Equinox Challenge - Complete

Today marked the completion of the Lululemon Equinox challenge this month: 25 classes in 30 days.  Aside from the time commitment, it wasn't that hard to finish; most days when I went, I would take two consecutive classes.  I ended up taking 28 classes with a significant break around Thanksgiving; I would have been done with all 25 classes by November 20th had I gone to yoga as planned, instead of getting sucked into the Lanvin x H&M insanity.  Most of the classes are less than an hour, so it wasn't too much to take two classes in a row, particularly if they were different workouts; ie yoga & spinning, or strength & cardio.  I enjoyed trying all the classes; the most effective class, ie the class after which I would be the most sore was consistently Tabata, which involves 3 series of 4 exercises for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest between each exercise, repeated 6 times.  I think it was primarily the squats and lunges that really got to me; you just don't work out the same muscle groups in yoga or running.  I worry about Tabata building bulky muscle though; the class that I enjoyed the most and that I think would be a good complement with yoga in terms of building long, lean, toned muscles would be barre burn.  I really like ballet barre style classes (like Pop Physique and Bar Method); I feel like the classes tone muscles that I don't usually work in yoga, plus I like how the strength exercises are mixed with some nice stretches.  The yoga classes were good recovery classes since I was doing so much more strength training and cardio than usual, but on their own, they were a little too easy, I would barely break a sweat compared to Yogahop, Power Yoga or Up Dog.  The pilates classes were ok, I preferred the class with more traditional pilates moves versus the more repetitious aerobic-like class.  I liked kettlebells and didn't quite get ViPR.  I still don't really like spin; I really dreaded the classes and would find myself checking the clock often.  I think it would be a little better if I had proper spin shoes, but I never really got into the spinning groove.  All in all, it was great to try all these new and different classes in a really nice gym for free for a month.  I feel pretty good, although I didn't lose any weight and didn't develop noticeable muscle tone, so I'm not sure how effective it ultimately was.  I'm not ready to commit to a gym yet, but I will reevaluate joining one from time to time.