Beauty Notes Daily

By Jenny Dickinson

Last week, I went along to NikeWomen’s Dynamic Yoga class at the Virgin Active gym in Mayfair. I probably should have paid more attention to the word ‘dynamic’. 

I was expecting sets of deep breathing and two-minute pose-holding. I was expecting child poses and planks. I was expecting a challenging but ultimately slow-paced workout. I was wrong.

Nike yoga ambassador Leah Kim broke it to me gently from the front of the class: ‘There’s going to be a lot more movement than you may be used to’. No kidding. We started off running circuits of the room, backwards, and that was just to kick things off. By the time we moved to the mats my hair was sticking to my neck (that’s me trying to keep up on the right of the picture below). 

Dynamic yoga is essentially like a combination of aerobics and yoga. You’ll recognise the poses, but instead of holding them until your legs and arms shake, you move fluidly (well, that’s the aim, anyway) between them, keeping your energy levels and heart rate up.

Classes will be on offer nationwide at Virgin Active health clubs, but if you want to tone up on the cheap you can create your own routine online for free. Visit www.nikewomen.com and register for the Nike Training Club. You’ll be asked to enter your details and what level you want to work at, then it’ll come up with a bespoke training programme of drills, each lasting around two minutes. Personal training without the price tag.