Class Review: Bunda, Los Angeles

When I saw a friend post about fitness studio Bunda in West Hollywood, I knew I had to check it out while I was in LA. Bunda means butt in Portuguese. As you can probably infer from the name, this studio is ALL about building you a better butt. No really, their slogan is home of the better butt.

[Apologies in advanced for all the awful “cheeky” puns in this blog post 🍑 sorrynotsorry.]

The best way I can describe the class is the Barry’s Bootcamp of Butts in the sense that it’s half cardio on a machine, half strength training on the floor. Instead of a treadmill you’re climbing the stairmaster. I took their “Butt and Legs” class so all the strength training focused on the lower body.

I’m not crazy about Barry’s Bootcamp. I hate running on a treadmill and I don’t love the intense “no pain no gain” ethos of the class. I enjoyed the overall vibe and workout at Bunda far more. Although I did feel like a fish out of water when I walked into the studio and EVERY employee was tan and blonde.

The Deets:

Bunda
8231 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Website || Instagram

first class is buy one get one free!

 

The Studio:

One thing I’ve noticed in LA is that most fitness studios are pretty bare bones. It’s rare to find one that offers extensive amenities or even showers — that’s more of a New York thing. Bunda follows suit, which didn’t bother me because I’d rather shower where I was staying anyway.

The studio pays homage to the unofficial butt emoji: the beloved peach 🍑 and is colored accordingly. I liked that every person had their own little station during the floor part, nothing drives me more crazy than people getting up in your space in a group fitness class.

Upon check-in, you’ll receive a set of ankle bands. They’re not weighted but have little hooks to connect bands to during the floor section.

 

The Class:

Another thing I’ve noticed in a bunch of LA classes I’ve taken: Warm-ups aren’t a thing. This is something I really, really don’t understand. I get that it’s a lot warmer in LA year round, but y’all don’t even walk anywhere. At least in New York I’m typically walking 15 minutes to get to whatever class I’m taking. ANYWAY…

I started on the stairmaster and was able to warm-up there before jumping into the floor action. I haven’t spent a lot of time on the stairmaster, it’s been a hot second since I’ve had a traditional gym membership. Even when I did, I avoided cardio machines like the plague unless I had to log miles training for a race.

The format of the class was 6 minutes on the stairmaster, 6 minutes on the floor, 7 minutes stairmaster, 7 minutes floor, and 8 minutes stairmaster, 8 minutes floor. I SO appreciated that the time was split up, the thought of spending half the class on the stairmaster is daunting. It actually flew by, though.

On the stairmaster was did some choreography, things like side stepping. It wasn’t scary persay, but it definitely got my heart rate up thanks to the cardio aspect mixed with praying to gawd that I don’t fall on my face. Spoiler alert: I did not. I forgot how much you use your glutes on the stairmaster, holy. moly.

I imagine it gets easier with time, but I found my self staring at my feet the ENTIRE time while we were on the stair master for fear I’d trip. Not the end of the world, but also not the most comfortable for my neck after awhile.

On the floor we did a whole lot of fun leg work including lunges and squat variations. We did some squats with a band around our legs which I LOVE using for glute activations at Uplift. There was also a series of glute focused work on “all-fours” using a band attached to those hooks on your ankle bands.

I’d be curious what their different class formats look like when they incorporate upper body moves.

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Bottomline:

All-in-all I enjoyed the class. Was it my favorite workout ever? Nah. But I’d definitely go back next time I’m in LA for another ass kicking.