Is It Just Me? - HOBBY HUNT: Barre Class! 💪

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

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Is it just me? A podcast by a couple of Mitches. Alright, we've been edging you for weeks, teasing you on socials after the announcement that Mitch and I are both on the hunt for a new hobby for whatever reason. I'm looking for a new hobby because I've got a lot of time on my hands now that I'm a single boy. Mitch is looking for another hobby. What was your hobby hunt reason, Mitch?

Well, it was kind of a weird coincidence because you told me that you wanted to look for more hobbies and a couple of weeks prior my therapist had said to me listen you've turned your hobby of making videos podcasting blah blah you've turned that into your actual job which means you need new hobbies because they're not your hobbies anymore that's your work and so i was gonna do this by myself, like a thing on Instagram where I try different hobbies, and then by coincidence it turned out you were in the mood to do the same thing. So we're like, fuck it, let's make it a thing on the podcast,

Hobby Hunt. Correct. And that is where, ladies and gentlemen, this was born. Hobby, Hobby, Hobby Hunt. Hobby, Hobby, Hobby Hunt. Hobby, Hobby, hobby hunt, hobby, hobby, hobby hunt, hobby, hobby, hobby hunt, hobby hunt. Yes, welcome to Hobby Hunt, everybody, the inaugural Hobby Hunt. That is the first time I've heard that and it sounds like a gay children's choir. I did add a little echoey choir effect to that opener just to make it sound a bit more beautiful.

God, you can really hear your voice, Mitch, above everyone else's. You sound lovely. I know. Well, I'm classically trained in opera. Angelic. So you can hear it come out there. Yeah, Hobby Hunt. Oh, my God.

This is the first of our few hobbies that we're trying out. And Mitch took the lead this time around and you led the first Hobby hunt. Yeah. So, this actually wasn't something new for me, which was the whole idea behind hobby hunt, but I am going to be doing things in the next few weeks during hobby hunt where it's going to be out of my comfort zone because this was smack bang in my comfort zone. I dragged you and Jenna along to Scout Polities and Yoga. That's the studio I go to for bar classes. Yeah. And I wanted you to see what all the fuss is about because I do bang on about it a bit, being like, oh, I love barre class. You know I can't get enough.

And it was actually kind of nice having you guys there. It felt like you were stepping into my world. Yeah, I completely agree. And the instructor that we had was your normal instructor that teaches you in your weekly classes that you go to. Correct. Her name's Elle and she's absolutely gorgeous. So you guys got to meet her.

So if you want to head along to our Instagram at couple of Mitch's, we've got the video, which I feel is highly necessary to really understand what we were doing. I'll do my best to describe it here on the podcast, but the video drops Monday afternoon on Instagram. Make sure you keep an eye out. I feel like I should explain before we get too carried away what barre actually is. It's spelt B-A-R-R-E. It's not like a barre as in a pub. That's true. It's kind of like yoga and Pilates, but it incorporates elements of ballet as well, hence the ballet barre that you often lean on. And it says online that barre is a toning workout which engages muscles deep inside your body

that your standard exercises like squats and lunges and sit-ups do not reach. I agree with that. A lot of bouncing, to be honest with you. A lot of bouncing up and down. It felt like I was a toddler at some sort of child's class looking at myself in the mirror. But no, I'm not going to knock it. I'll give you my verdict at the end.

Yeah, okay. Well, as you're about to hear, there were muscles that Mitch Cherry didn't know he had that he discovered in the class. It was quite funny to witness, to be honest. But in this audio, just imagine there being really fun music playing because obviously we've had to remove the background music and edit it out so that there's no licensing shit but we started with a dance to a taylor swift song we were doing fucking grapevines jumping jacks and even burpees which are fucked like who doesn't

hate burpees yet there's something about doing a burpee to a taylor swift song that makes me think actually i don't mind it it's just a you thing it. It's just a you thing. No, no, no, I agree. It's just a you thing. Let's roll it. So this is the warm-up, is it? At the bar class. Beautiful Elle is here, our instructor today. Got any words of warning for Cherry here? What can he expect? They're heavier than they look. Oh, Mitch and Jenna. Yeah, definitely. It's going to hurt. Okay. You're going to sweat. Yep. And you're definitely going to dance like a pro. Oh, I can do that?

Yeah. That's like a normal Saturday night. Now, do you want to dance warm up? Oh, we better. Oh, yeah. Yes? You want to dance warm up? Yeah, let's do it.

