Performing lunges in stiletto heels was considered the height of avant-garde workouts a few years ago. But the 2009 gym junkie has been there and done that, and fitness centres are coming up with everything from caveman cardio to sword fights to keep members sweating for more.
When high heels replaced high-impact trainers as must-have gym gear, working out suddenly became more interesting. Realising that run-of-the-mill dance and yoga classes weren't enough to keep members in the gym, fitness centres had to get creative.
'People feel they need to go to the gym ... but they don't want to be there,' says Andrew Wong Kee, managing director of JAB Mixed Martial Arts and Precision Training Studio in Central. 'People need variety to gain enjoyment from their workouts. This is what will drive them to keep at it.'
JAB will this month open a jiujitsu academy called The Dojo and the classes will have an emphasis on 'Caveman training' - putting members in touch with their primal sides with rope climbing, monkey bars, sledgehammer swings and tyre turns. The exercises challenge the participants' strength, explosive power and endurance, but most importantly, they're fun.
'These types of workouts are more effective and enjoyable than plodding away on a treadmill,' Wong says. 'With all the quirky new workouts popping up, it shows that the fitness industry is still evolving.'
One of the pioneers of this revolutionary gym movement is Crunch, a US-based fitness chain that blends fitness and entertainment into innovative and fun workouts. Crunch first made headlines almost a decade ago with its fitness classes such as Abs, Thighs and Gossip, a class taught by a drag queen complete with a blond wig and fishnets, shouting 'T.G.I.F.' - Thank God I'm Fabulous - as he led his class into a series of body-toning sashays.