By: Vanessa Alcala
Group Fitness instructor Eva Williamson greets her Human Reformer class at the Recreation Activity Center on Friday morning. This is a new modality that GroupFit is offering, and Eva is the first instructor to teach it at Georgia Southern.
Student Kensie Law begins her warm-up by stretching up to the sky. The instructors start all classes by leading a five-minute warm-up.
Eva Williamson demonstrates a warm-up move called the "bird-dog" pose. This move helps activate the arm and leg muscles before starting the workout.
The class continues the bird-dog pose for 10 repetitions, while Williamson walks the girls through various breathing exercises.
Moving on to the next warm-up move, student Grace Linememann holds a high plank pose and alternates leg lifts. Linememann has been frequently attending the human reformer classes this semester.
Eva Williamson demonstrates a simple arm movement for her class to do, ending the warm-up. While this move seems minimal, it starts to burn your arms little by little.
Starting the first round of workouts, Williamson demonstrates the movement while pointing to the muscles that the movement will activate.
Beginning her stretch, Kensie Law watches Williamson to make sure she is doing the movement correct.
Introducing the resistance band, Williamson demonstrates the next move. This move incorporated the band and sliders under her feet, encouraging small, slow movements.
While she demonstrates, Williamson watches her class to make sure they are doing the set correctly.
Helping Linememann correct the movement, Williamson takes one-on-one time to work with her. She tries to take time and help each student to make sure they don't injure themselves.
After completing 30 minutes of matwork, the class moved to the barre to continue the class. Williamson instructed the class to tie the resistance bands to the barre to prompt new movements.
The first movement required the girls to sit on their knees, pulling the resistance bands towards them. If they were looking for more resistance, they sat closer to the mirror.
Kensie Law works on the movement, focusing on her posture. If the back stays straight, it helps engage the core during the workout.
Student Bella Delaney watches the resistance band as she completes the movement. For the last half of the set, she decided to sit up instead of resting her legs.
Continuing the workout, Williamson shows the next movement, requiring the arms to be pushed behind you. Williamson explained that this movement activates your triceps.
Delaney works on pushing her arms forward, starting the next movement. As she moves it forward, she looks to the girls next to her, making sure she is doing it correctly.
One of the most difficult movements in the class required the girls to hook their foot through the resistance band, lifting it up, and then doing a push-up. This moved at a slow pace, but it worked on engaging their core and legs.
Completing a bicycle crunch for the final working set, Mackenzie Maples moves closer to the mirror to adjust the resistance. Maples also works as an Athletic Trainer at the RAC, and enjoys going to GroupFit classes every week.
As the class cools down, Williamson leads the girls to a child's pose, which is a yoga pose meant to stretch the back after a long workout. The cool down was accompanied by chill, soft music.
