You gotta love the observer...
Never mind the biceps, here's punk aerobics
Nicole Mowbray
Sunday June 8, 2003
The Observer
It is not the kind of place you would expect to find yourself during daylight hours. In the night club CBGBs, New York's shrine of punk, the smell of stale beer and cigarettes would not seem very conducive to exercise, but this is the fashionable venue for a fast-growing trend of exercise class - a noisy backlash against the yoga and pilates trends of recent years.
'The work-out that rocks out. No more sucky classes full of brain-dead bimbos in spandex thongs,' the website for Punk Rock Aerobics proclaims. 'This is for fun people with discerning taste.'
Aerobics where people exercise holding bricks instead of dumbbells to fast and furious music is the brainchild of Maura Jasper, 36, and Hilken Mancini, 32, of Boston. After losing their jobs they decided to turn their idea into reality.
'I was working in a gallery, Hilken was an ex-dancer and musician, but what we really enjoyed was getting drunk, listening to punk rock and dancing around the apartment. We realised we were getting a pretty good workout and had this idea of starting something up. We wanted to make fitness classes accessible to everyone, not just the gym bunnies.'
After studying for two months and getting themselves into shape, the pair used their unemployment benefits to take an aerobics instructor's course.
It was, according to Maura - 'like a bad, made-for-TV movie. All these people in spandex with perfect bodies and big cheesy grins. We felt a mixture of disgust, despair and disbelief when we walked through the door.'
Both passed their instructing exam, and after six months at home practising routines, took to the stage in their native Boston. 'We used to be so terrified before we took a class,' says Maura, 'both Hilken and I would have a beer! But it's cool now, even 18 months later we both still forget the routines and goof up all the time. It's so funny'.
They must be doing something right - PRA has a diverse following. Sessions attract 'a motley crew, normally between 18 and 45 years, with totally different fitness levels'. There were 20 punks at the first class, but since then, the lessons have become a bit of a phenomenon. Classes are held in both New York City and Boston, and people are pleading for the pair to come to their state. Even rock gods such as Evan Dando and Dinosaur Jr founder J. Mascis have turned up to spin the wheels of steel for the puffed-out punkers. Favourite tracks to work out to are by anyone from The Ramones, Buzzcocks, Blondie and The Stooges to the Sex Pistols, The Damned and Fugazi.
'The most important thing, both for us and the people who come is that the workouts are fun, we don't take ourselves seriously,' said Maura. 'We want to stay true to the punk ethic.'
Never mind the biceps, here's punk aerobics
Nicole Mowbray
Sunday June 8, 2003
The Observer
It is not the kind of place you would expect to find yourself during daylight hours. In the night club CBGBs, New York's shrine of punk, the smell of stale beer and cigarettes would not seem very conducive to exercise, but this is the fashionable venue for a fast-growing trend of exercise class - a noisy backlash against the yoga and pilates trends of recent years.
'The work-out that rocks out. No more sucky classes full of brain-dead bimbos in spandex thongs,' the website for Punk Rock Aerobics proclaims. 'This is for fun people with discerning taste.'
Aerobics where people exercise holding bricks instead of dumbbells to fast and furious music is the brainchild of Maura Jasper, 36, and Hilken Mancini, 32, of Boston. After losing their jobs they decided to turn their idea into reality.
'I was working in a gallery, Hilken was an ex-dancer and musician, but what we really enjoyed was getting drunk, listening to punk rock and dancing around the apartment. We realised we were getting a pretty good workout and had this idea of starting something up. We wanted to make fitness classes accessible to everyone, not just the gym bunnies.'
After studying for two months and getting themselves into shape, the pair used their unemployment benefits to take an aerobics instructor's course.
It was, according to Maura - 'like a bad, made-for-TV movie. All these people in spandex with perfect bodies and big cheesy grins. We felt a mixture of disgust, despair and disbelief when we walked through the door.'
Both passed their instructing exam, and after six months at home practising routines, took to the stage in their native Boston. 'We used to be so terrified before we took a class,' says Maura, 'both Hilken and I would have a beer! But it's cool now, even 18 months later we both still forget the routines and goof up all the time. It's so funny'.
They must be doing something right - PRA has a diverse following. Sessions attract 'a motley crew, normally between 18 and 45 years, with totally different fitness levels'. There were 20 punks at the first class, but since then, the lessons have become a bit of a phenomenon. Classes are held in both New York City and Boston, and people are pleading for the pair to come to their state. Even rock gods such as Evan Dando and Dinosaur Jr founder J. Mascis have turned up to spin the wheels of steel for the puffed-out punkers. Favourite tracks to work out to are by anyone from The Ramones, Buzzcocks, Blondie and The Stooges to the Sex Pistols, The Damned and Fugazi.
'The most important thing, both for us and the people who come is that the workouts are fun, we don't take ourselves seriously,' said Maura. 'We want to stay true to the punk ethic.'
