School’s almost out. You can’t wait to hit the beach but how are you supposed to bust out of the study room in your new beachwear with all the stress-eating you’ve been during the exam period? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back!
We have come up with a list of five wacky fitness classes that are as fun as they are gloriously tiring that will definitely tone that booty up and get you that taut tummy. Put down those rusty weights at the gym and try out these classes to make exercise fun again!
Pound classes
A combination of cardio, Pilates and… drumming? Yeap, drumsticks are now used in a new form of group exercise called POUND®. POUND® allows you to be part of the high-energy music played during the hour-long workout by adding your own beats with the weighted exercise drumsticks (otherwise known as Ripstix®) while getting sweaty and keeping fit.
Spin classes
You no longer have to suffer the burn in your legs alone on a solitary stationary bike in the gym. These spin classes are held as a mass exercise session and they come in many different versions!
Aquaspin classes, where participants cycle on a stationary bike with their bodies submerged underwater, are great recovery workouts. Cycling in water not only allows you to seek sanctuary from sweat, the water also gives you a natural massage, relieving pain from your joints yet requiring you to push just as hard as dry spin classes hard due to the additional water resistance. You can find these classes at gyms like YWCA.
Dry spin classes seem well, pretty dry especially when you know you’re not going anywhere no matter how hard you pedal. However, VR spin classes are here to put the fun and challenge in your workouts! In the 270 Immersive Fitness™ studio at Pure Fitness, you will face a cinema screen that projects a myriad of terrains on a cycling journey called THE TRIP™ by Les Mills. This intense 45-minute class will you on an virtual adventure and burn as many calories as a treadmill workout would.
Pole dancing
Ladies, forget about the dreadful 2-minute plank. Pole dancing is now the way to train your core! In the past, pole dancing was seen as a taboo form of erotic dance that only belonged at strip clubs. Now it has gained popularity as a form of fitness, as pole dancing requires significant muscular endurance and coordination in order to work your way to performing climbs and body inversions on the vertical pole.
Lightsaber workouts
Lightsaber workouts — the love child of Star Wars fans and fitness junkies. Currently, there are two different studios in Singapore that provide different kinds of workouts with the same weapon. Derived from Asian Martial Arts, The Saber Authority teaches Light Saber dueling skills which train both your strength and coordination. But if you’re more into full-body toning and intense cardio sessions, SaberFit would be a better fit for you.
Barre workouts
This workout promises long lean muscles and the widely-coveted ballerina body. Melding classical Ballet techniques (from which the barre, pronounced ‘bar’, originated) with calming yoga sequences and energising Pilates exercises, this workout aims to burn fat, tighten muscles and increase metabolism.
By Rachel Lim
