The UK’s recent warm weather may have proven an issue for gym-goers, but one fitness centre has come up with a clever way of making workouts bearable even in extreme heat
Summer can be a hard time for people who like to stay active. It’s often too warm to exercise outside, and even dedicated gyms often heat up to unbearable temperatures during the warmest months of the year.
The UK is set for another heatwave, too, meaning workouts are about to get sweatier – while some of us may decide to skip them altogether. It’s hardly a surprise, therefore, that some Brit gym-goers are becoming obsessed with a workout created by a gym in Dubai where managers and personal trainers. GymNation – the city’s leading gym chain, with more than 120,000 members – has shipped in a staggering 1,000kg of ice just this week for its new workout classes.
Here, participants push around giant ice blocks, wear ice-filled vests to squat, and even run towards giant chiller fans on treadmills.
The novel approach to the UAE’s recent soaring temperatures has been shared on social media and quickly went viral, with roasting Brits begging their own gyms to come up with similar ideas.
Taking to Instagram, one person wrote: “I’ll go…….. Just bring it to my front door.”
Another agreed: “Other gym plans immediately cancelled for July and August.”
Meanwhile a third chimed in: “Okay, but the frosted reps with ice vests!? who’s free to go next weekend, I need a gym buddy for this madness.”
The workout is known as the “Coolest Class”, combining high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with equipment made of ice.
The drills include ‘blizzard sprints’, which are treadmill runs against a giant fan. This not only creates the feeling of resistance, but also keeps runners cool.
The ‘polar push’ involves sled pushes with ice blocks, while ‘frosted reps’ are squats with ice-packed weighted vests.
The ‘glacier grip challenge’ sees participants complete bicep curls and lunges using ice buckets.
At the end of the class, participants can recover in a ‘chill zone’.
GymNation Chief Marketing Officer Rory McEntee says the the class was created as a “genuine solution to the boiling temperatures which are restricting gym goers”.
He said: “We’ve seen a huge amount of interest from members since launching the class and it’s been good fun watching the reaction unfold on social media around the world in the past few days.
“At GymNation, we pride ourselves on being the people’s gym and that means listening to what our members need. Peak summer in Dubai becomes a real challenge due to overheating – with a recent YouGov survey revealing 71% of residents plan to stay in during summer, rather than seek local leisure opportunities to escape the heat.
“We wanted to fix that with this new class, which combines cutting-edge fitness programming with temperature-controlled training to deliver maximum impact, without the meltdown.
“We’ve even had messages from fitness lovers in the UK, Europe and Australia over the past week who are travelling to Dubai in July, asking to reserve them a place.”
Sadly for UK exercise-lovers, there are “no plans” to bring the class here yet.