Fit Club: Shine Alternative Fitness

Don’t mind me and my late review — it’s not from a lack of love for this place!
I went for the second go — there was pole dancing, barre burn and aerial silks. I had to rush from Summerlin to Downtown to here but it was well-​worth it!
These instructors absolutely love what they do, and it just flows so amazingly from them as they teach and smile.
Suwasit was such a patient and kind pole dancing teacher who exudes happiness and discipline with everything he does. At the end of the class he showed us what he can do and it was breathtaking.
Sunny taught the ballet barre and she, too, was oh-​so-​happy with her class as well! She encouraged us to stretch at our own pace but to challenges ourselves as well so we could really get that deep stretch.
Kelly’s daughter was so cute when she was doing the silks as my group transitioned to this last class! This was by far the most challenging and daunting, but Kelly’s patience and clear teaching style made it very helpful and easier to perform the moves on the aerial silks.
Overall, I had an AMAZING experience here and look forward to coming back — especially for aerial silks! This was my dream to learn when I was at the circus, and this place can make it a reality. Now to get working on my upper body…

Taking part in the Unilocal Fit club was such an Awesome experience! We got to do so many different things and the two classes I got to experience at Shine were some of my favorite. Shine is a place where you can find just about everything under the sun when it comes to workouts, strength training, blance, flexibility or anything else you can dream of doing.
This trip we did Anti-​Gravity Yoga which is essentially hanging from sheets suspended in the air. You’d think this would just be all fun and games but it’s honestly a butt kicker. The class was taught by Suwasit who’s a little asian guy that can’t way more than a buck twenty, but he kicked my ass.
One of the others was similar to a tumbling class designed to help with balance and core training. Ben was the instructor and came up with some really cool things for us to do that weren’t impossible but gave me a real sense of how much of a workout even a summersalt can be!
The third was Flexibility in the barre area. In this class we worked almost 100% on stretching our bodies to the limit in a dozen or more perplexing positions. The instructor Delphine was French with a cute accent and always made sure to come by and give me a little tug or pull to make sure I wasn’t cheating. I was sore for days after this event and I’m pretty sure a lot of it was her fault.
I would love to work some of the classes they offer into my regular monthly workout routine.

This was a well-​planned event. I’ve tried several of Shine’s classes before, so I was really just there to give Pole Fitness a go. As it turned out, there were only 12 of us. They set up the event so that we split up into groups of four and rotated around the three offerings.
Ballet Barre Burn was up first for my group. Sunny’s classes always have a tendency to kick my arse. In this case, our legs definitely felt the burn. We then moved on to Aerial Silks, which is something I got to try during our first elite event at Shine. Kelly went through each technique much quicker than that first time, but we were all able to catch on very quickly.
Finally, it was our turn with Suwasit and the poles. This turned out to be my favorite thing. Obviously, the movements are more geared toward female participants. But get past that and you get a fun workout. Suwasit even commented that our group provided a rare occurrence – more men than women!
Shine really is a fantastic facility. They provide completely unique ways to get a workout. But what really makes this place shine is their awesome group of welcoming and enthusiastic instructors.

This was a super fun event, without any guilt!
There were a total of 12 of us so we broke out into groups of 4. Our group started with the Aerial Silk. Kelly was an amazing instructor. She was patient and detailed with the explanations. Kelly included many different poses, and inversions in our half an hour session. We worked on our upper body strength and sheesh, I need work for sure. However, the silk definitely played a huge part of supporting our body weight.
Our next stop was Pole fitness. Suwasit is a professional. He is the 2014 Pacific Pole Championship Silver Medalist. He won numerous medals prior. He gave us a brief explanation about the pole, how it’s only a stripper pole if there is a stripper on it, but if a chef is on the pole, it is a chef pole. I am glad he mentioned that because there are people out there who already have a preconceived notion that pole dancing is derogatory thing. Anyways, Suwasit taught us the basic holds and grips, and on we went with a bit of pole fitness and pole dancing. At the end of class, Suwasit demonstrated a sample of what he does. WoW…
The last class we did was Ballet Barre Burn with Sunni. The beautiful Sunni was so motivating and encouraging throughout the class. She have to constantly remind us to tuck in our tummy, straighten our back. We also used a tennis ball to keep our awareness to squeeze our thighs and glutes. What a perfect way to end our fitness event.
I am so glad my husband got to join me and experience this evening. Shine is definitely one of a kind place to obtain such unique and fun workouts with the results you want.
Thank you to all of our amazing instructors, and the managers of Shine. We will see you guys again!

