Image Source: Rise Nation [1]
In a dark room in LA, with intense, heart-pounding music pulsing at ear-drum-crushing decibel levels, intricately designed black lights sparkling along the ceiling, and a trainer on stage, Rise Nation [2] was like a mountain-climbing fitness rave. After hearing my fit-obsessed Angeleno friends sing the praises of this workout (designed by the trainer who helped Bradley Cooper bulk up for American Sniper), I knew I had to check out the class during my weekend trip to Southern California.
Put simply, Rise Nation is a climbing studio — which is quite different from a climbing gym — and a celebrity favorite [3], owned and run by celeb trainer Jason Walsh [4]. You use the climbing machines that you'd find at a big box gym while an instructor guides you. The class is electric: high-energy, loud, sweaty, and intense. The feeling is similar to chugging a couple cans of Red Bull (not that I'd know anything about that . . . ), and it all happens in 30 minutes.
This isn't the first time a boutique studio has taken a bunch of the same gym machines and set them up arena-style in a studio (looking at you, cycling studios). The class follows the popular rhythmically timed exercise format — you climb to the beat, just as you'd "ride to the rhythm" in SoulCycle or "flow to the beat" at Ritual Hot Yoga. Very much like SoulCycle, you're on a "climb to the top of the mountain," with an adjustable resistance knob, heavier climbs, and brief sprint intervals, with a quick cooldown at the end.
While the rhythmic climbing could seem a tad effeminate to the wary male, it's anything but. Yet simultaneously, as much as this class appeals to men, it is equally comfortable for a woman. It's one of the first classes I've encountered in which the male-to-female distribution was even (perhaps with a few more men in class). The only other time I've experienced this was in a boxing class [6]. What I'm trying to say is if your boyfriend hates barre [7] and won't go to yoga with you, you could definitely take him to Rise Nation, and he wouldn't be mad . . . in fact, he might be even more into it than you (after all, you're going to work out with Bradley Cooper's trainer [8]!).
That said, if you yourself are not big on barre or cycling (or traditional studio classes in general) and are looking for something a little more intense, this is a class to try. CrossFitters who have been averse to studios may also find this class meets or exceeds fitness expectations as a quick yet effective 30-minute total-body workout.
Although intense and challenging, the class was straightforward, beginner-friendly, and easy to pick up — all in all, we'd highly recommend this to anyone visiting or working out in Los Angeles . . . and we've got our fingers crossed that a studio will pop up in San Francisco soon.