My heart rate's already at 120. Is that a problem? And I haven't begun. Well, it's about to lift up. We're going to do my favorite warm up dance. It's maybe Taylor Swift. Oh, great. And we may be about to shake it off, okay?

Oh, great. Okay, fantastic. All right, we're going to go for a little grapevine. Do we know how to do that one. Oh, great. And we may be about to shake it off, okay? Oh, great. Okay, fantastic. All right, we're going to go for a little grapevine. Do we know how to do that one? Oh, yeah. We go to the side. We give a little clap. Can you kick yourself in the butt so I don't have to?

Yeah. Jenny, you're very quiet. Have you done this before? I'm Zumba enthusiast. Oh, Zumba. Is it anything like Zumba bar class? No. Oh.

Except for the dance part. There's music. Let's kick it out again. I lied to you Jenna. I'm not here. Now from here, we're gonna do a Pilates burpee. We ready? We're gonna go down. Plant your hands. Step it out. Oh my. Step it in. Now, you can go a bit harder. We can make it a little jump if you like. Yeah, there we go. Do you guys have a defib on site just in case? I hope I may never have to use one. Okay, good.

Isn't this more fun than your hot girl walk bullshit? Not about that. Is this just a warm-up? This is a warm-up. All right. We haven't even gotten the bar involved, mate. Fucking hell. That was pre-bar involvement.

Oh, yeah, and so we eventually did get the bar involved. We had like one hand holding onto the bar for support while we were doing some plies, which is where the ballet influence comes into it. So obviously you'll see it in the video, but for now, just picture us doing slut drops on our tippy toes. That's pretty much what we were doing. And it was also at this point, what you're about to hear, while we were doing the plies that you, Mitch,

decided to do like a parent-teacher interview with Elle, who's my regular instructor, and get some feedback on how I do in class, which made me very nervous. All right, here it is. Let's do some plies. That's what we came for, right? Is that like a baked good yes it is fantastic it's this beautiful little cinnamon scroll thing yeah i'm down tail shoots

to the floor oh up squeeze where'd that come from that's in the quads oh little squeezes up doesn't hurt at all no it's a smile not a grimace that's like a fire in there four three two one we're gonna lift all the way up stand super tall keep your heels lifted l yes because you treat mitch and i say treat because i feel this is a mental condition um on a daily basis on a weekly basis if this was like a parent teacher interview yes and I'm his parent, and I ask how is my gorgeous child doing, what is your review and take on Mitchell's ability to pee-pay? Look, Mitch is nailing the plie. He's really nailing it.

I'm going to give him an A-plus for that. Okay, and what about general classes, like normal classes? Oh, he's getting so strong. I'm actually very impressed. Well done. He gets to take a bow right now. Did you hear that? Me good at sport. Oh, well done. He gets to take a bow right now. Did you hear that? Me good at sport.

Aw. I suck on that. Does that, Mitch, make you feel good? Because I know you were anxious about doing it in front of her and bringing us to the studio that you go to. It's a sacred space for you. Remember I told you guys before we agreed to do this and before we organised the bar class that I was like,

I just think Elle is so cool and if we were in high school together I would think oh she's too cool for me I can't talk to her she's one of the cool kids so when you asked her to give feedback I was like this could crush me like she has that favorite teacher energy where if they ever said anything bad about you it would just destroy you and I thought oh my god if she says I'm bad at bar I might cry yeah there's not many people on planet Earth that have that sort of fucking power over me. Yeah, she's very cool.

Like, I was very intimidated by her. She's so cool. And the way you fucking positioned it was Jenna at the back, you're in the middle, then I'm at the front in front of the instructor, and I've never done it before. It's like putting a 90-year-old woman in exit row on a virgin flight. I needed you up the front so you could pay attention because I've done it a million times

before, mate. True, true. And I think you just wanted to check out my ass, to be perfectly honest with you. I was checking out my own in the mirror just quietly. I was checking out yours too. What do we do next? Because I've mentally blocked it all out. So this is when we did like, fuck, it's hard to describe.

It was when we like did those flamingo kneels. So like, you know, when you go to church and they make you genuflect at the altar, like get on one knee. Actually, the way I described it was it's like you're getting down on one knee to propose, but then before your knee hits the ground, you change your mind and go, whoop, actually I'm not proposing. So it's like you get down on one knee, but your knee never touches the ground. You just go up and down and it fucking burns.

