Crunch! Bosu

So Crunch, day 2... decided to step it up and take an unfamiliar class - Bosu Body.
The Crunch class schedule describes it: Integrate balance with strength in this deep body defining class.
Straightforward, no nonsense description.
You can google "Crunch gym Bosu ball" and get this video:

It's actually really cool that Crunch has videos online of their classes.  The video is a decent representation of the actual class.  Except there was a lot more sweating, some stepping (ok falling) off the Bosu ball and we didn't all move perfectly at the same time! Some of the movements were different, some were similar - that might vary based on instructor/class, so I can't really judge that.

The class was pretty good overall.  The first 15 minutes focused on a lot of squats and leg workouts.  I'm very uncoordinated, and I thought it was pretty easy to follow.  That was definitely the toughest 15 minutes - my heart rate was up pretty high and I don't do leg workouts outside of classes, so it's not as familiar to me.  After that, we did some arm workouts, including planks on the Bosu Ball, bicep curls, lunges with shoulder lifts etc.  I used 5lb weights and for most of it, those felt a little too light, but by the end, my arms were very tired.  When I do arms at the gym, I use 7.5 or 10lb weights, but its a lot less repetition, so I didn't want to burn myself out too fast.  In general, the first time you take a class with weights, I think its better to use lighter weights until you get a feel for the class.  Which is a disadvantage of my ADD; I can't push myself as much because I don't know what to expect.

Anyway, we did about 10-15 minutes of abs, which was also really hard for me on the bosu ball.  Most of what was hard was the balancing, and I also think I was running out of steam. And lying down makes me want to stay lying down!  I was able to do most of it, but I had to take some breaks to just watch what she was doing or find my balance.  A second time around, I'd be able to do this better. But thats not the purpose of my experiment here.

Summary of the class:

Pros:
1) The instructor made it really easy to follow
2) The class wasn't too fast or too slow - sometimes in Yoga, I feel like I'm just hanging out in downward facing dog for 15 minutes while they continue to explain things.
3) I got a nice leg workout, which can only help my running

Cons:
1) I should have been able to do better with the ab workouts, but I was just out of steam
2) There is this very weird brick structure in the middle of the studio which made it difficult for me to see the instructor at times
3) Other than the Bosu Ball, it wasn't actually that different from any other exercise class I've done - some legs, some arms, some abs, etc etc... the gimmick was the ball, but you can get the same effect without it.

I did really like the instructor, and thought she was pretty easy to follow even when she was demonstrating multi-step movements.  She also demonstrated more challenging things a couple of times which always helps.

Overall, I thought the class was a good workout, but not as original as I expected.  I would take it again if I could, but I wasn't in love with it either.  We'll see how sore I feel tomorrow!