I did this as part of Unilocal Fit and can tell you, whenever I have a few bucks to spend, I will definitely go back here. During Unilocal Fit, we got to taste samples of three classes. One was the Flexibility class, followed by Anti-​Gravity Yoga, and the last was Balance and Strength. As a woman who isn’t in the «best» shape, but likes to exercise, this was an amazing experience. Let’s dive right in!
First off, the place was very well laid out. It is fairly small and divided into three sections, for assorted classes. The actual building itself is hidden on the left side of Tenaya off of Sunset Rd, but if you can follow directions, the first time there is easy enough. :)
The staff is EXTREMELY awesome. All of the instructors are personable, will help you with whatever you need, and like to get to know their students. They made an honest effort to know our names during the class, and that to me is a great thing. I love them.
The courses were amazing, as well. The three that I did: Flexibility, Balance/​Strength, and Anti-​Gravity Yoga were so much fun, yet challenging at the same time.
Flexibility actually became my favorite. I’m a fairly flexible person to begin with, but with the instructor there giving one-​on-​one tips, and helping me, I was able to push myself the extra mile. This is the class that I’m going to take again in the future. She said she even sits on people sometimes when needed, ha ha.
Anti-​Gravity Yoga was crazy. A lot different then any other exercise I’ve ever tried. There is a lot of different things you must do in order to get yourself into that fabric, but once there, everything you can do in it, is a lot more then I ever though. Some of the moves, such as squats, stretches, etc, were actually pretty hard and I could feel the burn. Inversion is the coolest, I believe, out of all of the thing we did anti-​gravity wise. Hanging upside-​down, stretching, and doing exercise is a very unique experience. I recommend it to everybody, at least once.
Balance and Strength was extremely interesting as well. A lot of it was working on tumbling, foundation strength, and partner poses. The partner poses were fun. From cartwheels, somersaults, and strength training with friends, this portion was yet again, amazing.
I highly recommend going to anybody that lives in the Vegas area or that is visiting. They don’t have a «monthly membership» program, so it’s easy to just come and spend some money for a 1 time class pass. The prices range, depending on which class you take, but the experience is amazing. I plan on trying all of them. :)

Shine Alternative Fitness was my second Unilocal!Fit Club activity. I had to rush here right after work so I arrived in work clothes and then had to change into gym-​esq clothes. According to a lot of the other Unilocalers, their GPS lead them astray … good thing mine didn’t! I used the address directly from the Unilocal page so perhaps that helped out.
There was a small locker/​changing room for women and men. There were also three separate areas for three separate type of classes. One area had mats along with dancing poles. One had aerial hammocks. Then the last had wires and a bouncy mat.
After all of us arrived, we were separated into 3 different groups. For the group that I was with, we started with flexibility, which was taught by Delphine. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t use the poles ;) but we sure used the mats. She had us do warm up exercises and then several different other exercises that would increase our flexibility. Surprisingly enough, I was more flexible than I thought I would be! I actually wouldn’t mind taking this class to increase my flexibility even more. A great thing was that if you felt that you weren’t as flexible and you felt «tight» you don’t have to force yourself. The class is based on your flexibility level as a start and then developing it even more. Delphine was also very fun to joke around with.
After flexibility, my group went ahead to the anti-​gravity yoga class with Suwasit. He gave us a brief history on the aerial hammocks and the weight limit is 3,000 lbs! So no worries everyone! You will not break anything, especially not the building! When you take this class, be sure to pay VERY close attention to what Suwasit is instructing you to do. He is the professional. You don’t want to do something that will potentially mess up your body. The class, for the most part, is very peaceful. you just have to ignore that weird rush of blood going to your brain feeling. Suwasit is a very friendly, kind, and sweet person. I am definitely glad that I was able to meet him.
After anti-​gravity yoga, we moved onto to strength & core training with Ben. I believe this focuses a lot on your core strength and how you’re able to balance yourself with that. We did a few warm up exercises that eventually led us to practicing partner-​involved balancing acts. Ben was definitely fun, encouraging, and if you can’t seem to do something, he’ll make it easier on you.
Overall, it was a great experience. If you’ve never done something like these, you definitely should come give it a try. It wasn’t bad at all and the next day, I wasn’t in pain! Thanks so much to Unilocal,to Drew, to Victoria, and to Shine Alternative Fitness!

