How aerial fitness classes are turning London into a city of swing

Sweat workers who are tired of hanging around the gym are going to new heights to get in shape, says Phoebe Luckhurst
Flying Fantastic has London tied up in knots

Exercise calls for exertion. If you are trying — which you should be — then it should be taxing: even the very sprightly should sweat after a 10k, and huff and puff through a spin class.

So normal people are rightly loath to make things any harder than is necessary. For example, Bikram yoga — yoga, but conducted in 40-degree heat — might be legitimately termed torture, and its devotees masochists.

But the London fitness fanatic is masochistic by nature. It’s part of the city’s character: we savour the challenge. Everyone is highly strung, or simply loopy. All of which goes some way towards explaining the new enthusiasm for workouts that also — into the bargain — involve you to be suspended in the air, on a rope. Yes, we are a city of zealous swingers.

Flying Fantastic has London all tied up in knots. There are four studios in London (Battersea, Old Street, Bankside and Wimbledon), which offer classes in aerial yoga, as well as other suspended workouts that involve hoops, silks, cords and trapezes.

It is, unexpectedly, phenomenal exercise. “Aerial is amazing for your core muscles,” confirms Chris Wigan, director (and “Ringmaster”) at Flying Fantastic. “There’s nothing quite like it. It’s got all the HIIT fitness benefits of Crossfit but with a better view. Hauling yourself around in the air takes some effort.” In a recent class a customer wore a heart-rate monitor. “They burnt more calories in a silks class than they did in a sweaty spinning class the week before,” he offers. “There’s no doubting the effort required.”

Obviously it works the arms (“wrists, forearms, shoulders, tick”) but it taxes your legs too. “Glutes, quads, adductors and abductors, calves, ankles — all hard at it.” Moreover, your back and abs will look more hewn. It sounds like a wonderful dream you had, or a supermodel’s Instagram account.

There are others. Gym Box offers a class called Rope Burn, which promises a “high-intensity workout using climbing ropes, Hercules hoists, battle and skipping ropes” that will improve endurance and cardiovascular fitness. It is passingly reminiscent of being submitted to “the ropes” in PE — hands raw and knees slick with fear, you never made it far off the ground. The fear is, presumably, incentivising. Aerial Yoga in Whitechapel is reputedly fiendish for the core, as it vows to “alleviate muscle tension, promote joint mobility and increase circulation”.

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Beginners are rightly wary, though: hurtling to the ground at speed hurts. Wigan observes cheerfully that “everyone has to start somewhere” and asserts that there are first-timers in almost every class. Plus, attendees will be supervised by teachers to minimise the risk of anyone feeling out of their depth, and Wigan says that while progression takes place at an individual pace (“some take to the air naturally, others need to work that much harder to get airborne”), determination will pay dividends.

And granted, hoiking yourself up does look like circus witchcraft, but the aerial moves actually draw on many of the other skills honed in exercise generally (chiefly, strength and balance), so if you are reasonably fit, you should expect to find it demanding but not impossible. Give it a chance and you’ll learn the ropes.

While it is nominally accessible, this is a pursuit for high-achievers, which likely explains its appeal for the focused City cohorts. Obviously they want abs like their instructors — but secretly they also enjoy the fact that it all feels a bit silly, too. Boxing or spin classes are a little like the high-octane, high-stakes environment they spend all day in; playing around on a trapeze is just as good a workout but feels like a rare moment of letting go.

Follow Phoebe Luckhurst on Twitter: @phoebeluckhurst

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