Today, I have a story in both the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer in Raleigh on fitness clubs rolling new classes into their group exercise lineups. That story will run here tomorrow in expanded form and with links. Below, a look at one of those new classes, CXWORX, which I’ve spent some time in over the past three weeks.

It was the kind of candid honesty I thought I would appreciate in a group exercise instructor, but as it turns out, not really.

“You did not like that one,” Nancy Nickel said into her mic. “I can see it on your faces: pure hatred.”
Pure hatred might be a little strong, but there was little denying that none of the 21 of us in her fledgling CXWORX class would be going all Oliver Twist and requesting more, please.

CXWORX is a new creation from Les Mills International, the exercise mill that pumps out fitness routines used in more than 100 health clubs nationwide. Nickel started teaching the first version — or “launch,” in Les Mills vernacular — of CXWORX at O2 Fitness in April. This was her second CXWORX session at the Lifestyle Family Fitness in Cary, which picked up the class this month.

CXWORX focuses on the midsection, but as Nickel points out, “It’s not like your regular abs class with crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.” Instead, based on research by Jinger Gottschall, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Penn State, the 30-minute routine focuses on the “slings,” the muscles that “connect the upper and lower body to make functional movement possible.” That translates into exercises that spread the workout joy: for both the abs and the glutes, for instance. Or the abs and the lats.

The latter — the abs and the lats — means you can expect to do planks in CXWORX. Until CXWORX I didn’t realize planks came in the plural. I was familiar with the traditional plank: horizontal in a near pushup position, with your upper body supported on your forearms rather than your hands. According to Nickel and CXWORX, though, a plank can be done resting on just one forearm or by keeping just one foot in contact with the floor. Often these variations happen simultaneously with the free hand and foot point in odd directions or making circular motions.

I believe this is where our faces belied “pure hatred.”

CXWORX is divided into six roughly 4-minute segments. The first two segments are done vertical, with moves that stress movement and balance simultaneously. The second two segments are done on the floor, mostly planking. The last two vertical again, using resistance bands. It’s a full 30 minutes .

My classmates said they appreciated the brevity (most group exercise classes run an hour) of CXWORX. According to Liz Church, who manages Lifestyle Family Fitness’s Apex and Cary gyms, the class is intended to be paired with other classes. After an RPM (cycling) class, for instance, or with Pilates or yoga. Or in tandem with a session on the eliptical trainer or treadmill.

One thing you might not want to pair it with is another CXWORX class.

Nickel looked concerned before class when I mentioned I had taken a CXWORX class the previous evening, not 15 hours earlier.

“You might want to back off a little on some of this,” she suggested.

My abs, my lats and my glutes took her advice.