Since I didn’t crack my skull open at the last Fit Club event, I joined this one. I would have been a half hour early had it not been for my GPS who took me to the other side of the freeway. I was still early and was able to grab some Kind bars («I pledge to strong and kind» — Kevin Durant) from Vicky Q, chat with the front desk main man — Russ, look at merchandise and snap some photos. We were divided into 3 groups.
Strength and Balance:
Our group did the strength and balance class with Ben first. We (or some of us) did squats, stretches, push ups-​rolls-​crunches, some monkey moves, cartwheels, tumbles, etc. It was like being a kid again! Weeeee! I got picked to be the demo girl/​guinea pig — the one who has ADD and can’t follow instructions. LOL. Our group was very chatty and we asked a lot of questions so we ended up running out of time to do other stuff. Delay tactics! A Smooth Criminal.
Flexibility:
Delphine Delphine Delphine… her accent and her arms are so sexy… ooh la la! She started making dolphin sounds so we would remember her name. I was cracking up while holding yoga poses. She checked on everyone to make sure we’re doing the poses right. She challenged me to lengthen and reach deeper into my stretches even more. Only Shane’s delay tactics worked. S-​H-​A-​N-​E, Christopher!
Antigravity Yoga:
We saved the best class for last. We were all excited to get to do this. I have to say I totally love our instructor, Suwasit. He’s just so fabulous. He’s a choreographer, aerialist, pole dancer, etc. He’s fun to watch and listen to. He had my undivided attention 90% of the time. You can tell he loves what he does and what he teaches. I got stuck inside the cocoon a few times but it was all good. This was my favorite! We were swinging, flipping and dangling upside-​down. I LOVED IT!!!
I had a great time with fellow Yeeps trying something new. I’m amazed that we were able to do what some of us didn’t think we could do. Hooray! So, Thanks to Shine, Unilocal,Drew and Vicky for this absolutely fabulous event!

Oh, where do I start? This is by far my favorite fitness studio in town. It has high ceilings and an open concept space, which I really like. At the event, we got split up into 3 groups of between 5 and 6 people. This way we could take 3 different classes at 35 minutes a piece:
#1 Flexibility and Stretching with Delphine
Delphine is such a sweet lady, and her French accent makes her sound sweeter… But don’t let that fool you! She definitely challenges you during the class. What I love about her are her clear explanations and ability to adjust to people’s different levels. As a dancer (in my past life), I’m pretty flexible. [Oh, and to clarify, I went to school for dance. I wasn’t a stripper, although I was a go-​go dancer.] She found ways to challenge me and push me further.
#2 Anti-​Gravity Yoga with Suwasit
I had taken this class before with Kelly and Delphine. This one is my fave fitness class in the whole city! I personally am not a fan of traditional yoga, but because this class involves silk hammocks and inversions, I don’t feel so weighed down. I feel elongated and stretched by the end. Suwasit I had known since UNLV days. He’s funny, clear, and kind. Plus he knows his stuff!
#3 Strength and Balance with Ben
This class was done on a padded bouncy floor, which makes me more comfortable when we did acro partner work. There was a focus on acrobatics. We did lunges, cartwheels, and ab training. Ben was really nice and encouraging.
Overall, if you haven’t checked this place out, DO IT! I wish the prices weren’t as high, but I’d say it’s worth it!

