Get up to speed with city living: London's best new intense fitness regimes

The drive is on to turn us into lean machines and London’s top gyms  boast a host of new hardcore classes, says Phoebe Luckhurst

The London of the past was a bit squidgy around the edges. It wasn’t our fault: we were working some of the longest hours in Europe and eating Byron burgers at our desks. But Londoners have a huge appetite — and we want more on our plates. Our days are not complete without a further challenge — getting fit. We don’t just want to work hard. We want to work out hard too. Gyms and studios across the capital are answering with new classes that will turn us into lean, mean machines, ready to take on city living. These are the trends that will get you working up a sweat in 2014.

TIME ON YOUR SIDE

No time to exercise? Wrong: shorter, harder workouts are popping up to squeeze between commute and dinner. Virgin Active has launched 24: a 24-minute class of 24 mini-workouts. You do each movement for 20 seconds, followed by a 10-second break. The simplicity belies the intensity: it left me wincing for days. It burns fat and increases flexibility and mobility.

“People get fitter faster,” explains Gillian Reeve, Virgin Active’s UK national group manager and a 24 instructor at the brand’s Barbican gym. “Pushing yourself at a higher intensity for a shorter period of time is the fastest way to burn calories and melt fat. And It’s better than straight cardio because you continue to burn calories for hours afterwards.

“It’s also a lot more realistic for Londoners: do it three times a week. You’ll see the results.”

WHEN AND WHERE: 24 launches at Virgin Active clubs (virginactive.co.uk) throughout March and April — it will typically be three classes weekly.

MINIMAL KIT, MAXIMUM GUNS

Complexity is the enemy of commitment — they say “equipment”, you hear white noise and never go to the gym again. Luckily, minimalism is in. Hip yoga studio Frame has launched Body: an hour of continuous, low intensity cardio mixed with short bursts of high-intensity sequences. You’ll shed body fat and tone up without adding bulk. No experience necessary but “you want to have a reasonable base fitness level to start with, otherwise it will be far from enjoyable,” admits Pip Black, director at Frame. “The choreography is pretty simple — there is no ‘routine’ to learn. Exercises move between different muscle groups, so that as one starts to fatigue, you move on to the next.”

And it works, fast: “You will start to see improved muscle definition and improvements in your cardiovascular fitness within two weeks,” Black promises.

WHEN AND WHERE: Frame (moveyourframe.com), runs four classes per week at both its Queen’s Park and Shoreditch studios.

DANCE FEVER

Zumba — preserve of the naff — is on its way out. Virgin is launching Fierce, an hour-long class inspired by tribal dancing from Africa. It’s an intense workout but without the “off-to-the-gallows” feel of a normal exercise class. Fierce comprises mini-routines made up of repetitions so you have time to get the hang of it.

MOVE pop-up gym runs Secret Sweatmob every week. The dance class, held at Bootstrap Company in Dalston, does what it promises — so bring a towel. Barre Burn, at Equinox, uses ballet movements to slim your body and mobilise your metabolism. In Bokwa — which combines boxing (bo) and traditional African dance (kwa) — you create numbers and letters with your feet. This full body cardio workout burns up to 1,200 calories a class. And inspired by Beyoncé’s superfly feet, Seen on Screen has just launched the Yoncé workout, based on her new album’s routines.

WHEN AND WHERE: Fierce launched at Virgin Active clubs (as before) across London this week — with an average of two classes per week at each gym.

MOVE (movepopupgym.com) runs Secret Sweatmob at Bootstrap Company (18 Ashwin Street, E8) on Mondays at 8pm.

Five Barre Burn classes on the Equinox timetable every week (equinox.com/clubs/Kensington).

Bokwa is at Nuffield Health Fitness and Wellbeing Centres (nuffieldhealth.com) in Brondesbury Park and Croydon. Cost of membership varies.

Seen on Screen (seenonscreenfitness.com) will run Yoncé classes throughout January — buy 10 classes for the cost of five (£90). There are studios in Canary Wharf, Clapham, the City and Tottenham Court Road.

IT’S IN-TENTS

Tents are the new rooftops. Workouts under canvas are popping up across the capital. Hotpod Yoga takes place in heated pop-inflatables around the city or you can arrange for the team to bring one to your office. The vinyasa flow classes are “accessible and laidback,” promises co-founder Max Henderson, who launched the concept last year. “The classes are light-hearted but we’re still taking it seriously — it’s a great way to get fit.”

Equinox is running classes in a heated tent at Kensington Roof Gardens. Try Rise and Flow Yoga or Total Body Sculpt — a supermodel favourite. The next challenge? To keep it up for 12 months.

WHEN AND WHERE: Hotpod (hotpodyoga.com) runs classes at Evelyn Grace Academy Dance Studio in Brixton (every weekday evening, daytime on Saturday), Notting Hill Prep School (Mon-Thurs evenings, Sat and Sun mornings) and The Trampery in London Fields (weekday evenings, Saturday mornings).

Equinox runs two Rise and Flow and two Total Body Sculpt classes each week (equinox.com/clubs/Kensington).

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT