INSANITY workout - review

A couple of months ago, I began to hear whisperings - around SW London and beyond - of a workout so tough it left even regular marathon runners trembling in their trainers.

The INSANITY workout, which began as a DVD sensation, was created by Shaun T - a man so bulging with muscle that he makes Hercules look like Rodney Trotter (American, obviously...) - and pushes participants to their very limits to hone the body and improve fitness levels. 

INSANITY has now well and truly reached British shores, and as well as the DVD workout taking the UK by storm, live classes have been popping up nationwide to help us Brits battle the bulge.

The lovely Tanya got in touch with me back in July to let me know about classes starting in Putney, Fulham and Hammersmith, and asked me if I fancied coming along to a session to give it a go.

Her very kind invitation happened to coincide with my lovely boyfriend popping the question, so what better time to kick-start the bridal body regime and give something new a go?!

Off I trundled to St Mary's Church hall in Putney at 7pm on a Monday evening, completely clueless about the 'experience' that lay in wait.

Tanya reassured me on arrival that I would be absolutely fine, but several references to the need to 'dig deep' and '100% effort' had me thinking otherwise...

I was right.

INSANITY does exactly what it says on the tin. IT IS INSANE.

But, I LOVED it!

The website tells you with  confidence that 'you'll be dripping with sweat, you'll be gasping for breath, your heart will be pumping out of your chest, and you'll wonder if you can keep going'. 

They are absolutely spot on. 

INSANITY is a variation of high intensity interval training (HIIT); you get your heart rate up as much as possible through a series of high impact moves for two minutes at a time, with a 30 second recovery in between. 

Each class starts with a 'warm-up' to get your heart rate up, which consists of six different moves that are repeated three times.

As a fairly regular gym-goer and a big fan of cardio classes like Body Attack and Body Combat, I was flummoxed - to say the least - at having to indulge my inner dweeby asthmatic and reach for my puffer after just this section alone.

Once the warm-up had really gotten the blood pumping, it was just a 30 second break before we were into the first of three 'blocks' of interval training. 

Starting with more cardio (god help me) before moving onto balance & agility and strength, each block consisted of four moves of 30 seconds each, followed by a 30 second recovery period.

For each move, there's a lower intensity option you can take if you're really struggling. I was reassured to see that even the super fit members of the class were resorting to these every once in a while (phewph). 

As Tanya encouraged us from the front of the room, it's all about how many reps you can do and keeping perfect form & technique. So long as you're working at 100% effort, it doesn't matter whether it's the higher or lower intensity option that you're taking. 

By the end of block three I thought I might quite possibly keel over / vomit / cry, but I just about managed to make it through to the final abs and stretching sections.

After a much needed towel down and glug of water, I even mustered the strength for one last diamond jump for a picture. (In the bright pink).

It may have been the most difficult workout class I've ever done, but it was also the most rewarding. Afterwards, I was knackered, but buzzing! 

Six weeks down the line and I'm just about to sign up for another batch of classes, having completed my fifth week of INSANITY workouts on Monday.

I've certainly slimmed down as a result, and - according to my heart rate monitor - am burning up to 650 calories in each 50 minute class!

Tanya is currently running three classes each week:

Putney: Monday, 7pm, St Mary's Church Hall

Hammersmith: Thursday, 7pm Westside School

Fulham: Wednesday, 7pm, Vanstone Place Community Hall

Give it a go, SW6ers - it's a workout unlike any other!

Plus, your first class is only £5!

For more information, check out the website: http://www.londoninsaniacs.co.uk/ or send Tanya an email: londoninsaniacs@gmail.com 

Duo's Deep Tissue Experience

Just on the corner of the Fulham road is a fitness centre and spa unlike anything else SW6 has to offer.

Duo Chelsea has been open for a few years now, and offers personal training sessions (including a free trial) and a wealth of treatments to hundreds of Fulhamites in the surrounding area.

