Free Wheeling - Solo at 9Round

Working out with a group of like-minded fitness junkies is almost always better than going it alone. There is accountability, camaraderie, and the chance to commiserate after. Sometimes you must go it alone, however, and the 9Round workout accommodates that.

I first heard about 9Round from John. He heard about it in California and it sounded interesting, enough to think about a franchise if it was only on the West coast. It is not only on the West coast. A quick lookup online told me there are at least six where I am, eight in the DC area and most major cities have as many or more. It looks like the Starbucks business model, only with punching.

Three of the ones in VA Beach are owned by the same people and the others are owned by...others, I suppose. They try not to take clients from each other when the gyms are close. Sort of like pizza delivery and ambulance services, they track their territory by address. I'm less than three minutes drive from the one I went to so there was little doubt as to what region I reside.

Signing up is easy online and the first class is free. I opted for first thing Saturday morning. I was the first customer to arrive and the door was still locked. I was in quickly when they saw me at the door. Good thing since it was 30 degrees outside.

The gym itself is small. The advantage of this system is you don't need much space for each station. There is little equipment and no classes, per se, so there's no need for the floor space a heavy bag farm requires.

My Meg was Jenna and she had the exact right personality and energy for her job. I suspect she was rather caffeinated and the first thing I learned about her is she has enough food to last her a week at any given time. She likely works all day and, as she told me later, her own workouts are ball-to-the-wall and it shows. She's fit and has clearly figured out her nutritional needs.

We went through the usual waiver quickly and she explained the system as other regulars started to trickle in. The regulars were all in varying degrees of fitness and all had one thing in common, they were all women. Once I started the workout I started to understand why this sort of workout might appeal more to women than men. To be fair, I was there a total of 45 minutes and a pack of men might have come in any time after, once they slept off their Friday night and it got warm enough out for their tender constitutions.

Back to the workout. The Meg of the day will come in and set up the stations for the workout of the day. A small whiteboard at each station says what to do. Most stations have their own equipment, heavy bags speed bags, etc, so those are variations on kickboxing moves. Other "blank" stations are generally stability or power exercises using body weight or, in one case, a kettle bell exercise. I won't describe each of the nine unless there is something worth remarking since they change daily, but there was nothing unfamiliar to me.

Each station is a "round" in that it's three minutes. There is a round clock (not in shape but in duration) and it tracks the workout times. Meg alerts the group, in no uncertain terms, when 30 seconds is remaining. you're expected to push hard then. There is a 30 second rest between rounds that is not a rest at all. You move to the side of the last station you were on and Meg hollers out some random stability or power exercise. It was jumping jacks once, plank push-ups another. It's a good way to ensure you get all you can in the 31 minutes.

When you arrive, you can jump in to any free station to start your workout, so there's no waiting. I only had to wait about 20 seconds to start at the first station, so I waited.

My thoughts with the first station were, "Is this really HIIT?" It was a simple kettle bell alternating clean and press but by the end of three minutes I felt warmed up. In hindsight I'm glad I started there because I think Meg set up the stations to start with warm-up exercises.

You wrap your hands for the entire workout. I had my own and remembered how to wrap from coach Tyrone's instruction. I had my own gloves and Meg set them to where they would be needed. Once I got to that point she came over and helped me put them on during the "rest". They will loan gloves to beginners or anyone who forgot theirs but, naturally, you need to bring your own wraps for buy them there. I mentioned to Meg that you can rent bowling shoes but not socks and she loved the analogy.

The full glove stations are book-ended by speed bag stations. Just before I gloved I had my first real experience with the double-ended bag. A speed-bag suspended from floor and ceiling. Didn't care for it. First time I hit it it came back and hit me in the eye. Not enough to do anything but enough for me to appreciate that this workout is such that most participants are too engrossed in their own stations to take notice of me. At the end of three minutes I did get a little of the rhythm figured out and determined that punching hard isn't the right course of action on a speed bag.

The next stations were various types of heavy bags. A couple upright for combinations of punches and kicks and some suspended for uppercuts and shin kicks. Each station had a combination and then some sort of exercise as well. Quarter-turn jump squats, for instance.

The last equipped station was a regular speed bag. Meg asked if I'd ever used one and I answered, honestly, "Never successfully." She gave me some instruction and off I went. I get the concept but I have no rhythm. I thought closing my eyes might help but no. At the end of three minutes I was a bit more consistent but I have a long way to go.

The last station was for abs. It was in a little corner of the gym and the exercises were simple but three minutes of anything takes it's toll, as it should. After one last rest-exercise I was done.

I was concerned at first that 30 minutes wouldn't be enough time for a great workout. The UFC classes were an hour, after all. I had no reason to be concerned. Because the exercises are intense but not overwhelming you can go the full three minutes and because there's no rest you're not working out much less than in a class of 50 minutes with warm-up and stretching at either end. With 9Round if you want to stretch you're on your own and you will need to do it somewhere else since floor space is limited.

I talked to Meg about the details of membership and it seems reasonable. There is an initial startup that makes the first month more expensive, mostly due to equipment. They provide gloves, wraps, a heart rate monitor (used to track your time in the burn zone similar to Orange Theory). nutrition plan and various branded swag. Since I don't need any of that the cost is reduced considerably. I didn't have to ask if I was obligated to buy all the stuff, Meg made the suggestion herself.

The membership is good at any of the three they own but she said most 9Round gyms have no trouble with you coming in and using the class if you're a member elsewhere and you sign a waiver with the specific location. This location is in the resort area so she accommodates a lot of Summer tourists that way.

It seems like a good value for the price. I suspect the market is saturated at this point so there may be a few weaker locations that fall off over time, but she has a good location and great energy. This Meg is the sort you would follow to her next venture if this had to fold.

So, why do women like the workout? For the same reason I do. No one is watching you except Meg and she's getting paid to help, not to laugh, so when you get hit in the eye by a double ended bag rebound you can pretend it never happened. Each station requires focus and no one else is doing the same thing so looking around is impractical. It's also isolated in a way that men can't approach a woman and put their gym Casanova moves on her. You come in, you're almost immediately working out and when you're done you're out. Any guy with a wandering eye will still be struggling through the last stations by the time you're in the car.

In that way this workout is a bit counter-intuitive to the idea of a fitness camerata, where like minded lunatics can share difficult and fulfilling experiences, but if you must work out alone this is a good one to do. There is instruction and encouragement even if it's not communal.

So give 9Round a spin. First class is free.