It’s been an exciting six months for wellness and fitness trends: lots of new events, new genres of classes and a few new apps that are changing the way we exercise. Here are some new trends we expect to see a lot more of.
Bye-bye Gym Memberships
If you’re more about the workout classes and less about the cardio machines, fitness passes K Fit, GuavaPass and Passport Asia let you try tons of classes from various studios or gyms in Singapore. K Fit is a website which lets members sign up for classes at different locations across the island. Similarly, mobile app Passport Asia has functions like GPS location services that find a class near you, the option to sync sessions to your calendar and social media integration. Entry-level memberships start at $59 for access to workouts like Pilates and Zumba at 130 gyms and studios, capped at four sessions a month.
On the other hand, GuavaPass gives you access to classes like yoga, CrossFit, indoor cycling and Muay Thai across over 70 locations here for $139 per billing cycle. But you’ll only allowed to visit the same gym three times in a cycle. It also gives you exclusive invites to wellness events, community classes and special deals with partners like juice shop The Juice Junkie and raw food cafe Afterglow.
Yoga is Now About Levitation
Downward dogs are so old school. This year, it’s all about aerial yoga, which has made a comeback at Pure Yoga offering Pure Air, a class involving fabric hammocks and stirrups to spice up the regular Hatha, Vinyasa, restorative and therapeutic classes. It looks fancy but the idea is to use gravity as leverage to reduce resistance and strengthen, tone and improves your posture. At Upside Motion, the AntiGravity Aerial classes combines different elements of yoga, dance and aerial acrobatics to get your heart pumping with funky suspension methods.
…In More Ways Than One
When hip co-working community The Working Capitol started offering free meditation sessions on Mindful Mondays, a weekly public wellness series, we wondered: is meditation getting trendy? Mindfulness sessions are being offered by some yoga studios here but for a more comprehensive list of workshops, head over to Nirvana Mind. They have Meditation 101 classes for beginners and a range of six other self-awareness workshops.
Workouts are Resembling Parties
Early-morning, booze-free fitness party Zespri has come and passed, but there are more opportunities for social animals to exercise in the great outdoors. Yoga festival Soulscape is back on Tanjong Beach this September. And in a couple of weekends is Urbanscape on Jul 18, held on the rooftop of uber-hip hangout Lepark. There’s live music by local musicians Alicia Pan and BittyMacBeth, and a 60-minute sunset yoga session with Yoga Movement. Soulscape tickets start at $65 for early birds while Urbanscape tickets are at $12 for entry and it includes a beer or non-alcoholic drink or at $16 for entry, a yoga session and a beer or non-alcoholic drink.
Agility Beats Brawn
Lifting weights will never go out of style, but now there are two new weight-free ways to tone that dad bod too. BodyTree GST uses a physical conditioning technique developed by gymnastics coach Christopher Sommer for the USA Men’s National Team. Interested? Then sign up for specific classes which concentrate on different parts of your body like GST Push, GST Legs, GST Pull, GST Handstand and GST Flexibility.
If it all sounds pretty tame to you, here’s a more exotic workout. Bodytec brings technology into the mix with EMS Training (Electro Muscular Stimulation). It’s not as shocking as it sounds: it sends electrical impulse currents via a strap-on suit, which activate your muscle groups while you exercise. The use of EMS is said to increase the possibility of targeting problem areas. If you’re a little sceptical, try a $30 single trial first.
People are Getting on Board
There must be something in the water, because standing on a board is cool now. Paddle boarding is picking up here, and at Stand Up Paddling School, you can dip your toes into a variety of workouts like core training, yoga and Pilates from $60 an hour, for a class of two or more. Much like surfing, you basically challenge your core by keeping your balance on top of moving water. But if you still prefer to stay indoors and on dry land, Surfset is another activity which mimics the sport, and starts from $35 for a single class.
