One line review: A pretty good workout that gets your heart rate up and strengthens your upper body (especially the arms).

Details: So, Pure Fitness recently launched a new group fitness class called VIPR, which I got to try out just over a week ago. The VIPR itself is a rubber tube that varies in weight from 4 – 20 kilograms, so make sure you get there early to grab one of the purple ones if you’re a beginner (4kg).

Apparently, the VIPR was invented in Canada and designed to resemble a rolled up carpet. No word on whether the guys who invented this workout were Home Depot employees, but I actually found the VIPR workout pretty challenging and fun.

From the VIPR website: “ViPR bridges the gap between movement and strength. The ultimate functional, whole-body training tool. Used to develop whole-body strength, improve co-ordination and increase flexibility.”

We began with some lower body stretches while holding the VIPR on an angle, and then proceeded to lift the VIPR with both hands to the front, left side, top and right side to make a square, followed by some rotations with the VIPR going around and around in the same motion (does this make any sense?!).

Other exercises involved tilting the VIPR to one side and doing some shuffle jumps, alternating sides, and then going into plank position with the VIPR underneath us and having to pull the VIPR forward and backward while we stayed in the plank (harder than it sounds!). Oh, and another move was holding the VIPR close to our necks and twisting our bodies to work our obliques, I think.

Anyway, the class is only 45 minutes so it flew by pretty quickly, and by the end of it, my arms were DYING (I blame my puny biceps and triceps). The next day, I was also pretty sore in my inner butt cheeks (a hard to reach area) from doing all the side lunges. I would definitely do it again to strengthen my upper body and throw some variety into my workouts!

Question: Have you tried VIPR, and what did you think of it? Please leave your comments below!