How I went to stretching and drank wine during class. You could do that?

Have you ever played a sport while drinking wine while working out? No? I, too, had no idea how two incompatible things could be combined. That’s what I was thinking about as I was walking this morning from the Polyanka metro station to the restaurant on the embankment where the Stretch&Wine workout was to take place. I’m not an intimidating person, I like everything new, so I didn’t worry too much about how it would go. “Whatever happens,” I thought and confidently walked up the stairs to the veranda where I was already expected.

Read more about whether you should combine sports and alcohol here.

The other participants and I settled down on colorful mats that added to the atmosphere. Vika – a stretching coach – came out to join us along with a girl named Nastya. She represented a winery from Gelendzhik. The girl told us in detail about the place and what kind of wine we would be drinking today. We were to taste three varieties: white, rosé and red – for dessert, so to speak.

When all glasses were already filled with fragrant drink, we started the training. The immutable rule of any training session is to warm up. First we properly warmed up the muscles and ligaments and moved on to the main part.

The complexity of the training was not only in the fact that we had to drink wine. It was also important to exercise together with the glass: raising it above your head, reaching forward with it, and so on. “I don’t want to spill it all over my head,” flashed through my mind. After a couple of exercises, I got used to the fact that the glass was an extension of my arm, and things got much easier from there.

We did some yoga asanas, balance holds and squats. I’ll be honest, it was easy for me to do the exercises, as I used to do yoga quite a lot at one time. And the body is known to remember everything. You learn to do something once and then you will never forget it.

The event was as heartwarming as possible. I felt like I was at a bachelorette party, where no one knows anyone. But after the training, everyone got reacquainted, and some awkwardness from communication disappeared. For about 30 minutes after the event I chatted with the trainer Vika, asking her about the philosophy of such an atypical training.

Victoria Reshulskaya

Stretch trainer, founder of Stretch&Wine project

In the Soviet and post-Soviet consciousness there is a limiting factor – either wine or sport. This system inclines the athlete to asceticism: if you want to achieve good results, then you need a regime – no alcohol, no pleasure. Yes, high-performance sport is always an asceticism. My method is the hedonistic stretch method. You will get results, but in a more ecological way for the body. Wine is necessary for a person to relax. We use it as a prop that can turn off the restraints on the stretch. The brain gives the muscles a command to stop clamping down, which means the class is safe. There are about 100 calories in a glass of wine, it is not capable of killing your figure. By the way, coffee with syrup will be no better than a glass of wine.

Stretching and wine: worth a try

I can say that it was fun and unusual. I have not been to such training sessions yet, although I have been doing sports and attending various classes for more than six years. The exercises were quite simple in terms of mechanics, but my muscles started to ache the next day. Vika said that after the class we would feel the muscles we didn’t even know existed. And so it was, we managed to work the whole body well. Even the oblique muscles of the abs “subtly” hinted to me about their existence.

I recommend trying this format, but there are a few nuances that you should pay attention to. Especially if you like it and intend to do it regularly.

• Eat a heavy meal before the class. On an empty stomach I do not advise you to practice – alcohol intoxication will come quickly, and it will be difficult to hold a glass above your head even with two hands. And you can forget about balance.
• Do not mix several varieties of wine. Drink something one, especially if you know that after alcohol you will have a headache. Everyone’s body is different, tolerance of drinks of different strength is also different. It’s better not to take risks. In our case it turned out so because of the format of the event, at other trainings it should not be so.
• Exercise where it is cool. In non-hot weather – if the training takes place outside, or in a well-ventilated and air-conditioned room. For example, I can’t stand the heat very well, and this time my mat was positioned almost halfway under the sun. Of course, from time to time it hid behind the clouds, but I was still terribly hot. Alcohol plus scorching sun is a very questionable mix for health.

I would call such a workout a challenge to the classic classes we are so used to. Some will strongly condemn this type of exercise, while others, on the contrary, will say that innovations are always interesting. Personally, I belong to the second category of people and I believe that you should always try something you have never done before. Otherwise, you simply will not grow on yourself. It is the things that are unfamiliar to you that will open new horizons of possibilities for you. But any experience should be approached wisely, all risks should be calculated and your health should be carefully monitored.