MUKILTEO — Surfing with no waves or sharks.
What’s up with that?
It’s Surfset, a workout using surfboards propped on bouncy balls.
“It draws a lot of attention,” said Laurie George, owner of Mukilteo Fitness Bar in Harbour Pointe Shopping Center.
The boards were created by a professional athlete to maintain that toned physique of surfing without the ocean. Surfing as exercise on land fits with the ever-changing gym-floor landscape to get away from static boring workouts.
George, 44, a super-ripped mother of three, bought nine boards a few years ago and still has the only studio in the Puget Sound region that offers Surfset classes. All ages and skill levels can hang ten and do 180s.
She also brings out the boards in other classes with hardcore names such as TRX, BootyBarre, HIIT and Triple Threat. “It shakes up the members because they don’t expect it,” she said. “They go, ‘What? We’re going on the boards?’ But then they love it.”
What’s not to love?
I tried it. She made me.
The 45-minute class was fun, like a surf party with loud music as she led us through moves I can barely do on solid ground.
I wobbled like a Weeble but didn’t fall down. Finally, there was a benefit to having a body like one of those roly-poly egg-shaped toys.
Do people fall off?
“If you do it’s a good thing because you’ve challenged your balance, and you need to challenge your balance to improve your balance,” she said. “I get a lot of yogis. I’ve had people do headstands, handstands, inversions, crow and all those great yoga poses.”
Speaking of yoga, at YogaMosa classes in Everett, you get rewarded with a cocktail after class. Surfing at Mukilteo Fitness Bar made me thirsty for an umbrella drink to round out that beach experience.
I asked George if having “bar” in the name ever has people come in expecting something stronger than vitamin water.
No, she said. “They think it’s a juice bar or supplement shop from time to time.”
There’s a wine bar a few doors down. Go there after, not before.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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