Have you heard about the new fitness trend, R.I.P.P.E.D.? Think Zumba, meets P90x, meets Tae Bo and good old-fashioned interval training.

R.I.P.P.E.D. was created by two California boys in 2008 and it stands for Resistance, Intervals, Power, Plyometrics, Endurance and Diet. Naturally these two guys’ bodies, embody all that is “ripped.”

My trainer thought it’d be a good idea to bring the R.I.P.P.E.D boys to our gym to offer the class to its members. She knows how I’m always looking for the “next big thing” in fitness, so she suggested I attend the class.

I blindly agreed. Then on the day of the class, I really wasn’t looking forward to it. I began to list the pros and cons. 1) My little guy had been up much of the night, 2) We’d spent the day running around, 3) I was tired, 4) I just wanted to eat dinner, get the kids to bed and enjoy a nice glass of red.

Buuut, 1) Hubby was coming home early so I could attend the class, 2) it’d be a unique experience to learn from the creators of this program, 3) I needed to burn off some calories since I’m still 10-15 pounds from my goal, 4) It’d be “Me” time.

It was the “Me” time that sold me.

I got dressed and headed over to the gym. I was nervous, what if the workout is so intense, I can’t handle it? I remember the first few times p90x left me sprawled out on the living room floor and praying for a swift death.

If that happened at the gym, this time there’d be witnesses…

Shortly after I arrived, two boys with muscles upon muscles strutted in. And they weren’t Jersey Shore-juice-head muscle, but impressive, natural looking, impressive, cut, impressive, R.I.P.P.E.D. and impressive muscle. See?

(*Note, they came in fully clothed, but you could still tell they were cut.)

All too soon, we were in the exercise studio and Alex Isaly and Terry Shorter were telling us all about R.I.P.P.E.D.. Then it was time to get biz-zay. They cranked up the music (which Shorter wrote and produced.) and the tunes were good. Like booty-shaking good.

And we were off. We did lunges, jumps and squats, oh my! Not to mention the shuffling, jacking, knee-raising and shimmying. Then Terry and Alex made us do planks like I’ve never done planks before. It was kinda like planks meet the Hokey Pokey.

Then we finished with ab work, which was tortuously delicious. I’m looking forward to going back to the class, I can see how with proper diet, and doing this class regularly I too could become R.I.P.P.E.D.

But I won’t and I’m OK with that. I’d be happy with fitting nicely into my skinny jeans.

*Disclosure: I did not receive any money or gifts from R.I.P.P.E.D. These opinions are all my own (who else would want them anyway?)