Studio Review: Shred415

When I heard Shred415 was the first Lululemon member studio of the month, I was a little apprehensive. I feel like HIIT/interval classes are so popular right now and seem to be an incredibly effective workout. For some reason though, I haven’t had as much interest in trying them as I would any other type of group fitness class.

I already fill my schedule so thoroughly with cardio between running and swimming that I haven’t looked for a workout that included more. However, the strength component did intrigue me. Plus I’m always up to try something new. So I walked the 30 minutes to class (because I can’t justify taking the L two stops, as convenient as those stops may be) and I showed up.

The Studio

I took class at the Old Town location and loved the small feel of it. Both the person working the front desk and my instructor, Brittany, were so friendly and talkative. After checking in I headed towards the locker rooms, which weren’t anything special (places like Lululemon LP ruined other locker rooms for me), but it seemed to have everything you could need and more.

Walking into the dimmed class space, the instructor gave me a rundown of the format of class. Given my hesitation going into the workout, this helped me feel so much more prepared, especially with a fast-paced environment like Shred415. A row of treadmills lined one wall and weight benches filled the rest of the small room. I kind of loved the simplicity of having only two stations, as opposed to an additional rowing/biking component.

The Class

As a small lunchtime express class, we all started with a warm up on the treadmills. The rest of the class was broken up into four segments, two of running and two with weights. During the running portion we ran through intervals at different speeds and inclines. This part was definitely fast-paced in directions, but I’m excited to go back, completely knowing what to expect, and push myself even harder. That’s not to say I wasn’t dripping sweat when we moved into the abs and arms workouts.

Overall, I felt so excited to have have actually loved a class of this format and feel like it has opened me up to many other studios in Chicago to try. Although, I will definitely be back to this one! (And if you want to come with me or check it out for yourself Shred415 offers your first class for free and of course, they are also on classpass).

For other studio reviews check out my experiences at CrossTown Fitness, Lululemon Lincoln Park, AIR Aerial Fitness, Yoga 2.0, The Space Between, and Mirepoix.