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Welcome to Wellness Sherpa. Like a nimble yak escorting you from base camp to the top of your fitness Everest, Shannon Perry will guide you through the latest workouts and wellness fads. Shannon is no expert, merely an enthusiast. Namaste and you got this.
All photos by Driely S. for Racked
Cost per class: $28 for adults ($18 for first-timers. Various package deals are also available.) Sweat Score: 8.5 on a scale of dry as ice (1) to sweating buckets (10). Don’t let the “low impact” description fool you, this clas
It’s my third month as your sherpa, and I feel like we are really starting to get to know each other. We may not be friends in a “braid each other’s hair and finish each others… SANDWICHES!” type of way, but I still feel I need to come clean with my prep
Sherpa: Were you teaching this at another gym prior to the studio opening? Montserrat: I started this because I do acupuncture massage. I have a practice out in Long Island and treat a lot of musculoskeletal issues. A lot of my p
You want to wear a really good sports bra. Apart from that, I always recommend sneakers that are really soft, like a running shoe, because they have that flexibility to mold with the trampoline. If you have stiff sneakers, they don’t really
As I enter the studio, I can’t help but think of The Gremlins (who fed the big trampoline after midnight?!). I settle on to one of the mini-me’s and do some light stretching as the class fills up. Not a single male in sight. I take a few sips of much-nee
We start with moves that resemble jumping jacks, sometimes with squats, accompanied by matching arm swinging. The mini trampolines are much more tightly bound than the giant ‘ol softees we grew up with in the backyard and I immediately begin to feel my th
We graduate to a series of moves that mimic jumping rope and my calves start to burn. Add some running in place with knees up and now I’m 100% sure that the sweat pour is from the workout. The choreography is easy to follow, but I’m not going to lie, I fe
A solid 30 minutes of cardio in and we begin to slow down. Relief is temporary as Montserrat has us position our bodies to do a series of toning exercises that involve one-legged squats while extending and crossing the opposite leg. The instability of the
With the promise of burning upwards of 600 calories in 45 minutes by jumping on a mini-trampoline, it's no wonder rebound workouts are quickly gaining a big following. But JumpLife, launched by acupuncture masseuse Montserrat Markou, is the world's only fitness studio dedicated solely to rebounding classes. Just add signature moves, club music, fancy lights and an honest-to-biscuits disco ball and you've got a fitness trend with some serious bounce.