(Blast900.com. Studios in Atlanta and Charleston, more opening soon.)

Blast 900 is a fitness studio that got its start in Atlanta, Georgia, but is gaining a lot of steam— they recently opened a studio in Charleston, and rumor has it that Birmingham, Charlotte, and Nashville studios are coming. Which means you can ALL be murdered!

I mean, not REALLY murdered. But sort of. At least, that’s what it feels like when you’re taking a Blast class. I’m not making the best argument for this place, am I? Stick with me, I’ve got a point.

Blast is an interval training class— you alternate from running on the treadmill to using free weights, bands, balance balls, yoga mats, medicine balls, and a zillion other apparati on the floor. There’s no break, no down time, no pausing— there’s even an assistant that walks around, refilling your water bottle and refreshing your towel, so you’ve got no excuse to stop running or lifting or jumping or whatnot.

While on the treadmill, the instructor will call out three different speeds/inclines, for walkers, joggers, and runners. Runners obviously have the fastest speeds and highest hills, while walkers have the easiest go of it. “Easy,” however, is a pretty relative term— when you’re walking up a 30 degree incline, nothing is easy. Right now, I fall pretty solidly into the jogger category, though I sometimes have to drop back to a fast walker speed when the hills get too intense. Most people at Blast seem to be around my skill level, though there are, of course, a few badasses here and there that do the whole class at runner speeds. I salute you, badasses.

What’s good about Blast 900:

-I’ve seen more results from this class than anything else I’ve taken, especially in terms of muscle tone. I can also run faster and longer since I started taking classes at Blast.

-You’re definitely not going to leave feeling like you wasted your money. No matter who you are or what your fitness level is, this class is going to make you sweat and burn and generally want to keel over in that FUN way.*

-This seems a little silly, but I REALLY like that they give you a water bottle and towel at each class. Other places charge you extra for water, which irritates me. I’m paying for class, and you can’t spring for a bottle of water?

-Class styles (and, to lesser degree, intensity) can vary a lot depending on your instructor. Give a few different instructors a try— I’ve found three or four whose classes I enjoy, and one or two whose classes I’m not a fan of. I’ve never gone unchallenged at a Blast class, but some instructors are more hardcore, some are more supportive, that sort of thing. I like the variety, personally.

What’s bad about Blast900:

-Classes aren’t cheap, running at around $28 for a single class. That said, the first class is FREE, and they offer really good volume discounts that can knock the price down to as low as $20. Personally? I still think it’s worth it— it’s the one class I’ll always stretch my budget to afford if at all possible.

-Atlantans: Classes are in Buckhead. Prepare to see lots of $100 workout tops and silicone and hard bodies from years of personal chefs and trainers. It can be a little intimidating at first, but I promise that everyone’s ass, regardless of their fitness level, will be getting kicked.

-I paid quite a bit (quite quite quite a bit) to participate in the nutrition program here. I’ll say this much— the nutritionist is really, really sweet. She’s supportive, she’s clever, she’s fun to talk to. But…the nutrition program was not worth the price I paid. A lot of the information I already knew, and the actual program is just Venice Nutrition, which you can sign up for online for a fraction of Blast’s price.

In conclusion:

Go. Seriously. Go. I adore this place, even when I’m running on a treadmill at a ridiculous incline and shouting curses at whatever sick bastard invented treadmills. If anything, it’s worth checking out the free class.

*Usually. Sometimes you just want to keel over, period.

(As always, I wasn’t compensated in any way to endorse/slam/review/pimp this studio. I just like to share. That said, I always appreciate it if you mention where you heard about the studio when/if you go.)

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