Monique

Commented on M/<60 SIGNATURE /449

22 Mar 18:29

60 mins that felt long for me with waves of emotion, yet flowed nicely with a chance to mark it, do, and add on. Thighs & legs overall are feeling it as well as core woven throughout. Wide seconds, back lunge, side curtsy-inspo, some ups and downs with lots of optional jumps. Use of all equipment but Marnie specifies weights 3 lb. or less. Movement ball brain focus moments & extended dancing bridge with all the fixings (said core, right?). Brief-ish plank dance. Always thankful to anchor into M/BODY movement & connection through all the phases of life. I look forward to returning to this one in another heart space. PS great playlist! 🩵

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Commented on M/<45 CHAIR DANCE /447

15 Mar 13:36

What a beautiful, elongated stretching class with strength and sculpt woven in as Marnie does. This chair class felt accessible (last few ones in the catalog were so challenging for me!) and yet still had some challenging moments that we can work through (and pause/rewind). I loved the choreography where we lifted from a one knee kneel, to the bent leg, into straight, into bent, then forward to the chair with releve (oh my goodness that felt so beautiful to move in that way) and the wide second choreography with the leg stretch and moving away from the chair as that stretch was so gooey wonderfully needed. The low squats to the 'explicit content song' had me realize my booty muscles work differently when I stretch arms in front and one at a time, who knew? The feet on the chair laying on our back is an area of challenge every time for me, so it's good to re-visit and work through the mental challenge and physical challenge. Weights are fairly brief in the beginning.

09 Mar 07:08

M/ovement Ball classes are so brain engaging for me and bring on the wiggles with every balance of a foot or knee on top of the ball. Marnie's reminders of the power of our thoughts and our ability to shift them is helpful, as are the closing words of class. Fabulous full-body work, with immediate awareness in my legs, hip flexors, and glutes, but also core, postural muscles, and upping the weights to 5 lbs instead of my usual 3 lbs was brief but very engaging. Not highly aerobic (felt more anaerobic overall) but warming for sure. Some of the choreography was just like pelvic floor physical therapy that I did after childbirth!

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09 Mar 06:22

This playlist! The choreography combos! The fun dancy vibes and words reminding us of our power! The PUPPIES! International Women’s Day M/BODY classes tend to be added to my Favorites List and this class is def a new favorite. I can’t wait to do it again, although my entire core (back to front) was feeling the work later that night and I am feeling my arms the next morning. Great mix (balance) of raising our heart rate here and there and fast twitch and slow twitch muscle work.

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02 Mar 08:33

Low impact, larger muscle group focus with accessory muscle acknowledgment, weights that we are mostly holding as we move (not a traditional arm dance choreography here). Mostly standing with down on the mat first on one knee with side leg work then in all four position but again with one leg lifting and working. Lovely warming exercise without the jumpy bounces. Intentionally paced quickly but does not feel fast. 

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23 Feb 10:28

Badass Ballerina, all standing, anaerobic sculpt class with some serious leg and booty burn. An emphasis on balletic barre legs but our arms are engaged in dancer form. I’m glad I did this in front of a mirror- my challenge is keeping my hips level throughout (and mentally being fueled by the fire). The M/BODY gliders are perfect on my rug (before owning them I’d roll the rug out of the way and wear fuzzy socks on the hardwood to glide). This was a great lower body focus class if your upper body recently did a power sculpt class, just sayin’. Edit to add: I think most previous glider classes do not use the barre as much- I liked incorporating the stable surface in this one- felt more balletic glider and less towel dance in origin (as I feel like glider classes grew out of towel dance classes as the class catalog progresses).

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22 Feb 16:21

Happy 4th Marnieversary, Lori T!!! what an amazing gift and practice- cheers to you!

22 Feb 13:28

Whew-weee! Feeling badass strong after this class, in my arms/shoulders as well as my back and core. Our legs were active too, of course, as every class brings a balanced full body approach despite focal points. We have options to challenge our balance, we cross the medial line, we can twist our core and give those obliques a lot of opportunities to shine. Class weaves together standing as well as down on the mat. I have two 10-lb dumbbells I used and I’m grateful their knobs on the end aren’t completely round, as early on we are planking on our dumbbells and incorporating single arm lifts. I added in my own a hand shake-out as I’m not used to being propped up on the thicker dumbbells (and maybe fought for my life a tiny bit until I got my thoughts together to focus in on the here and now). Widening my feet in plank was the perfect remedy to correct the initial sway I had with the one arm lifts- Marnie was there for the cues, guides, and options as we go.We work with one weight held in both hands a good amount, so if I had a 12 lb. dumbbell that would have been cool- next time Monique throw on the wrist weights for the one larger dumbbell exercise If you’re feeling called to it. The overhead extension while laying on my back brought the shake in my arms! Have a little space around you for this class and get ready to tap into your strength (whether heavier weights mean 3 or 5 lbs or more- you’ve got this!).

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21 Feb 11:23

What a gift of a mini-on-time, max-on-combination choreography Signature class! Marnie goes for 5 lb. weights and I added wrist weights to my 3 lb. dumbbells. This class uses aerobic AND anaerobic conditioning and is almost all standing. The final 2-3 minutes before the closing stretch brings us down to the mat for rolling push-ups that optionally can becoming rolling sautees with some (super brief) jumping jacks and mountain climbers added in, if you're ready for that final cardio burst at the end. One of my FAV moves is a weight behind our knee, and doing that standing felt new. The barre series has gorgeous combination moves that sculpt, stretch, and challenge our balance and strengthens our core with holding our heart open. Favoriting this gem of a class! And reiterating my humble gratitude for 3 years of this feels-so-good movement, the badass #mbodyglobalfam community, and this unique anchor that has lovingly held me over this time. Happy shared Marnieversary, Jess G!

20 Feb 09:30

What a fabulous fam favorites class! This has the Signature flow of series of moves, but as mentioned by many there is a lot of up and down meaning down to the mat and up again but also during standing segments we are dropping it low. I felt like our arms were engaged a lot and I liked picking up our weights again at the end. The final cardio dance at the end with the Movement Ball tickled my brain BUT that is what the pause and rewind 10 seconds button is for! I am grateful being in this Movement Practice long enough to where I know to acknowledge my struggle after life's busy-ness has me at the mat less than I'd like, so I rewind and I meet myself where I am today.Â