The Month in Sweat: January 2019

Yogasphere in the Gherkin

Ah January, it’s cold and it’s dark and all your mates pretend they’re going to give up booze. Luckily there are loads of great fitness events happening to take your mind off the lack of cake.

FRAME classes for a tenner

Frame new year

Early mornings throughout January

FRAME studios in Fitzrovia, Hammersmith, King’s Cross, Victoria, Shoreditch, Queen’s Park, Farringdon

moveyourframe.com

Well would you Adam & Eve it, one of London’s first boutique fitness studios, FRAME, is celebrating its tenth birthday this year. The original site in Shoreditch has had a bit of a spruce up and there’ll be special offers and events throughout 2019 – there’s a big party on the 26th with Oval Space, details further down in these listings.

The first FRAME-tastic happening you need to know about though is JanYay – all classes before 7.30am are a tenner all month (apart from Reformer Pilates). That’s a saving of around a fiver. You’ll need that for coffee after getting up so early.

FREE

Julia Buckley fitness membership

Julia Buckley Fitness

From January 2019

juliabuckleyfitness.com

Personal trainer Julia Buckley is feeling pretty generous this year, she’s ditching the membership fees on her online gym and offering it for free. There are more than 200 real-time workout videos you can try, 12 structured fitness programmes to follow – including those for beginners and more experienced exercisers – recipes and community forums.

We’ve done a few of the vids before and they were pretty tough, ideal for following in the gym, at home or in the park. The structured programmes are good if you’re not sure where to start.

FREE

adidas Runners Saturday long runs

adidas runners long runs

Weekly from 5 January

Locations vary, 5 Jan is Farringdon

adidas.co.uk

Training for a marathon or half marathon? Dreading those long runs on your own? Starting on 5 Jan, adidas Runners are launching weekend long runs following half and full marathon training plans and split into pace groups. They’re starting at around 12km and building up. Locations will change most weeks to mix things up a bit. Join the FB group for the most up-to-date info.

There are also a fair few other run clubs who host long runs at this time of year, including Advent Running and WMN RUN. We’ll do a post listing them all when we get time so you can find the most convenient one for you. You’re welcome.

FREE

Strava 40|80 Run Challenge and breakfast

strava lululemon 40 80

5 and 12 January, 10:00

Lululemon King’s Road

facebook.com/events

Lululemon have partnered with activity tracking app Strava for the first month of 2019. If you run either 40 or 80km between 2-15 January you’ll receive a 25% discount to spend on lululemon kit. Nice (particularly as it’s great stuff but it isn’t cheap).

They’re also hosting Saturday morning run clubs from the King’s Road store. Led by Joe Hastie, you can choose a 6km or 12km route and you’ll get a free breakfast after. You don’t need to be attempting the Strava challenge to attend so don’t worry if 40km sounds out of your comfort zone.

FREE

Rise & Run run club

Westin run club

8 January and monthly thereafter, 07:00

Southwark

runwestinlondon.co.uk

January is the month of new year’s resolutions and marathon training so there are a few new running clubs knocking about. This one is led by our mate Charlie Watson of the Runners Beans blog. Taking place on the first Tuesday of the month, you’ll cover around 5km along the river Thames, all paces welcome.

Each quarter there’ll be special events including guest leaders, talks, yoga and workshops. The club is free and hosted in collaboration with Westin Hotels who are launching a new Westin London City wellness resort in 2021.

The Wonder of You: Yoga and Meditation with Live Orchestra

Sweat and sound

10 January, 18:30, £35 or £60 for two

Secret venue in Bloomsbury

sweatandsound.com

The latest event from Sweat and Sound – who specialise in multi-sensory experiences including fitness, sound and music – looks like a belter. We’ve done a similar session before with them and highly recommend. 

Great for a night out with friends if you’re trying to avoid the pub, you’ll be led through a 60-minute yoga class and 20-min meditation accompanied by live music from pianist and composer Okiem and fellow musicians. The exact location is kept secret until a couple of days before but it’s usually somewhere atmospheric, impressive and that you had no idea was even there. There are only a few spaces left for this so book quick if you want in.

Yogasphere at the Gherkin

Yogasphere at the Gherkin
Image by Yogasphere

Saturdays, 08:30 and Wednesdays, 07:15 in January and February from 12 Jan, £25

The Gherkin, City of London

searcysatthegherkin.co.uk

Bar and restaurant Searcy’s at the Gherkin are hosting a series of seasonal menus, healthy supper clubs, watercolour classes and yoga this month. Yoga will take place twice a week right at the top of the tower and gives you amazing views across London through the Gherkin’s glass dome.

Classes are run by Yogasphere and focus on a different sense each week – Saturday morning classes are followed by a 30-minute sound bath and Wednesday mornings there’s a short wellbeing talk to finish. We’re hoping to go to the launch on the 12th, might see you there.

