I had heard rumours about Class Pass taking over UK studios and increasing their mammoth American Empire. Starting with a London invasion.
Forget paying a monthly gym membership for the same gym, to carry on with that same monogamous workout plan, and finally put an end to those monthly exercise ruts we are all susceptible too.
Class Pass is a monthly subscription service giving you access into over 150 exercise studios around London. The only catch: you are restricted to visiting the same studio more than 3 times a month but, with heaps of classes on offer, why would you? You can do a different workout, in a different gym, every day, quite literally! From your ordinary spin class, to cycling in a high altitude stimulated environment, to pedalling to the heavy beats of BOOMcycle, or drenched in the Dolphin Fitness centre's swimming pool. And that's just spinning! Choose from oodles of pilates, yoga, martial arts, running, bootcamps and HIIT classes across the city... you name it, they've got it. And, if you probably haven't even named it, Class Pass will introduce you to it.
For their arrival Class pass offered a £10 week trial. I checked my work rota to see how many chances I could sneak in during my week and hit the confirm pay button. Below are a snippet insights into my Class Pass trial.
First on my agenda was Project Fit, a high intensity training class which promises to burn up to 1,000 calories. Now that is some serious burning. I arrived at Bank station and began navigating my way to Project Fit with scrap note instructions from Google Maps. (I ran out of data usage earlier- how did we survive before Google Maps on our phones?) After doing numerous loops around a pub I found it's flag tucked away down a side street. I walked in, relieved I was still early, only to find I still didn't know where it was, and possibly, was more lost now. I headed up some stairs with a series of doors, with no signs. My expected arrival time was slowing becoming less feasible. Finally, I bumped into a girl, bright Nikes on her feet and a big hoody - 'Gym clothes! She must be here for the class.' "Are you here for Project Fit?" She asked whilst searching the stairs for a sign. It turns out I wasn't the only one who had difficulty trying to find it, and before I knew it, another girl arrived in sportswear. "Is it downstairs?" The newest of our search party asked. Of course it was. When has there ever been a gym overground in London? And there it was, soon as we past the first flight of stairs to the lower ground, big, and totally unmissable, bold black and red arrows and Project Fit emblems pointing you towards the studio plastered on the walls. At least we had already warmed up...
The reception was filled with a protein smoothie bar, a fridge stocked of Coco Pro and water, and old school grey metal lockers. All of us there were from Class Pass, and like me, we had all been and planned to cram in classes am and pm till the very end of our trials expiry date.
The studio itself was small but chockablock with equipment; treadmills lined the back walls, equipment like bosu balls, and medicine balls cushioned in every nook and cranny, TRX cables draped from the walls, and the floors were lined with mats, steps and Dumbbells. The trainer stepped in explaining the class. The lights were turned off and the room was suddenly awash with a deep red glow. Music blasted out and we each stepped up to a treadmill.
The first ten minutes we spent running, working our speed up, as well as the incline. Within 5 minutes I was VERY warmed up. By the end of the first ten minutes I was panting on a high speed and an incline of 7. As soon as we hit stop we were on the studio floor performing a variety of strength movements and plyometrics, such as squat jumps, bicep curls and planks in a circuit based form. My legs were already on fire and I began questioning why I so stupidly went full pelt during the warm up. Then, we were back to the treadmill for another ten. Again, we varied the speed and incline. At this point I was so hot I had to remove an already very thin top. Back off, back to the floor. More work. Back to the treadmill. Sprinting 40 seconds, walking 20 repeated for 5 minutes.
And to think my usual interval session is the first ten minutes of this entire workout alone and that's it! But, today I had to do it three times and then some. The thought crossed my mind: 'Why did I not think the 30 minutes express class would have been enough?!' The first section was tough, the second session I hit through the wall and during the third something weird happened, I refocused and went harder and faster than I ever thought possible. I had never gone above a speed of 14 on a treadmill before for obvious reasons, like for the fear of flying off the back end of one but I managed to take it up a notch. A couple of notches in fact.
It's safe to say that class was tough! Thankfully I smartly choose to eat some porridge for breakfast that day. The mix of cardio and strength at a constant high intensity was challenging yet, I managed and I felt amazing afterwards. The atmosphere the red lights and blaring music created pushed the intensity through the roof and this was reinforced with the motivation continually called out to us by the trainer. It's a class I would definitely go to for another round. You can work at your own pace and for every section easier and harder options are given. Like the Project Fit slogan goes : it is "You Vs Your body." It really pushes your limits, and as for 'Project Fit,' this class is guaranteed to rev up your fitness level like no other.