Penn State offers a wide variety of workout classes, aimed to give students a more direct way to work out for those who enjoy working out in groups or with an instructor. From plain old Pilates to Total Muscle Challenge to Power Remix, there is a class for just about everyone.

One in particular, however, caught the eye of some of our male staff writers, so they decided to go and share their experiences. Without further ado, here is what our self-described “Booty Boys” thought of the ever-popular “Butts and Guts” class:

Mike Reisman

I’m no stranger to doing workouts I am in no way qualified to do for Onward State. Just last year, I ventured to State College’s now-defunct hot yoga studio without ever going to a single yoga class. This experience with Butts and Guts started no differently for me, as I had only ever gone to one fitness class in the past almost three years ago.

Walking into the class, two things became obvious: fellow staffer Pat and I would be the only boys in the class, not exactly shocking given the name, and I was going to be painfully out of shape for this class. I hadn’t been to the gym in a week due to a hectic schedule, and certainly wasn’t in good enough shape to compensate for that fact. Just the idea of dealing with the aftermath of 45 straight minutes of Butts and Guts made me sore.

Lucky for us, we were two of the last people to arrive so there were only spots in the front row of the class. Pro tip: if you ever want to feel extremely uncomfortable and embarrass yourself in a fairly public setting, go to a workout class where you’re the only person who doesn’t know what you’re doing in a room full of extremely in-shape people who have taken the class before and stand in the front row.  And if you’re feeling really ambitious, don’t work out the whole week before. Trust me, works every time.

The class did not disappoint in the butts department, working the class’ glutes from every conceivable angle, using more types of squats than I thought existed. For whatever reason, however, I have very large, but not particularly strong legs. Combined with the fact that I’m awful at squatting and never really properly learned the form well, the butts part of the workout made me feel like my backside would fall off my body.

Thankfully, after about 15 minutes, we moved from butts to lower back exercises, a bit of a puzzling move since the class isn’t named “Butts, Guts, and Your Lower Back,” but it was a welcomed surprise for me, and a great excuse to get off my legs. I’m not one to normally work my lower back, so the burning sensation I felt while working that muscle group felt extremely odd. Still, at that point we had the pleasure of laying down during the workout, so anything felt better than being on my feet.

Finally, we got to the part everyone was waiting for — that’s right, the guts. The end of the workout quickly made me wish I was back to standing and doing squats. On top of the normal, legs down-type of core workouts, almost all of the workouts had some component of having your legs hang which, because of the whole extremely out of shape and weirdly big legs thing, was the worst part of the workout. On top of that, the earlier parts of the class had already worn me down, and I was struggling. Luckily, the core workout ended soon after, and we finally got to stretch and warm down.

In spite of the 45 straight minutes of feeling like my body was going to explode, I came out of the class satisfied and feeling great. I had trouble walking back home, and walking down steps is still a problem, but at the end of the day I worked both my butts and my guts, and that’s really all that matters.

Patrick Koerbler

I attended Tuesday night’s 7:45-8:30 session of “Butts and Guts” which was an experience to say the least. Mike and I headed into the room to find out we were the only guys who would take part in the workout, which of course brought some curious stares from the 25 or so ladies there. While the aura of the room was a little uncomfortable at first, Mike and I remained focused on our task at hand — working out our butts and guts all in the name of journalism.

The workout itself was 45 intense minutes of nonstop action. It’s all very fast paced and the instructor clearly did not want to waste any of the time we had. Breaks were few and far between and they were only quick stretches.

The session started out focusing on our gluteus maximus before switching over to abs and then back to our butts. Just about every exercise we did had different levels of difficulty, so if someone wanted to challenge themselves more, they were able to do so. And if someone wanted to take it a little bit easier, they could do that as well. This way just about anyone, regardless of their physical condition, could take place in the workout.

I certainly won’t be mistaken for the most in shape individual, but I feel like I can usually hold my own in most strenuous physical activities, so I went into the workout thinking it wouldn’t be anything special. I was wrong. Walking out of the White Building, my legs felt like jello and they didn’t feel any better on my walk to class Wednesday morning. While the ab workout wasn’t quite as intense as the squats, it was still a solid workout.

Did I feel awkward at times being a male in a room full of females at a butts and guts class? Yup. Was I big fan of the pop-centered music playlist that blasted throughout the workout? No, not really. But all in all, the Butts and Guts session is a great way to tone up your derriere and stomach. Even if you’re a guy.

Have you ever been to Butts and Guts? Let us know what you thought in the comments.