Loving the Fit Club– can we make it a constant thing? There are enough gyms and clubs in LV, I’m sure of it!
Shine was amazing to try out, even for the limited time I was there. I got ridiculously lost, but showed up to a gracious front desk host and was able to partake in the flexibility class with Delphine and (of course!) anti-​gravity yoga with Suasit.
The gym itself is open with an industrial-​feel to the décor, due to the metal structures and rigging for the yoga and the poles in the corner– wish we could do a pole fitness class, too!
The flexibility class was intense and I can totally feel it today, I’m sore in a great and amazing day. A way that totally reminds me that an exercise régime of solely cardio is just not cutting it or challenging me. Delphine was sweet and helpful, and I love how she spent the time coming around to check our form and tweak our positioning for a deeper stretch. She was knowledgable and friendly, and I made sure to snag her card before I left.
Suasit is totally chill and charming, and gave us a thorough history of the antigravity movement, and walked us step-​by-​step through the process of getting upside down. I especially liked how he was able to fuse a meditative feel to the beginning of the class, which totally got me comfortable in my little green cocoon before we got to some of the more challenging balance positions that I simply could not rock.
Amelinda had a little accident with her knee, and all of the staff snapped to action making sure that she was comfortable, safe, and calm throughout the ordeal as they assessed what was wrong. Mad props to everyone for not losing their cool!
Snagged an aluminum Unilocalw ater bottle and a Kind bar on my way out the door, after another pleasant chat with the front desk guy– again driving home the idea that everyone here is so knowledable and on their game about the mechanics and fitness behind their classes.
Lastly, my thanks– to Drew for arranging this, to Vicky Q for being the sweet and bubbly hostess, and to staff of Shine, who showcased not one, not two, but THREE excellent classes to get fit in unusual yet fun and engaging ways!

This was my first Unilocal event and it was great! All these Unilocalers are so awesome and friendly. Also helps that the people at Shine are also amazing. It was a good chance to meet new people and try new classes.
We were broken into 3 groups for the 3 different classes that went on simultaneously. Groups of 5, which makes it easier to try and remember everyones names.
Antigravity Yoga– an amazing and super fun class taught by an amazing and super fun instructor, Suwasit. He is knowledgeable and very helpful. The silk hammocks allow you to do things that isn’t very possible or easy in traditional yoga. Stretching and hanging upside down and cardio… good mix.
Strength and balance — I found out I can’t tumble for the life of me. At least we got a good laugh out of it. This section of the class made me dizzy, but it was fun and a good challenge. Ben is a great instructor who was patient with us. The counter balance moves were great. And this class is also a good foundation class to help strengthen the body.
Flexibility — a good way to end the class. Delphine is very sweet and helpful in pushing us further than we think we can do in our stretches.
This studio and the instructors are amazing. Shine offers such a wide variety of fitness classes that are fun and challenging. The 2 hours flew by so quick. It was a great event! Thank you for all responsible to make these events possible.

