BLUEf!t rooms, with at least a bit of everything you can imagine. As an employee at TUI BLUE Palm Garden this room type was a buzzword for me, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to test one out yet! I found myself in the TUI BLUE Fleesensee. As luck would have it, I ran into Dirk, who had this idea for a blog post about the BLUEf!t room. I figured I would do a couple reps on the wall bars while the BLUEf!t Guide, Lars, looked on. Done and done – let’s move on.
Standing in the middle of the BLUEf!t room, I noted that the amenities and decor were just like a normal double room. However, it also had wall bars. I found a yoga mat, a dumbbell set, a blackroll, a Deuser-band, a Thera-band, a pilates Fitness-Schnecke pad, and plenty of space for exercises. Cocky as I am, I told Lars that working out with a few devices could hardly be challenging – I’m a pretty sporty type, after all! Lars smiled mischievously as we started working out and said, “We’ll see about that…”
The walls bars can do it all!
We began with a shoulder workout. One end of the elastic band was attached to the wall while I held the other end in my hand. I stood sideways to the wall and extended my outer arm away from my body. To do the exercise correctly, I needed the right image. Lars explained it to me this way: “Imagine you’re holding a delicious cup of coffee in your hand that you don’t want to spill.” As a coffee junkie, this was a matter of honour for me! I also had to keep my elbows at my hips, as though I was clamping my wallet between them. This worked quite well! Let’s go, onto the next exercise!
Now I could get familiar with the wall bars. I put one leg up on the ladder at hip level. Why was this so hard? As I thought this out loud, Lars immediately corrected me: “Please put your leg up a rung higher and flex your foot!” I was already feeling the pull in my leg! Lars told me that this exercise is good for stretching out the calf and lower back muscles. These contract quickly if you sit a lot, so this is an optimal workout for office drones.
We continued with an exercise for tight arms. I held a dumbbell in my hand and supported myself with my elbows on the Fitness-Schnecke pad. I bent my arm only to shoulder level without straightening it out completely on the way back. On the first few reps, I thought, “This is really easy.” After 15 more reps, the small, green dumbbell started getting heavier and heavier…
Feel the burn, baby!
Last but not least: something for the abdominal muscles. For this exercise, I put my lower back on the Fitness-Schnecke pad with my feet shoulder width apart and my knees bent. The Thera-bands were fastened to the walls and looped around my shoulders. I found it really difficult to keep my balance and do the crunches at the same time. Painfully, I tried to do as many as possible. I can assure you, it burned terribly. I was going to have some lovely muscle soreness the next day. After what felt like an eternity, Lars finally began to count down. 3, 2, 1… done! Phew!
I had to revise my previous statement; I was amazed at how many different exercises could be done with various levels of difficulty. Once you know how to, you can really work up a sweat, Of course, I checked with Lars: “How many exercises are actually possible?” With the Thera-band alone, you can do 100 different exercises, for a total of over 200.
Why a BLUEf!t room?
A BLUEf!t room lets you work out anytime of the day – whether right after your alarm clock goes off in the morning or late at night before bed. My personal favourite feature for a successful workout: I can pair my smartphone with the TV and listen to my favourite songs in the room. You can do difficult exercises here without much thought. I have to admit that it’s sometime hard for me to bring myself to go work out… But with the fitness equipment in my room, right in front of me, I’m more motivated and the excuses disappear. My conclusion? I’m really inspired by the BLUEf!t rooms and the soreness is worth it!