part is being able to do the moves anywhere. “The beauty about not using equipment during Stoked Primal is you can take this workout, the knowledge you gain here, you can take it outside, do it in the park,” she says. “If you are stuck in a hotel and there is no gym there, you have no resources, you have no excuse. You can drop down, and do these primal moves, and get an amazing workout in. (You will) feel that you really challenged yourself beyond the typical body weight workouts that are out there.” Class participant Heidi Ladrow says that although she was a little intimidated at first, the results are real. "My clothes fit better; I look better in a dress, and I feel better," she says. Soon, a smartphone app will be available with all of the Primal moves, and Stokes says she will also develop a class for kids because they, too, seem to like the moves. Source
