Jul 8

Jul 8 Compare the Fitness: #NoKaneNoGain vs #TheNightShift

Happy July Renegades!

I'm currently still recovering from a combination of the heat that took over my sleep last night, 3 gym sessions with Lucifer and attending #TheNightShift at the Camden Centre on Thursday night.

Listen...this whole "muscle memory" and pain after exercises is not for me, I have a long 20 minute walk from the station to my work place, you can imagine my Thickems self walking down this long road looking like I've got shit in my pants, sometimes my legs gave way so I nearly fell, I'm sure people thought at 9am I was drinking because I was walking a complete prick in pain..it was not fun.

ANYWAY

Next month makes 2 months since I started my fitness journey with Lucifer. I'm not going to act like it's been easy because it hasn't. It's not simply waking up and attending gym, it messes with your head, it takes a lot of motivation, determination, mind control and consistency because a betch doesn't enjoy the gym. To walk on a treadmill going nowhere kills my brain cells, I often find myself looking around the gym, perving at the men doing their weight exercises or looking at the scrumptious booty of the male personal instructors. Don't judge me.

As much as I'm still implementing fitness into my life, I needed something that I enjoyed doing to make this interesting and something that I know I will continue once my time with the devil is over. And then my guardian angel Roxy, sent me a WhatsApp message basically TELLING me (not asking) that we were attending Melody Kane's "#NoKaneNoGain at the Lost Rivers in Elephant and Castle.

This was during my #NoSocialMediaDetox therefore I couldn't do much research on the event, I knew who the infamous DJ Melody Kane was (if you don't betch where you been?) so I already knew that the music was going to be wicked, but then I remembered...I'm a thickems.

My level of fitness compared to others is laughable. I'm about to be in a room full of people who are going to witness all my shame whilst I struggle to breathe.

But I thought it would be good to compare the two fitness raves that I have attended the past 4 weeks as many of the Renegades have been showing a lot of interest in attending the next fitness rave with me (will be sending details to those on my mailing list) so might as well prepare you for it so you can't cuss me!

VENUE

Winner: #NoKaneNoGain

The Lost Rivers in Elephant and Castle is an interesting venue it's huge cargo containers on two levels which a huge dance floor and open space. With a bar to the back of the stage. They set up a high stage for us to see Melody Kane and the instructor so everyone could see them with ease and even though as people came in we didn't feel like it was crowded and you couldn't move around. The only negative was the floor, which was dusty uneven concrete which when competing the floor exercises made your gym wear a little dusty and you had to be a little careful when doing exercises. Because it was hot day, all the doors were open in #NoKaneNoGain but they did have air conditioning so you wasn't dying due to the heat...more due to the exercises that you were doing!

#TheNightShift was in The Camden Centre, Kings Cross. Which is a huge square venue, with a huge stage and again a great open space. There was a small makeshift bar area to the right of the stage. Even though The Camden Centre was in fact a larger space than The Lost Rivers, there was no air con, no natural air was coming in and out of the venue which made the venue super duper hot. There was a fan at the front of the room which made absolutely no difference and the major issue was the wooden flooring in Camden Centre. Once you begin sweating and your sweat is only going onto one place...the floor which made it hazardous. I saw others working out using their hoodies, towels or whatever they could to have some grip to help but as the night went on unfortunately someone did injure themselves, which immediately affected the mood and stopped the flow of the class as she was on the floor in pain and the ambulance had to come and get her (as she was screaming in pain by the way..talk about awkward)

Exercise

Winner: #NoKaneNoGain

Sebali Eubank was the main instructor during #NoKaneNoGain which involved a lot of shadow boxing, boxercise and HIIT exercises. Sebali did an excellent job of explaining what part of our body we was working out before we begun doing the exercise and if he saw we was doing it wrong, he would come around and make sure that we was OK. Sebali was a great motivator during the exercises and took into account that not everyone was at the same fitness levels so would offer alternatives for certain exercises. I found following his exercises easier and we established a bit of a routine as well. Alongside Melody who was giving great encouragement and a huge smile as she killed the decks, she would sometimes leave the DJ decks and come down and work out with us and it was great to see. My favourite part was definitely the partner exercises I was able to work out with Roxy which was great motivation for both of us and we enjoyed it.

