At a Glance:

Website: http://www.wundabar.com
Address: 12416 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604
Length: 45 minutes
Price: first class free, one class/$30, 10 classes/$280, month unlimited/$450
Sweat scale: medium
Energy level: low

I’ve driven by WundaBar many times on Ventura and noticed the bright blue walls inside. After looking it up, I discovered that the WundaBar is a pilates studio that patented its own WundaFormer in order to combine the signature workouts of the Pilates reformer, chair, and jump board, and a ballet bar all in one. The fact that each sweat is only 45 minutes was also a major perk so I signed up for my first free class.

Pre Sweat

The studio is located on Ventura in Studio City and there is a good amount of metered street parking in the area at $1.50/hour. Once I walked in, I was greeted by the instructor who offered to show me around the machines. Since I was a little early and there wasn’t a class right before, she had me practice on the jump board and showed me how to move the machine around. There is a small bathroom in the studio and they sell water for $1.

Sweat

The class felt like a mixture between reformer pilates and a megaformer workout—with signs of both on the machine. We started with some plank work that had me sweating quickly and then moved on to leg and arm work. It seemed like we held each move for closer to a minute than the 30-seconds I’m used to, which kind of dragged on. Since the machine is so original (it was created by the founder), there were a few moves that we did off of the carriage but still using the props. For triceps, we did dips off of the bar on one end. We also did squats with a Pilates circle around our upper thighs, using the bar for balance. On the other end of the WundaFormer, we used the attached Pilates chair to work our obliques.

Since the class was only 45 minutes, there were times when it felt a bit rushed. We were running out of time once we got to our other leg lunges and ended with a fast stretch.

Post Sweat

This strip of Ventura is home to some great shopping and eating. After class, check out Lululemon, Gap, Urban Outfitters, and Banana Republic, along with many others.

Tricks of the Trade

• WundaBar offers packages for brides (and grooms!) to be and new moms! There is also a package challenge for two weeks straight of classes called “2 Weeks 2 Wunda” with before/after pics for $295.
• The studio doesn’t require sticky socks so feel free to go barefoot.
• There is no place to fill up your water bottle so either bring a full one or buy one there.