Swinging and Rope Burn

The new fitness trends from London

Yes yes, you dirty mind, you thought this post would have a sexual undertone, right? Not true. As you know, we are unfortunately back from our school trip to London where we not only picked up the latest trends in fashion and beauty. I wouldn't be team happy & healthy if I didn't also catch the fitness trends. Because if you thought pole dancing in the Netherlands is a good and sexy workout, just wait until you find yourself with your sports bag in London .

Flying Fantastic has actually got a number of new hits. Are you tired of spending hours in the weight room and do the spinning classes make you want to gag? I get it, I've felt that way too. But this is the gym you need to be at. It's happening, guys. ‘Aerial Yoga is the perfect workout for your core muscles where you particularly sweat in the air using hoops, ropes, and trapezes,’ says Chris Wigan, director and ‘Ringmaster’. Now Aerial Yoga has also become a thing in the Netherlands, but in London they take it a step further. In a lesson of Aerial Hoop, you hang upside down in a split in a hoop, in Static Trapeze you are as free as a bird in a trapeze, and in Corde Lisse you do a pirouette in a sturdy rope. The circus has nothing on this, girlfriends. The workouts have the intensity of a HIIT training and the benefits of crossfit. This full body workout is incomparable to any other sport and requires a good dose of courage. You burn more calories hanging on ropes for an hour than you do in a spinning class or an hour of running. I believe I need to think about this a bit more, working at heights is not really my strong suit and rings, ropes, and other gym equipment are things I used to avoid.

I used to avoid.

Did you think pole dancing in the Netherlands is a good and sexy workout?

If you want something a bit more hardcore, then I have spotted another trend for you. Gymbox has recently added Rope Burn to the program. A high-intensity training where you work with, yes, different types of ropes. Do you remember those thick ropes in the gym from back in the day? I call that nostalgia. And that's all being brought back to life at Rope Burn. This and a number of battle rope exercises can be found at various stations that you perform one-on-one with your buddy. You alternate all this fun with torture sessions of planks, mountain climbers, burpees, and press-ups. So think of it as a kind of monkey cage where the focus is mainly on endurance. Intense, I hear you think. But believe me, when you see your trainer's abs, you'll make sure you end up in those ropes.

Given the kilometers that Elke and I have walked in the past few days and the meager number of hours of sleep we've had, there was no time for a trial lesson this time. Yet another reason to go back. I believe I'm going for the Rope Burn. But only with a buddy. Who's coming with me?