#TheNightShift concentrated more on HIIT exercises, with us doing exercises for 45-60 seconds with 15-20 seconds rest before doing it again. I've already been instructed by Lucifer that these are type of exercises that I will have to do moving forward as it will help me with my weight loss so even though I felt like I was having a heart attack...I had to just suck it up and get it done! We did squats....a lot of them. My legs, back and booty was burning like never before which was a good thing because it shows that its working. The Night Shift also concentrated heavily on floor exercises, which as I explained before with the flooring made it a little difficult. However I do think that #TheNightShift did a better job of working the body as a whole and compared to the 2 hours offered by #NoKaneNoGain you got 3 in The Night Shift. They broke the exercises into 3 hours, the first hour was "Boxercise" to Soca, "Body Conditioning" to Trap, and finally "Old School Abs" to 90's R&B. Due to the injury our second session cut short before it really begun which is not the instructors fault they did try to keep the vibe and exercises going.

Pricing

Tie: #NoKaneNoGain and #TheNightShift

Both events early bird tickets were priced at £5 which in my opinion is a frigging bargain! You guys know I'm bargain queen so I don't wait for others to buy their tickets, I take care of myself first! I purchased early bird tickets and sent the link to my friends and my Renegades mailing list too! If you missed the early bird, the next level of tickets were £7.50 and then £10. I think the pricing was fantastic and considering all the things that you get from these events, you really can't complain!

Refreshments

Winner: #NoKaneNoGain

By far I have to commend #NoKaneNoGain on this as they provided us with ice cold water with lime and lemons, fresh fruit (bananas, oranges and apples). Also their event was sponsored by Innocent Smoothies so we had smoothies in abundance (yes I took several home #KissMyAssSoWhat) but it really catered to ensure that we didn't have to worry about energy fuel and to keep up replenished and feeling good.

Unfortunately #TheNightShift did not provide any refreshments as advertised on their flyer. They were selling Evian bottles for £1 but I ended up running out during the break, going to a local shop and buying a 2 litre bottle myself. Luckily I had a banana and orange in my bag to save me but I was a little disappointed that this wasn't provided for everyone.

Music

Tie: #NoKaneNoGain & #TheNightShift

The music from both events was wicked! I loved that it was music that you would hear from a regular smegular night club but instead we were all dressed in our gym/fitness wear getting our cardio on! It was a great way of bring everyone together and not making you conscious of everyone around you! I ended up dancing and exercising with random strangers at both and it was a great way to make the exercise fun!

#TheNightShift did a great job of playing an eclectic range of music and we finished the night dancing to "Candy" as a celebration!

However #NoKaneNoGain did provide us with a special guest of Dee Double E who's set had us energised and pumped which gave it the slight lead ahead of #TheNightShift

Overall I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed both for different reasons, and I will continue to find others who also put on these kind of events. As I'm practically a granny now, the only reason I would go to a club would be for these kind of events and you leave feeling proud of yourself for surviving! Both events I've attended are still relatively new, so each event will be a learning curve for both of them and there's nothing wrong with having room for improvement! I do hope that they do factor in those like myself; who are unable to do burpees and press-ups, so instead offer alternative exercises for us to do, also would be good to see more female instructors, there was one at the #NoKaneNoGain who nearly killed my legs (her name has completely left my brain), also the importance of having first aiders at hand just to make it safer!

I'm on the hunt for more fitness raves/bootcamps/classes for me to attend and will definitely be attending both #NoKaneNoGain and #TheNightShift again! Even though I'm currently sitting on my couch in pain, I walk like I've got shit in my pants with PRIDE! I've realised that although gym it's important that you enjoy working out and find activities that make you feel and look good about yourself!