A Taste of the Big Apple: 8 Essential NYC-style Workouts in Hong Kong
It’s no secret that New York has long had a love affair with getting buff. From runners in Central Park to yogis on rooftops, New Yorkers have always been ahead of the game when it comes to cutting edge workouts and fitness fundamentals.
So how does Hong Kong stack up these days? After years of limited options we’ve seen an explosion in innovative ways to get fit. The rise of the boutique fitness centre is not the only evidence of the fitness craze sweeping our city. Gyms such as Pure, California Fitness and Fitness First are revamping their offerings to take advantage of the new thirst for more effective, speedier and just plain tougher workouts!
So good news peeps, anything New York can do, we can do. Check out these Hong Kong equivalents of the worlds hottest workouts and then get your lycra-clad selves down there to try them! Just click the green links for more details.
New York has:
THE FHITTING ROOM – High Intensity Interval Training with small class sizes and high energy. Designed to annihilate fat and raise your caloric burn for the entire day. Popular with busy New Yorkers in the know.
Hong Kong has:
H-30 – A new 30 minute HIIT class by California Fitness combining martial arts, suspension training and medicine ball workouts to make you sweat. Small(ish) group sizes and open to non members too, these sessions are all over California Fitness gyms in HK. $30 for a trial class.
TABATA SCULPT AND BURN – Flex Studio (in Central and Wong Chuk Hang) offer this HIIT based fat blasting class with Emily Tan. Short bursts of high intensity work, bodyweight circuits and small class sizes in a chic studio environment. Fab.
New York has:
FLYWHEEL – Spinning but not as you know it. Take out the posing and add a good dose of inclusive and encouraging instructors, pumping bespoke soundtracks and you’ve got Flywheel.
Hong Kong has:
TORQ – An owner-run friendly spin studio in the heart of Central with some of the best qualified spin instructors in town. Track your workout results via their online systems and aim to beat your best! Classes that mix on and off-bike work are a special feature, such as TORQCore and TorqRX .
New York has:
PHYSIQUE 57 – THE essential NYC barre-based workout that incorporates cardio, strength training, stretching and recovery to rapidly transform your body.
Hong Kong has:
XTEND BARRE @ Flex – Designed by the impossibly bendy and beautiful Andrea Rogers, a dancer and Pilates instructor, this class lifts, tones, tightens and works up a cardio sweat using ballet based exercises on the barre and Pilates methods for core strength.
BARREAMPED @ Barre 2 Barre – Another dance and Pilates aficionado, Suzanne Bowen, has designed BarreAmped to sculpt and burn through small movements and isolations in challenging positions. An emphasis on form helps create good posture and work your core hard.
New York has:
BARRY’S BOOTCAMP – Claims to be the best workout in the world, combining epic treadmill workouts and hardcore strength training in a group setting, complete with a nightclub backdrop, juice bar and an army of fanatical fans.
Hong Kong has:
STUDIO FITNESS – Change the red lights of Barry’s for the green glow of Studio Fitness and this is where you’ll get your Barry-style sweat on in HK, complete with refreshment bar. Think spinning sprints and interval training, then add resistance using anything from weights to med balls, blaring tunes and sweaty ripped trainers.
New York has:
AQUA – A TriBeCa oasis of fitness, where spinning meets underwater workout. Yes. You read that right. Imagine a spin bike in a pool with water up to your waist and that’s an Aqua workout. It’s a no-impact high resistance cardio workout that claims to avoid soreness, stress on joints and burn over 800 calories per session.
Hong Kong has:
HYDRO 1.0 – A brand new aqua fitness centre by HKU MTR in Kennedy Town. Also offering underwater spinning classes, running classes (I’m not sure how that works yet but I’m game to try it!) as well as indoor dragon boat training. They are currently offering a free trial class.
New York has:
JUMPLIFE – Another TriBeCa based leader, this studio offers trampoline based workouts that are low impact but high energy. JumpLife ran an amazing summer series of rooftop rebounding sessions last year…what do you say HK?
Hong Kong has:
BOUNCELIMIT – Move over Ryze, it’s time for the grown ups to have a go. A 3000 square foot rebounding studio in Sheung Wan with classes including the beginners level AirBounce, the MaxBounce for additional burn with medicine balls and weights or the intriguing PilatesBounce. Is this a seventies fitness revival? Possibly. Do I care? No, anything that keeps you entertained whilst working out is a good thing in my book.
New York has:
AN INSANE AMOUNT OF OUTDOOR YOGA CLASSES: From June to September it seems New Yorkers can’t get enough of these open air sessions.
Hong Kong has:
YOGA BAM BAM – If you want all year round community-style yoga in your life check out this Pound Lane studio, which opens onto a quiet tree-lined street to give you an earthy vibe. They host regular outdoor events as well as their eclectic mix of classes.
Let’s also hope that OmTogether, the mass outdoor yoga class of 2014 makes a come back this year!
Elle Kealy is an international business coach for fitness health and wellness professionals looking to launch their businesses with a bang and women’s fitness expert, personal trainer and nutrition coach helping women around the world eat better and feel fantastic in just 90 days or less. For more information on working with Elle visit
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