Happy September! Maybe it’s that back-to-school feeling in the air, but Fall always seems like the perfect time to refocus on fitness (especially when you have more Chicago workout classes to review)! Have any of you been to Yoga Squad? I love the low-key, relaxing vibe of their studio, and every yoga class I’ve tried has been both rejuvenating and an incredible workout. (FYI, Yoga Squad is the new name of Yoga Six in Chicago, in case you’re confused.) I still hadn’t gotten around to trying one of their newer “Y6 Sculpt” classes, but I was finally able to check it out yesterday…here’s what the workout was like! 

The workout: Y6 Sculpt at Yoga Squad Lincoln Park

Quick description: A yoga-style warmup, followed by low-impact circuit training and then a guided yoga cool-down. 

Price: A single class at Yoga Squad will cost you $25, but you can see other class pricing and packages here (including an unlimited first week for $20!). I booked through ClassPass, which cost me 7 credits. 

Workout breakdown: I signed up for the 6 pm Tuesday class at the Lincoln Park location (on the corner of Southport and Clybourn). Since I had been out and about all day, I didn’t have a mat or towel with me—I rented both for $6 and then went into the classroom to get set up. While it wasn’t a hot yoga class, per say, it was definitely heated. I actually tend to like a bit of warmth for a yoga class—you start the class off feeling looser, and you can go deeper into your stretches while working up a good sweat. That hot classroom also feels sooooo good in the dead of winter. 

We started off with a series of chest and hip opening stretches and a few sun salutations for a total warmup time of about ten minutes. Towards the end of the warmup, we started to incorporate more squats, pushups and ab work, and then we moved into the meat of the workout. That included a combination of arm work with light and heavy weights, as well as lunges and more squats, and then booty and ab work on the floor. Oh, and lots and lots of planks. There were several moments when I had to take a break (my poor quads!) but our instructor, Sho, was amazing—her encouragement and killer playlist helped me push through. We finished up with ten or so minutes of cool down and a brief shavasana. 

Overall impression: I would love to go back to Y6 Sculpt! I’ve tried a few other yoga sculpt-like classes, and I think what I appreciated most about Y6’s version is that it separated out the yoga and sculpt portions. That is, we weren’t holding Warrior 2 while also doing hammer curls. In those situations, I tend to halfheartedly do both exercises, whereas with Y6 I could really focus on just the weights or just the yoga. Also, in many circuit classes, you barely get a cooldown—the deep stretches and relaxation at the end of Y6 sculpt felt incredible. 

Earlier this week, my arms were sore for two days after carrying my groceries back to my apartment. If that isn’t a sign I need more sculpting in my life, I don’t know what is. Have any of you tried a yoga sculpt class? What do you think? 

— Carolyn