Sweatlife: London's new fitness festival where Barry’s Bootcamp and Psycle are the main acts

Who cares about the headliner — the best festivals work out well for exercise junkies too, says Frankie McCoy 
Moment Editorial/Getty Images
Frankie McCoy25 July 2016

Once upon a time, people went to music festivals because they liked the bands playing. Nowadays, when it comes to choosing your festival the music is practically an afterthought. First, thanks to the rise of street food, we began checking out the munchie options — no matter how good the headline act, there’s no point going if The Cheese Truck isn’t there serving up gourmet toasties. Now, in our Fitbit-crazed state, we’re going for the gym classes on offer.

Lindsay Claydon, brand director at über-cult fitness brand lululemon, isn’t surprised. “Fitness is now part of our social calendar — just like going for a drink after work, people are now embracing activities such as run groups, yoga or spin classes as a sociable way to meet new people, de-stress and feel great.” As such, lululemon has organised SWEATLIFE on July 30, a festival that replaces music bands with sweat bands, drum ’n’ bass with dumbbells. Headline acts are Barry’s Bootcamp, Psycle, KOBOX and Frame.

The whole aim, Claydon says, is to ensure “similarities to a traditional festival, great food, a headline act, delicious drinks and lots of dancing — as well as the opportunity to discover some of London’s best in health and well-being”.

At music festivals, where fitness is emerging as a component that’s as crucial to festivities as mud and lukewarm cider, the options for movers and shakers are endless this summer. You can paddleboard on the lake at Festival No 6 (Sept 1-4) in Portmeirion, north Wales — brilliant for your core and your shoulders, thereby improving your pint-lifting ability — while End of the Road offers lessons in Qiqong, the tai chi-like meditative exercise. Indeed, all festivals seeking a hippie, loved-up vibe offer yoga as standard — Glastonbury added a power ballad yoga class to its schedule this year — but tipsy yogis can take it one step further at Wilderness in Oxfordshire, which offers its classes on paddleboards. Yep, that means downward dogging on a wobbling board in the middle of a lake. Wilderness (August 4-7) attendees are also encouraged to burn off the Raymond Blanc banquets and while away the time until Robert Plant takes the stage with everything from woodland runs to personal training in the forest.

The best festivals in the UK in 2016

1/26

Bestival, on the Isle of Wight, is also getting in on the act. Not least by recruiting Mr Motivator to take to the stage but by adding a bespoke indoor cycling studio to the fields of Robin Hill Park. Revolution Rides, designed by Soul Cycle inventor Tim Weeks, will be in situ for the entire weekend in September, offering attendees the chance to prep for sets from Hot Chip and The Cure by sweating it out on the saddle.

Wilderness head of programming Eloise Markwell-Butler puts the success of festival fitness down to the fact that we are motivated by a desire to get away from it all. “Wilderness is about escaping the city and running wild — in every sense. Embracing the outdoors and celebrating nature,” she says. “What better way to ease dancing feet with a bracing swim in the lakes or a run through the forest?” Is raving to sick beats — not to mention walking miles around a field in the mud — not exercise enough, though? Markwell-Butler thinks not and prescribes a spot of light jogging through a gloriously dappled wood to increase energy levels. The endorphins and the escape from sluggishly chewing through another Michelin-starred meal can “give you the energy to party that little bit harder at night...”

Follow Frankie on Twitter @franklymccoy

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