In this session of Unilocal’s Fit Club 2014, we were brought into a fitness world inspired by Cirque du Soleil. Their focus is making these artistic forms of fitness accessible to everyone and they’ve done a wonderful job of doing it. We had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners, Russ, and working with three really fabulous instructors! Everyone was so friendly, patient, helpful, and extremely talented.
Our evening started with the usual: checking in, filling out forms, stocking up on swag (we finally got our hands on some KIND Healthy Grains Bars!), and socializing. Then, we were split into three groups to rotate through three classes. Our sessions ranged from 20 – 35 minutes/​each, however, the actual classes are typically 75 minutes.
Strength: The instructor, Ben, took us through a serious of strength-​building exercises that utilized our weight and the weight of a partner. It was simple movements that were wonderfully challenging! We did push-​ups and crunches while rolling around the mat, cartwheels (well, I couldn’t lol), and other unique combinations. The end of our session was certainly the most fun where one person was lying on the ground and the second person progressed into a handstand on top of the first person. It’s a good thing I have photos because it’s hard to explain! It was just really cool, beginner acrobatic or «strong man» type of stuff.
Flexibility: We were already pretty worn out from our first session, so it made this session a little more challenging. As Delphine pointed out, flexibility is not stretching — it can be downright uncomfortable (not painful, haha). She combines different disciplines to create a one-​of-​a-​kind workout that pushes your body to positions you thought weren’t possible. Delphine was so awesome and hilarious! She made an effort to remember our names and we learned quickly that you actually didn’t want her to know your name because then she called on you! Most of the positions were difficult, except I was able to do the «frog» one quite well, therefore it was the only one I enjoyed — just kidding.
Antigravity Yoga: This was definitely the class that piqued my interest when I first heard about Shine and I was so happy to find that it was taught by an old friend, Suwasit, an amazing aerial performer! I was pretty tired by this point, so I wasn’t able to do a lot of the deep stretches. However, I loved everything that involved us sitting in the hammocks! It was extremely relaxing and such a fun way to meditate/​yoga. The most exciting part of our session was the complex poses like hanging upside down and the Vampire. Unfortunately, no one else in my group was able to attempt the Vampire because I was the first one to do it and I fell. Totally graceful. I exclaimed later, «I’m the worst vampire, EVER!» No serious injuries, but it took me a while to recover from the initial shock, so all classes came to a halt (sorry!). Thanks to everyone that was so attentive and made sure I was okay. Since I know what went wrong, I’m willing to attempt the Vampire again!
Although I had an odd finish, I still really enjoyed all the sessions. Each class had its own challenges and were great in different ways. All very great. Of course, the Antigravity Yoga was my favorite and I would love to do it again (maybe place a cushion under my hammock?). Thank you to Shine Fitness, the instructors, and Unilocal for hosting such an amazing event!

This was my 1^st Unilocal Fit Club event and I had a lot of fun even though some of it was a little difficult for me. Upon arrival and filling out our waivers, there were Kind bars, Unilocal water bottles and other schwag waiting for us. We were then separared into 3 groups for the 3 different classes: anti-​gravity yoga, strength and flexibility.
My group did anti-​gravity yoga 1^st which was good because this was the hardest for many of us. We got to sit in a hammock and hang upside down although a lot of it made me super dizzy and scared that I was going to slip and fall out!
Next we went to the strength class which involved tumbling, cartwheels and other gymnastic moves including balancing on top of each other. This class was fun but it was also the most tiring and required a lot of balance and coordination.
Last we did flexibility which involved pilates type moves plus a ton of stretching. Being not very flexible made this class hard for me. The instructor I’m sure noticed because she kept encouraging me to continue doing the same stretches at home even if I don’t come to any more classes… hopefully I’ll remember some of them for next time!
The instructors were all very patient with us and gave us pointers if we weren’t good at doing something. We were all encoraged to come back and take classes but nobody was pushy or try to sell anything to us.
Big shout outs to Drew and Victoria for throwing this event together! It was also nice to meet some new Unilocalers!

