After a long day of sitting at my desk, eating office snacks and drinking no less than two Pumpkin Spice Lattes, the last thing I wanted to do was workout. Well, I wanted to work out to relieve my guilty conscious, but I didn’t want to feel like I was working out.

I decided to go try out the Booty Barre class at the vibrant and beautiful Arena District Athletic Club, which is in downtown Columbus, just a short walk away from the Arena Crossing Apartments. It’s a hot new trend right now in women’s fitness; the class pairs cardio and strength training using techniques from ballet, Pilates and Yoga. The Arena District Athletic Club offers the class free to members who only pay $65 a month, as opposed to the $100 it would cost for a specialized Barre fitness membership.

I went in with some reservations because my only experience with ballet dance was back when I was about five-years-old and involved me in a top hat doing the alligator dance with my arms. The class description said it was for all fitness levels so I thought I’d give it a whirl. It had to be more fun than running in place for 30 minutes.

So there I am standing in the gorgeous open room facing a wall of mirrors waiting for the class to start, feeling a tiny bit nervous. Other women entered and they all knew you had to go barefoot.

Then our fun and energetic instructor, Lana comes in and really kicks things off. I mean that in a very literal way. As we are literally kicking our butts, she has us listening to ‘90s hip hop and keeping up with the beat. See that picture of the girl who is cringing, that was me in class. When things got really tough I’d squint my eyes closed and kick my legs even harder.

Lana led us in some fun ballet positions where we did squats and arm exercises all while standing on our tip toes (this is called relevae). Then we did some moves where we had to pinch a ball in the crook of our knee and we held on to the bar with all our might as we continued to raise our legs with some dynamic and impressive movements. It was actually tons of fun and I didn’t even realize it was actually working out until my booty began to burn.

When I thought the class was winding down, we hung from the ballet barre and did some abs moves that really burned. Then we did some plank moves and core strength training. Sweat is pouring off me and I’m smiling through the burn.

Class ended with some Yoga poses to stretch out our lower backs and glutes. Just like that the hour class was over and I felt like I had really worked my booty off. And now a day later, I can still feel the effects of that workout as I walk to and from work in downtown Columbus. Try it for yourself by getting a free trial membership at the Arena District Athletic Club today.