You’ve probably heard about the advantages of meditation, mindfulness, and the mind-body connection for health and well-being — from reducing anxiety and depression to lowering blood pressure and slowing the heart rate. But with so many variations of these activities — and so little free time in our busy lives — it can be challenging to actually put them into practice in daily life.
“You could spend an entire day doing your meditation, and then your yoga, and then your strength training — all things we know make us feel better — but that takes up so much time,” says Jessie Syfko, CSCS, RYT, VP of group training and studio at Life Time. “What if we could do it all in one experience together?”
To do just that, Syfko, who’s also a functional movement specialitist and Doctor of Naturopathy, created MB360, a new signature group training program at Life Time.
What Is MB360?
One of Life Time’s boutique-style training classes, MB360 is a mind-body program that combines meditation and mobility work with functional strength and conditioning exercises — all in a high-energy format with the goal of improving the way you move and feel.
“MB360 is a mind-body training practice,” says Syfko. “It’s designed so every day has a different area of focus from Monday through Saturday; Sunday is a rest day.”
- Monday: Total-body conditioning
- Tuesday: Lower-body strength
- Wednesday: Total-body conditioning
- Thursday: Upper-body and core-strength
- Friday: Contrast Tabata
- Saturday: Endurance
“If you’re following the program, the intention is that you’ll attend each day of the week, but you’re also welcome to jump into a class anytime,” Syfko adds.
The functional strength and conditioning movement patterns help participants build better posture, mind-body connection, and balance. The key philosophy of MB360 is to build intensity on integrity, which means the focus is on remaining intentional and present in your mind and body throughout the experience.
At the same time, every class ends with breathwork and meditation for optimal restoration.
“I hear people say, ‘The class is really challenging, but I leave with so much more energy than I came in with,’” Syfko adds. “I think that’s a testament to how we start and end the class with breathwork and energizing movement.”
To get an idea of what to expect in this class, we asked Syfko to demonstrate five exercises commonly performed in MB360.
1. Rock ‘n Roll + Reverse Tabletop
This is a warm-up movement pattern you may see in the beginning of class that focuses on activating the full body and helping you tune in to how you’re feeling.
- Starting in a seated position with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground, roll onto your back, letting your knees and feet roll back with you. Then, immediately roll back onto your butt, straighten your arms, ground through your feet, and lift your hips toward the ceiling so you’re in a reverse tabletop position.
- Lower your butt back down to the floor, then lift your legs and straighten them toward the ceiling as you reach out your arms toward your feet.
- Continue repeating the full movement as guided by your instructor.
2. Lateral Shoot Through
This bodyweight exercise uses a range of upper- and lower-body muscles, helping to strengthen your core and shoulders.
- Starting in a tabletop position, slowly raise your knees a few inches off the ground while putting your weight into the palms of your hands.
- Shift your weight into your right hand while you turn your body 180 degrees and shoot your right leg out to the left side. Keep your right hand and left foot on the ground.
- Reverse the movement back to the original “bear crawl” position and repeat on the other hand/leg.
- Continue repeating the movement, alternating sides, as guided by your instructor.
3. Frog Squat Fold
This movement helps develop functional strength and mobility in your lower body, building a solid foundation for your stability and posture.
- Start in a low “frog” squatting position with feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back and bend at your knees until you’re sitting back in a full squat. Place your hands on your feet.
- Hold for a few seconds in the squat, then slowly straighten your legs and arms so you’re standing in a wide-legged forward fold; you should feel a stretch in your hamstrings.
- Slowly lower back into the squat position.
- Continue repeating these motions as guided by your instructor.
4. Runner’s Lunge Push-Up
This full-body movement integrates a stretch and warm-up for your hips and hip flexors while also working on your upper-body stability and strength.
- From a high plank position, step your right foot forward into a lunge. Plant your left palm onto the ground and twist your upper body toward your right leg as you lift your right arm toward the ceiling; look up at your hand.
- Lower your right arm and place your hand on your right hip; turn your upper body so your chest is once again facing the floor. Slowly lower into a single-arm pushup, push yourself back up into the runner’s lunge position.
- Continue repeating the movement, alternating sides, as guided by your instructor.
5. Shin Box Hip Up + Lateral Reach
The shin box is another movement that warms up the hips and helps improve your range of motion for squatting, deadlifting, and everyday movements.
- Start by sitting in a 90-90 position with your right hip rotated internally and the left hip rotated externally.
- Engage your glutes, then press your left knee (your externally rotated hip) into the floor to drive your hips up.
- Reach your right hand toward the floor as you extend your left arm overhead and to the right for a side-body stretch.
- Return your arms to center and lower down to your original seated position.
- Continue repeating the movement, switching legs and alternating sides, as guided by your instructor.
MB360 is currently available at select Life Time locations. If it’s not yet available at your club, you can join via live steam.
