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We review Holofit at 4Ward Fitness – for those who want to take the party from the club to the gym
Training system marries video games with performance trackers to create an interactive workout
Holofit is a training system which marries video games with performance trackers to create an interactive workout.Photo: Instagram @4ward_fitnesshk
What is it? As if there aren’t enough workout terms in our vernacular, enter Holofit. This is an interactive training system which marries video games with performance trackers to create an interactive workout. 4Ward Fitness in Mong Kok claims to be the only gym in Hong Kong to offer the immersive exercises, so we were intrigued. We opted for the cardio-based “fat-burning” class. The gym also offers Holofit classes for mobility, as well as those focused on the upper body, lower body and full body.
What makes the workout video game-esque are the LED lights. These set out “stations” for each participant which can be switched up for each exercise. The lights act as guidance, telling you where to put your hands and fit as you perform various high-intensity interval training (HIIT) exercises, such as lunges and squats.
How is it interactive and performance based? For starters, your statistics are projected on a giant screen which tracks your heart rate and your “holopoints”. Everyone in class is compared and the top five are ranked throughout the class.
Who is it for? Those with a competitive streak and those who want to take the party from the club to the gym. The gym is designed to be dim to emulate a nightclub, and in hindsight we realised there was no natural light in the actual gym section.
What we loved: Two words: Dyson hairdryer. This gym is swankily decked out. Beyond the facilities in the changing rooms, the water fountains offer special alkaline water with a PH of 9.0 which is better for you when you are working out (so we were told by the staff) and there is a little bar for your post-gym protein fix.
The workout itself was challenging – mostly because of its competitive nature. We pushed ourselves more than we usually would to remain in the top five throughout.
Points to note: You can only join the Holofit class and indeed any of the classes if you become a member of the gym. Also worth noting is that many classes are in Cantonese, though the trainers do speak English and the songs played in our class were English tunes which we recognised.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by 4ward Fitness (@4ward_fitnesshk) on Mar 6, 2018 at 12:25am PST
Cantonese is not the only Asian language the gym favours. A unique selling point for 4Ward Fitness is its embrace of Korean culture. If you’re a K-pop fan, membership may be worth it. The gym offers Korean-inspired classes taught by Korean instructors (sometimes in Korean), including K-pop dance classes, Korean military training classes (think military training infused with typical exercise moves) among others.
The gym is open 24/7, including on all public holidays and during typhoon 10 and black rainstorms, we were told by staff, and it offers classes from 7.30am to 3am. Yes, you read right, 3am – there is no excuse for not going to the gym now.
Conclusion: As someone who already holds too many gym memberships, adding another one to the mix was simply out of the question. But we see the appeal of the gym and their out-of-the-ordinary class selections. If you can make it out of the Central bubble, it might just be the gym for you.