Yeah, this was really hard. This was like the middle of a class, would you say? Yeah, and this is also the part where I was a bit embarrassed because you kept asking L questions and some of them were so inappropriate as you're about to hear. All right, let's stand and face the bar. Let's bring the shoulders relaxed by our sides our feet are in parallel on train tracks lift your right leg for me you're a little flamingo okay you know

i was gonna say that today but it's true all right here we go can we sit all the way back so that our shin hovers above the mat exhale lift it up here we go let's go a little bit quicker muscles being activated that have never been used since I came out of the womb. I think I'm regrowing an umbilical cord. Oh, you need to jump a little bit closer to that bar. I'm actually doing it. You are.

Now, would you say my quads are gorgeous, Elle? I would say that, yes. I know a good quad when I see one. Now, Elle, my penis has gone fully inverted. Is that normal? I can't comment. Okay. Now, my penis has gone fully inverted. Is that normal? I can't comment. Okay.

Don't speak to my teacher like that. No, I have to show my face here again. I'm asking serious questions. You get some overshare sometimes. That was definitely next level. That's all the endolphins. Endolphins. Don't laugh. I can't focus.

Endolphins. The fact that you told her your penis was inverted. I like mitchell she's sweet she appreciated and appreciated i'm sure but she like she was fine she handled that like she's fine she's fun she's a good sport you asked a lot of questions of l some were inappropriate some of them were actually quite interesting um this is when you asked about the history of pilates and i didn't even know this oh yeah um l can you, what's the go with Pilates? Is it like a new thing? Do you have like a story of Pilates?

Pilates is very old. Really? Yes, so Joseph Pilates invented it in the 20s. Let's pulse here, little pulse. So it started out, originally the exercises, he was inspired by gymnastics and boxing. That's the two that he got inspired by. But when he was a prisoner of war, the exercises, he was inspired by gymnastics and boxing. That's the two that he got inspired by. But when he was a prisoner of war, he decided to find exercises he could do in a cell.

In four, three, two. So by the time he moved to America in the 40s, he started Joe's Gym. It was not called Pilates. It was called Contrology. And his whole thing was actually about finding control. Was it a cult? It was totally a cult. It sounds cult-y, doesn't it?

It does sound cult-y. Anything that starts in a prison cell and ends at a gym never ends well. Okay, so he had to be gay. I mean, this is so gay. No, he was straight. Oh, really? Closeted? No.

Really? He had multiple wives and very pretty ballerina lovers. Oh, wow. Let's go. Surely that's ten reps. So disrespectful. I just yell back at her. So rude, Mitchell.

I don't even listen. You were trying to distract her, weren't you? But the whole time she's giving you the history lesson but still, and pulse, and up. Like she was not going to be thrown. So impressive. And he spent time in a prison, malnourished daily. Three, two, one.

Like if that doesn't convince you to sign up for Pilates, what will? True. You can do it in prison. True. I know. True. Very impressive. I love that history.

I can't believe that a man in prison, he's so gay, by the way, started Pilates. Good history. Yeah. Is it just me? A podcast by a couple of mitches. Anyway, so I'll play one more for you. So this is when we were doing a balancing exercise,

and I'm really shit at those because even after all these months of classes, I cannot balance to save my life. And so we were sort of lunging one foot forward, one foot behind us on the mat, but then we lifted the back foot and so we're balancing on one. And the whole time we also had hand weights in our hands to make it even harder. But this was the point, Mitch. Remember how you didn't realise we were – you thought we were being offered something else other than hand weights.

Oh, I remember this. I thought I misheard. I misheard and I was clearly very hungry. Yeah. This was a very awkward moment. All right. We're going to do some and I was clearly very hungry. Yeah. This was a very awkward moment. All right. We're going to do some ham weights. Oh, yum.

Yeah. Now, I'm going to warn you, this is high rep, even though it's low load. So don't be deceived. Two 1.5 kilo weights. Yes. Why are they called ham weights? How are you holding them, Matt? Let's think about it.

Oh, no. I thought she said ham weights. Ham weights?, no, I thought she said ham weights. Ham weights? Yes. I seriously thought you said ham weights. Is that why you said, oh, yum? Yes. I'm not even making a dumb joke.

She's just going to bring out a Christmas ham and go, lick this. That's what I thought. That's what we train for. Donnie's good. I thought you were going to give me some wine, ham. Let's all face outwards. We're going to step our right foot forwards, okay? We're going to find our lunge position here.

