Welcome to The Fit List: Luxury London’s monthly guide to the hottest openings and top classes launching in the capital. From yoga and Pilates studios to full-body cardio classes and unique fitness trends, head back here every month to discover the latest from London’s sporting scene.
Time to change up your exercise regime? We hear you, and luckily London has the answer. From the opening of one of the largest yoga studios in Europe to the launch of electro-muscle stimulation workouts, here’s how to get those endorphins flowing this month.
The yoga studio: Mission
Yogis are in luck this month as Mission is set to open the largest yoga and movement space in Europe right here in the capital on 20 March. Situated on Fashion Street in historic Spitalfields, the new fitness and wellbeing destination will open in a recently-refurbished, four-storey Victorian warehouse, boasting five lofty studios (with up to 75-person capacity), three treatment rooms and a sauna.
Mission’s founder, Genny Wilkinson Priest, has set out to redefine how yoga is taught and practiced in the post-Covid world by offering a tiered membership scheme and a range of classes, including Iyengar yoga, vinyasa, Mysore-style ashtanga and hot yoga, as well as meditation, Pilates, breathwork, capoeira and strength training. After class, head to the top floor to discover Maene: a 54-cover European bistro promising modern cooking using British produce. Here students and teachers can unwind together while enjoying a glass of wine or non-alcoholic cocktail on the restaurant’s sunny terrace. Sounds like our type of yoga studio.
7-9 Fashion Street, E1 6PX, visit mission-e1.com
The high-tech workout: Feel Electric
Feel Electric, one of the UK’s leading electro-muscle stimulation (EMS) studios, has finally arrived in the capital, opening its first site on Clapham High Street. The brand’s innovative 20-minute workout involves wearing vests akin to body armour which send low-frequency electrical impulses to your muscles forcing them to contract while you complete low-impact exercises including lunges, squats and resistance movements.
Don’t worry, the type and intensity of your electric-muscle training session are tailored to each individual by certified trainers, and these workouts claim to help with body toning, weight loss and pain relief. Feel Electric recommends you only do EMS once a week, so it’s ideal for breaking up your fitness routine. Further studios in St John’s Wood, Barnes and Twickenham are promised later this year.
13 Clapham High Street, SW4 7TS, visit feel-electric.com
The Pilates studio: Strong Pilates
Blending classic Pilates with calorie-torching cardio, Strong Pilates — which has taken the Australian fitness industry by storm over the past three years — opened its first UK studio in Islington earlier this month. Co-founded by Australian personal trainers Michael Ramsey and Mark Armstrong, Strong Pilates offers a range of 45-minute, high-intensity classes which feature signature reformer Pilates moves and resistance training interspersed with sharp intervals on a rowing machine. If you’re looking for a workout that will raise your heart rate and burn countless calories, this is the one for you. Not a north Londoner? Strong Pilates has also promised to open studios in Holborn and Fulham later this year.
68 Pentonville Road, N1 9HS, visit strongpilates.co.uk
The equipment: Technogym at Selfridges
If you’re in the market for new home gym gear, head to Technogym’s first experiential wellness retail concept on the ground floor of Selfridges. Boasting a selection of smart gym equipment, you’ll be able to test out the new cross trainer and treadmill from Technogym’s latest Personal range, which has been designed with the help of Italian architect Antonio Citterio to blend seamlessly with even the chicest home. Also try out the brand’s latest product, Technogym Ride – a static bike that allows users to dive into an unprecedented immersive indoor experience via its 22-inch screen.
If you’re struggling to design your at-home fitness space, an in-house design consultancy team is on hand to assist, whether you have space for a full gym or simply wish to integrate Technogym’s space-saving equipment into your home. While you’re there, you can also join several complimentary classes, including Bench Beginner and Total Body HIIT, as well as booking personal training sessions with Barry’s Bootcamp’s Harry Sellers and BXR’s India Bailey.
Visit technogym.com
The new class: Threshold at KXU
Having opened in 2017 on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road, KXU has made a name for itself as London’s first pay-as-you-go full-service fitness concept, promising classes, personal training and medi-spa treatments. The studio divides its classes into three sections — strength, stretch and cardio — with a range of Pilates, bike and body conditioning sessions on offer. The newest class to the KXU cardio schedule is Threshold, which is designed to utilise the principles of threshold training so you work within 80-90 per cent of your max heart rate for extended periods of time. Using ski-ergs, assault bikes, dumbbells and bodyweight movements, the class helps to build muscle in a high-intensity and functional fashion alongside working the cardiovascular system.
241 Pavilion Road, SW1X 0BP, visit kxu.co.uk
Read more: Gamified fitness: The immersive workouts bringing exercise into the 21st Century
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