The first time I did step class, I couldn’t walk without pain for 3 days.

Yeah, suckers! From the outside, step class, or step aerobics. looks pretty easy. Just a bunch of ladies stepping up and down a box.

Can we just take a second here to think about spin class – that generally has a rep of killing people? My legs weren’t sore at all the day after spin class – the total opposite of step.

I was actually really surprised at the pain, as I was already doing a lot work on the stair climber – as well as spinning along with running, cross trainer and training legs. I didn’t think they would hurt much at all, as it’s not often I feel pain from working out.

Don’t let that put you off though – I burn a massive 300 calories per 30 minute session according to my polar watch and I’ve been to every single step class I’ve been free to attend since.

I thought spin was my favourite thing, but no. Step. I’d step every day if there was a class.

So the step class attend is at my Pure Gym. There’s two instructors that run them and they both do them slightly different.

The male instructor works more to tracks – so we will do different moves, then when there’s a new song, we’ll change.

The female instructor tends to do a routine, where we add a new move on each time. I prefer this version because you can memorise that moves to know what’s coming, kind of like learning a dance. It just feels more in sync and like you can get into the groove.

I do find the male instructors workout a bit more intense, but I often feel like I struggle with my co-ordination of the moves as it’s a tad more disjointed and there are a lot of moves in one class, rather than a few moves being built upon in a progression.

Saying that, I do like attending both versions as it’s good to have a variety.

The step blocks we use can be set to three different heights – I’d recommend starting on the lowest and see how you get on. I use mine on the medium height – I did do one class on the highest height in the male instructors class and found it hard to keep up, so decided to stick to medium for now.

It’s pretty much none stop throughout the 30 minutes, so have a drink by you on the floor and take whenever you need a drink. I usually have sips when we’re  marching or just doing the basic up and down step.

You’ll be copying the instructor who will guide you through various moves. The most basic up and down step, then moves such as stepping to the side and doing a knee kick, or kicking your foot to your bum. Some times these repeat three times.

Other moves include stepping over the box, tapping the box, doing kicks and more.

There are times in some of my classes where people have gotten too tired and flagged behind – if this is you, just do the basic up and down step or march on the spot until you feel you’re able to join back in. Nobody is really caring or watching as we’re all too busy concentrating on what move we’re doing and what’s next!

It’s a hard workout, but a lot of fun and it really gets my heart bit pumping!

Have you ever been to a step class?