Fit club just keeps getting better and better! Shine Alternative was a fun way to try out 3 different classes in one night. initially I was worried about a 2 hour workout… but it ended up being an awesome experience!
We arrived after getting lost by our GPS, filled out waivers, picked up Unilocal swag, took photos and were even offered free Kind granola bars. We were broken into 3 groups, with around 6 people per group and we were off to try out 3 of their class offerings.
Class #1 — Strength and Balance, taught by Ben. This class was essentially an introduction to acrobatic movements. We started with stretching, then on to linear movements across the floor: crab walks, lunges with variations, cartwheels, etc. (these were surprisingly a lot more tasking than one might think, I was whipped!) Then we finished up with some partner exercises which included counter balancing. Super neat and unique class that I would love to take again!
Class #2 — Flexibility, taught by Delphine. This class was challenging because the stretches kept getting harder and harder and some we were asked to hold for several minutes. I loved how Delphine required everyone’s participation and would make the class wait if someone was trying to slack off. She really pushed us! She walked around the room helping with body form and pushing us further into our stretches. She has a beautiful French accent which only added to the uniqueness of the class.
Class #3 — Anti-​Gravity Yoga, taught by Suwasit. This was my favorite class of all and for me was by far the most unique. we learned how to move with the silk (I don’t know what they are called). We began with relaxation poses that had us hanging like a cocoon, we did core exercises, hung completely upside down with no hands — which for me was great for spine adjustment. We were learning to do the ‘Vampire move’ when poor Amelinda fell and hurt herself and the class had to stop. I am dying to go back and try more of this class.
The entire staff at Shine was super welcoming, friendly and professional. I loved loved loved my evening!
Thank you to Shine Alternative Fitness and to Victoria and Drew. This is why I Unilocal

First time at a Unilocal!Fit Club: D Location is a bit «remote» and a little «hard to find» but its not too bad. (GPS takes you to like the street of teneya… head west from Teneya, off of Sunset, and you’ll see Shine right in front of you !
Upon arrival, you were asked to sign a waiver. Unilocal swap always presented and free for everyone ! Water bottles, Kind brand bars (Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants, Blueberry Vanilla & Cashew, and Dark Chocolate Chili Almond)
We had about 15 people so were split into 3 groups (3 different classes — Strength & Balance, Flexibility, and Anti-​Gravity Yoya). Each class was about a little over 30 minutes each, usually went over XD.
Class #1 — Flexibility — Instructor: Delphine (french instructor whos trying her hardest to excel in english, but eh accent sounds nice !) More of a stretching to the «max» class. One of those styles where you do a few things a few times, then at the last one, you hold … x_​X Ow ow ow ow ow *makes awkward faces* owowowow yeah thats me the 2^nd half of the class… She was super helpful and assisted each and every one of us in a proper posture, etc. Very «tough» instructor but for the best of her students: P
Class 2 — Anti-​Gravity Yoga — Instructor: Suwasit (thai instructor whos trying to improve on his english as well) Very SAFETY based class. He’ll give some history on the basis of anti-​gravity yoga as well as tell how its the only type thats approved by the American Fitness? Association… EACH thing can hold up to a rated of 3000 pounds. YES ! NOT A TYPO ! THREE THOUSAND POUNDS ! for those uhh a little on the heavy side… NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT ! :D Lots of blood rushing to the head when you are inverted but it was quite interesting ! We didnt have the time to try the «vampire» or «gargoyle» or w/​e kind of inverted moves but the other 2 classes did ! (Poor Amelinda got injured but she left with a smile !)
Class #3 — Strength & Balance — Instructor: Ben (part performer, part instructor. trying for La Reve ! GOOD LUCK TO HIM !) Acrobatics based class. He teaches things down to the basics. The base things that our body were designed to do, but most likely DONT really do xD (our lazy butts… haha). The basics like the uhm… rotating movements got me REALLY dizzy. So i took a slight break. Fun parts were the actual acrobatics stuff. Due to my size and weight, and trying to not be dizzy…, i pretty much volunteered to be the base for most people. I dont mind. XD id be scared to do some of those anyway … Lol V balancing (counter balancing?). Lots of stuff ive seen in Cirque actually… Quite cool !
Overall. Super friendly staff. Fun. TIRING. Thanks for Shine Alternative Fitness for providing such an array of classes and Victoria and Drew for putting Fit Club together :]