FiiT Live

Gabby Allen Fiit

12, 19, 20 January, various times £10

FiiT studio, East London

eventbrite.com

If you haven’t heard of FiiT, it’s an app with loads of free fitness classes from top trainers and social media faves. This month you can go along to the London studio and experience FiiT IRL, with Cardio Workshops from instagram fave Chessie King, Resistance Bands Workshops from Gabby Allen (you might recognise her from Love Island in 2017, although she was a PT before) and Yoga Workshops from Chris Magee.  

Rapitation

rapitation sweat & sound

14 January, 18:30, £15

Secret location in Shoreditch

sweatandsound.com

Another one from the guys at Sweat & Sound, not sure exactly how this is going to work but it sounds interesting. It’s a rap and spoken word meditation experience. Expect some of London’s best poets, rappers and spoken word artists working alongside meditation experts in a secret location in Shoreditch.

FREE

Blockhead Energy Basecamp: Running, Yoga, HIIT and Strength sessions

Blockhead basecamp

17-20 January

Commercial Street, Shoreditch

blockheadenergy.com

Blockhead is a new brand of chewing gum with energy options to give you a caffeine or vitamin boost without having to chug down a sports drink. This month, to celebrate the launch, they’ve got a four day pop-up over in Shoreditch with loads of free activities. As well as neon life drawing and lego building there are a number of fitness sessions including some from our mate, run coach James Poole. Sessions include:

  • 17 Jan, 07:30 HIIT and Strength with Matt Feckzo
  • 17 Jan, 18:30 Run More with James Poole
  • 18 Jan, 07:00 Run Stronger with James Poole
  • 19 Jan, 10:00, Run faster with James Poole
  • 20 Jan, Power Yoga with Matt Feckzo

Everything’s free but you need to register on the site above to secure your spot.

FREE

Hotpod Yoga Dulwich

hotpod yoga dulwich

19-20 January

West Dulwich

facebook.com

Hotpod Yoga’s heated, inflatable yoga pods have been springing up all over the UK in the past couple of years, some have even made it overseas. The latest location for 2019 is West Dulwich and to celebrate, Hotpod are offering free classes throughout the launch weekend. There are five 60-minute vinyasa classes to choose from each day. Grab your free pass on the link above, get yourself warmed up.

Wild Swimming and Anxiety

Wild swiming and anxiety Joe Minihane

24 January, 18:30, £7

The Hoxton Holborn

thehoxton.com

If you like to take your swims in the open air then this sounds like an interesting talk. Travel writer Joe Minihane, author of Floating: A Life Regained will share tales of his travels wild swimming around the UK in a bid to conquer anxiety. There’ll be a discussion on how nature can soothe mental health issues, tips on how to go about wild swimming and a screening of Joe’s short film Waterlog.

Oval Space gets Framed

Oval space gets framed

26 January, 09:30 or 10:45, £25, £5 add on for extra FRAME and Facegym workshop

Oval Space, Hackney

designmynight.com

To celebrate their 10th birthday, FRAME are taking over the Oval Space in East London for a two-hour fitness party. As with any good party there’ll be glitter and party bags, glow sticks and hair braiding in the FRAME Playpen. Then there’s a Rebounding Rave, where you get to jump around on mini trampettes and do an exercise class to 90s tunes.

There’s a cafe if you want to hang around and have a chat and for an extra fiver you can add on a FRAME and Facegym workshop. The workshop involves a 30-minute Quickie Butt Lift class and a 30-min Facegym quickie facelift where you learn facial exercises to help keep wrinkles at bay.

AcroYoga workshop

Frame acroyoga workshop Julie Havelund-Willett and Eugene Van Der Westhuizen

26 January, 13:30

FRAME

moveyourframe.com

Fancy trying something different this year? AcroYoga is thoroughly awesome. It’s basically balancing and messing around with your mate. When we did it I managed to do some weird kind of handstand on Emma’s back, no idea how we did it but it looked good. This 90-minute workshop will take you through the basics and let you have a play around. You can go solo or with a friend. You will have fun.

Yoga for Runners, Cyclists and Movers

Yoga for runners and cyclists with Matt Mulcahy

27 January, 14:00, £25

Yogahaven Clapham

yogahaven.co.uk

Tell you what, I’ve been running a lot lately and my legs are in need of a good old stretch so I reckon I’m going to pop along to this two-hour workshop. Aimed at releasing tension in the major muscle groups used in sports – hello quads – you’ll also learn breathing exercises to improve lung capacity and mindfulness techniques to help you ace your next race. Seems pretty good value for two hours.

FREE

London marathon 2019: Training, nutrition and making your marathon journey workshop

30 January, 18:00

Blue Fin Building, Southwark

eventbrite.co.uk

Doing London marathon this year? If you’re feeling the nerves and want a bit of expert advice, JustGiving are hosting a marathon workshop with highly experienced run coach Nick Anderson. He’ll take you through training – and how to fit it in, nutrition and hydration, tapering, fundraising and what to do on the big day. It’s free but you need to be registered to JustGiving to get a place.

Hey hey, do you know of any cool fitness happenings for February? Email charlotte@lungesandlycra.co.uk with the deets. Thx

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