When training for long term results you need to freshen things up every once in a while. If you’ve fallen into a routine, chances are you’ve stopped challenging your body and mind, causing a lull in progress. Sound familiar? It’s now time to recalibrate your workout. To give you some fresh inspiration, Esquirepredicts the biggest fitness trends set to dominate the rest of the year.
***
Boxing
Mastered HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)? If so, boxing will take your stamina to the next level, build muscle and endurance and burn calories. A no-brainer, right? Warehouse gym in Al Quoz hosted the White Collar Boxing finals just last month, and has boxing classes four nights a week at 7pm and on a Saturday afternoon. There are also advanced classes two nights a week, and there’s kids’ boxing on a Friday if your puny offspring has dreams of putting one over on the class bully.
What looks to be 2017’s biggest trend takes its inspiration from infancy, using natural movements such as baby crawls. It will build a rock-hard core, while increasing mobility, agility and flexibility. InnerFight Dubai builds this into its hugely popular CrossFit sessions.
This year it’s less about vanity training and building mass. Instead, there’s a much greater focus on increasing strength, functionality and honing a more powerful body. This involves lifting heavier weights with natural movement patterns, which ensures muscle balance to decrease the risk of injury. It will also blast away calories. Try the Power Room at Train Strength & Fitness in Al Quoz if you’re serious about honing your sessions.
Why opt for just one class, when you can do two? This is the year of the collision-style workout, combining two different but complementary types of exercise. For instance, Inspire is a yoga, Pilates and fitness studio, where the ‘shred and stretch’ class does 30 minutes of each activity. Or, to really mix things up, the aerials classes (rope, hoop or silk) at Pole Fit Dubai will burn muscles you haven’t used in years. Those sessions are often back-to-back with flex classes to stretch out those aching limbs.
Could House of Cards’ Frank Underwood and his rowing machine be behind the uptick of interest in the sport? That certainly seems to be the case in America, whereas here it’s always been popular. Visit rowingwod.co for free online classes from Cam Nichol, an Olympic rower and medical doctor-turned-coach. Keep an eye on rowingwod.co for details of his periodic masterclasses in Dubai. Or go outdoors with montysrowing-school.com to get some fresh air in your (exploding) lungs.
