Getting HIGHX With Gabrielle Reece
Gabrielle Reece leads a HIGHX/24 Hour Fitness master class in Hermosa Beach, Calif., earlier this month
PHOTO COURTESY OF 24 HOUR FITNESS
After living on Maui for about 13 years, Gabrielle Reece moved back to Kauai seven years ago with husband Laird Hamilton and discovered the gym in her neighborhood had closed. So, she rented space at the community center, recruited some friends and started her own training program called HIGHX. Within a few years, the group grew to about 60 people, and now, 24 Hour Fitness, in partnership with Lifeline, will offer it in its clubs starting in May.
“HIGHX is an organized explosive group fitness, circuit training class,” explains Reece, who spends half of the year on Kauai and the other half in
California. “The idea was trying to fit in as many elements that are productive for training, fast moving and in a timely manner, because that’s the No. 1 thing people say, they don’t have time to train.
“So, in putting this together, it was taking into consideration their time, making it different all the time so their body doesn’t adapt, and making sure when they’re done they’ve done cardio, training work for all of their muscles, work on their balance and proprioception, and a little bit of stretching”
According to 24 Hour Fitness, the 50-minute, high-intensity class is designed to maximize the body’s ability to burn fat, build lean muscle, and optimize the body’s hormonal and physiological response to exercise, all while improving overall daily and athletic performance. Reece notes that there will be many variations of squats and lunges, and use of some equipment such as dumbbells and jump ropes. All of the exercises are easy to modify to a person’s situation or fitness and skill level. You also will have a teammate throughout the class, rotating through progressive functional training circuits and stopping at each station for three minutes. 24 Hour Fitness plans to stagger its rollout of HIGHX into its clubs throughout the U.S., and hopes to have it available in all markets by the end of July. Throughout this time, Reece personally is visiting clubs in various states to conduct instructor training, as well as to teach HIGHX in a master class for club members. She was at 24 Hour Fitness Pearl City last Saturday.
“The response (from my class on Kauai) is what motivated me or even gave me the idea that this might be great at other places too, and to answer those people’s challenges of ‘I don’t have time, I get bored, I don’t know what to do.’
“I’ve had people who started exercising regularly and they didn’t normally like to exercise. I’ve had people who … I saw them connecting with their community. I’ve also had people who lost quite a bit of weight — 35 to 40 pounds. Another exciting element for me is I see people discover their kind of inner athlete.”
There are seven 24 Hour Fitness clubs on Oahu. Guest passes are available for non-members by simply walking in or downloading a pass online. For more information, visit 24hourfitness.com.
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