Blaze, my fabulous therapist for the afternoon, tells me that all sorts of celebs waft through their front doors - from pop stars to princesses, Duo's appointment book is star studded to say the least. In fact, I'm told that my deep tissue massage appointment meant that a rather well known food critic was denied his usual dose of r and r last Saturday, as muggins here had snapped up the last slot!

The deep tissue massage really is 'an experience' like no other. More accustomed to the lavender oils and lapping waves soundtracks of your traditional masseuse appointment, Blaze's opening gambit of 'how's your pain tolerance?' made it clear that Champneys, this ain't.

Designed to get the blood pumping through knotted muscle fibres to release tension and strains, deep tissue massages HURT. However, the pain is both oddly satisfying, and totally worthwhile once you've experienced the results.

Blaze dutifully kneaded away at my office battered shoulders for a good half hour, breaking down the knots and taking the tension out of the muscles until they'd eased.

Even though the treatment isn't as soothing as your average massage, the deep tissue massage was fantastic. Blaze spotted exactly the areas that required more work and tailored the treatment accordingly. Though the pressure is firm, the treatment is really relaxing, and I emerged feeling like the stresses and strains of a very busy few weeks hunched over a desk had been lifted.

Also on offer at Duo are a wide range of more traditional 'beauty' treatments, from facials to foot rubs.

But, if you want my advice, be bold - the deep tissue massage may feel a bit like going 6 rounds with Frank Bruno at times, but the after effects make it all worthwhile.

Watch this space for more on Duo and their personal training offering (which will almost certainly leave me in need of another massage...!)


Duo Chelsea
2a Gunter Grove, Chelsea, SW10 0UJ
0207 352 5399
info@duoyouplusus.com

Fabulous Facials on Wandsworth Bridge Road

Usually, walking through the doors of the dentist fills me with dread. But last week, making my way into Fulham dental surgery, Karma, I felt anything but.

Tucked away at the top, above all the drills and general horror that goes along with a trip to the tooth doctor, is a very different experience indeed.

A real hidden gem amongst the more obvious beauty salons and treatment rooms dotted along the Wandsworth Bridge Road, Karma Well-Being  offers a wide range of fabulous treatments at highly competitive prices.

The incredibly charming and friendly Ellie Blair, who works her magic providing all sorts of treatments from Swedish Massage to Reiki, invited me along to try a brand new kind of facial: Face the World.

Unlike more traditional facial treatments, Face the World incorporates music and massage from all corners of the globe, providing you with a holistic experience that really revitalises. From a cleanse and tone inspired by the rainforest, to a neck and shoulder massage using Tibetan pressure points, this treatment really is unique.

The founders of the Face the World have come up with their own range of delicious smelling products to go along with the treatment, ensuring you leave feeling fresh faced and relaxed.

Ellie really is a fantastic therapist, and I left the little treatment room with a face smoother than a baby's bottom, and feeling truly zenned out. Plus, with a complimentary 8 minute mini-treatment and neck & shoulder massage incorporated, I felt well and truly pampered.

At £35 for an hour, this treatment is really fantastic value.

As well as the Face the World facial treatment, Karma Well-Being also offers:

Swedish Full Body Massage (60 min) -£40
Reiki (30  min - 1st and 2nd degree) - £35
Head/Neck/Shoulder Stress Reliver (30 min) - £25
Kansa Vatki Ayurvedic Foot and Leg Massage (45 min) - £35

I'll be booking in for a full body massage for Ellie to work her magic as an Easter treat!

Karma Well-Being
c/o Karma Dental Care
144 Wandsworth Bridge Road
Fulham
SW6 2UH

0207 736 0876

www.karmawell-being.co.uk
wellbeing@karmadentalcare.co.uk

Far From The Braying Sloanes - Super Supper at The Sands End

If there is one thing that our beautiful borough is not short of, it's pubs.

From The Durell to The Duke on the Green, SW6 boasts a vast array of establishments all vying to provide the local twenty-something masses with their weekly fix of gin and slim.

But there's one pub in the area that holds a very special place in my heart.

Some plump for the Sloaney Pony (White Horse), others have fallen for The Phene, but the pub that gets the number one spot on my list is The Sands End. Every time.

