BeatBody_Breathe

Tucked away in the corner of a small plaza in Darlinghurst is where you’ll find the studio for Sydney’s newest workout sensation, Beat Body. A unique fitness program based around three different 45-minute classes – Beat, Box and Breathe – which between them offer the full range of cardio, strength, bodyweight, boxing and breath-work. 

Tom Sproats, Founder of Beat Body, had a vision to offer full-body high-intensity workouts based around carefully-curated playlists with music as the driving force and focus. His approach has resulted in classes which are fully immersive, nightclub-like, sound and light experiences, whether you’re going to sweat it out or chill out. 

While their signature class is the fast-paced HIIT “Beat” class, and the cardio-heavy “Box” class looked like fun too, I opted to try the slower-paced “Breathe” class to see if I could destress and achieve peak relaxation.  

 

What was it like?
Walking into the darkened room, my eyes took a minute to adjust to the softly undulating ever-changing lights in soothing tones of blue and green and tea lights scattered around the room. The ambient instrumental soundtrack was instantly relaxing – think less woo-woo hippy massage music, more festival chill-out room. As I found my mat on the floor and got comfortable, I felt my shoulders instantly drop and class hadn’t even started yet – #winning already!

Classes are small and intimate, I had less than 10 people in mine. Each yoga mat station has a foam roller, two rolling balls and a stretchy Theraband. Class started with us lying on our backs, focussing on breathing as our instructor led us through a short guided meditation to relax. This was followed by a leisurely sequence of foam-rollering to release our tight legs, hamstrings and backs, then some toning and stretching with the bands and a few yoga stretches. We finished up with another short guided breath meditation. Forty-five minutes went by way too quickly, I could have easily done a full hour.

 

The verdict:
This was so much more than just a stretching class – the combination of targeted large muscle fascia release moves, yoga and meditation really did offer a fast-track to mental relaxation and looser leaner muscles.

The whole experience with the specially-selected music synced to lights, made me feel like I was underwater or under the sea in a dark womb-like way which was super-relaxing. I floated out in a calm, mellow, almost hypnotic state.

TIP: If you have time, the Breathe class is a great add-on to do directly after a high-energy Beat or Box class for the ultimate stretch-out or cool-down. 

Who: Beat Body
Where: Shop 108, 46-50 Burton Street, Darlinghurst (but Google Maps 248 Palmer St, Darlinghurst actually takes you closer). Open 7 days a week.
Prices: There is currently a New Member offer of 21 days of unlimited classes for only $21. Individual and discounted class packs can also be purchased and booked online here

 

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