So your front knee stacks over your front ankle. Take those ham weights back behind you. Now from here, we're going to lift that back foot. We're going to squeeze the weights in, little bicep curl, and stretch it back. Find your balance. Exhale, lift it up. Stretch it back.

So we do a lot of balance work in barre. What's the reason again? So that when you're 80, you don't have to lean do a lot of balance work in bar what's the reason again so that when you're 80 you don't have to lean on a piece of furniture to put your underpants on that's why 80 yeah that happens at 80 not 27 yeah balance is the stuff i'm the worst at but balance just like any other aspect of fitness can be trained just like endurance just like strength just like your health balance is trainable Is it normal To not be able to

Balance on one side More than the other Yes That is really normal Oh god Unfortunately We're all a little uneven Oh shit

Elle did you have A Wii Fit board When you were a child No I didn't Interesting That shocks me You've got to admit Though Mitchell

For someone like me With ADHD It doesn't get boring Because they move They move on so quick and keep it interesting. This has been so quick. The idea of going for a 50-minute walk makes me sick.

Oh, God, I was so rude to poor Elle. It was very shocking that she didn't, to be honest. Oh, I think she frothed it, to be honest. Oh, okay. So that is our hobby hunt, hobby number one, at a bar class at the Pilates studio. Yeah, to be honest, that's pretty much as much audio as we can play

on the podcast because it was at this point in the class that, like, we all got so puffed we couldn't freaking talk. We were exhausted. So you're going to have to check out the video, like I said, at Couple of Mitches on Instagram if you want to see the part where we really start to struggle. It was really hard. So I will say, let's make a decision now.

Are we going to continue with this hobby? Will we power through? Mitch, I mean, you go first. I think I know your answer. Of course. The one thing I hate about being back home in Bogengate at the moment is that I'm missing my bar classes. Okay, so yeah, it's a no-brainer. Mitch is continuing.

Bar. I might even up it to three a week Fuck it Jenna Will you continue bar? Well, I was lied to And told that bar Was similar to Zumba

But you know what? I enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun And I will be back You'll be back? Yes Fabulous My verdict I enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun and I will be back. You'll be back? Yes. Wow. Fabulous.

All right, well. My verdict. Will I attend a bar class and will I continue on? The answer will shock nobody. No, I will not. I'm not going to bar. I didn't enjoy it. I don't like it. I'm in hot girl walks.

That's all I need. Maybe down the track. I'm not ruling it out for eternity. You need some variety. No, I don't. I don't enjoy it. I don't like it. I'm in hot girl walks. That's all I need. Maybe down the track. I'm not ruling it out for eternity. You need some variety. No, I don't. I don't like it. I didn't enjoy it and I felt very uncomfortable looking at myself in the mirror the whole time. That doesn't get me off.

Oh. I mean, no one's telling you to do it instead of hot girl walks. I do both. Yeah, but I enjoyed it. I just can't see it fitting into my life at the moment, and that's the truth. Okay. Well, I tried.

Like I said, it's perfect for people like me with ADHD who find exercise really fucking boring. Like it just flies by the class. I'm like, oh, my God, it's been an hour already? It does fly by. It's the first time I found exercise fun, which I feel like that is a good thing, right? I completely agree, and that, yes, and that's what it's all about, to be honest, Mitchell.

Oh, my God. What are you doing? Sorry, I'm just Googling Joseph Pilates. Oh, my God. That is a poof if ever I've seen one. He's gay. Oh, my God. Mitchell, you've got to Google this.

Look at him with the email. He looks so uncomfortable. Mitchell, the first shot is him arching his back for the camera. I mean, I've seen a couple of those photos on my Snapchat last week. Look at him with the women. I mean, look at the body on him, though. He's very fit. Absolutely.

You want to know a crazy fact that I had a bio scan done at my gym this week? I've gone from 39% body fat to 24. When? Last week. No, when did I ask? I'm going to ask you. I know. Oh, God.

The next hobby will be announced soon. We're not going to tell you, but let's just say it's a sensual, sexy activity. Oh, yeah. We'll bring that to you in a couple of weeks. And, again, thank you to Scout Polities and Yoga for having us. They're in St. Peter's and Marrickville in the inner west of Sydney. They're just gorgeous. I love them. Is it just me? You can follow the show online.

Just search Couple of Mitches. If you don't, you're a dickhead.