Nestled in the quiet side-streets off the bustling Wandsworth Bridge Road and big sister to The Brown Cow on the Fulham Road, The Sands End is bit off the beaten track. But despite its elusive location, it's always busy; full of savvy SW6ers in the know about what this hidden gem has to offer.

When I say busy, I don't mean The White Horse busy. There's no need to get the commuting elbows out to get to the bar. Far from the braying Sloanes and the "Tobes, can you grab a Doombar for Giles, mate?" barks across the beer pumps, it's busy in the best kind of way. Enough people to gauge its popularity, without feeling like a sardine tin.

Plus, it gets right what so many other pubs in the area fail to. The food.

The food at The Sands End is absolutely fantastic.

On a recent visit, I went along with my boyfriend to sample the delights of the updated menu, and chef Olly certainly did not disappoint.

The pollock sashimi starter is an updated version of a longstanding favourite. Light and full of fresh, crisp flavours, the pollock is caught in Cornwall each morning and plated up to the masses after Olly has worked his magic on it the very same day.

Another newbie to the starter selection is the crab and scallop raviolo. A delicious parcel of perfectly cooked pasta, filled with meaty fish and covered in a creamy and rich sauce, which was devoured very happily.

Chuffed with how well we'd ordered our starters, our appetites had been truly whetted for the main course.

James went for what I can only describe as every man's dream meal: beef rib in a barbecue glaze, served with macaroni cheese and coleslaw. The meat fell off the bone, and the sticky sweet barbecue sauce was fantastic alongside the macaroni cheese. I know this, because I demanded more than one mouthful. Obviously. This dish really wouldn't have looked out of place at a far pricier Hawksmoor-style establishment.

Convinced by our excellent waiter, Fred, I opted for another new addition to the menu - risotto with hake. Without wanting to go all Gregg Wallace on you, this really was the most amazingly balanced plate of food I think I have ever eaten. The flavours were amazing.

We rounded off our dinners with a delicious, but totally unnecessary chocolate mousse. (What blogger worth their salt would be so unthinking as to not try the puddings?!)

Not only is The Sands End superb in the food it produces, it's also very reasonably priced for what they serve. Starters range from around £6 - £9, and mains start at about £15. Granted, the beef rib is £20, but you'd pay £30 for it elsewhere.

You don't even have to go the whole hog and have a massive meal either. Pop along for a pint and a bar snack! Their Scotch eggs are to die for, and their sausage rolls are pretty darn good, too.

Thanks to the team at The Sands End that made our evening so memorable. We'll no doubt be back again soon!


The Sands End
135-137 Stephendale Road
London
SW6 2PR
020 7731 7823
enquiries@thesandsend.co.uk

Valentine’s Day, the SW6 way

Cardboard cut-out hearts loom over the ready meal aisle in every supermarket, Paperchase has turned pink overnight, and boyfriends everywhere (well, at least in my flat) are complaining about the 'racket' that is the 14th February set dinner sharing menu, which has replaced the normal selection in all our favourite restaurants.

It can only mean one thing. Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and SW6 is about to be divided into its two traditional camps for this time of year: Smug Couples and Singletons.

If romance makes you run for the hills, the good folk of London’s bubbliest borough have got a wide range of ideas to make sure you spend the day in style.

Single and ready to mingle? Why not try…

Honk it you're horny this Valentine's Day at Honky Tonk

This year join the singles party on 14th February at Honky Tonk Chelsea & Honky Tonk Clapham and Honky If You're Horny!

Each table will have a very special cupids horn on it and when you see a certain someone who catches your eye, give it a good squeeze and let them know that they could be your valentine's this year!

Power ballads and lover's rock at Maggie's 

Maggie's 80s club in Chelsea will be dedicating their decks to Power Ballads and Lover's Rock for Valentine's. The dress code with be appropriately themed 'denim and big hair' and to really get the party started, the first fifty lovers will get a 'love is the drug' shooter on arrival.
Then, in homage to the only calendar eve of the year when 'Smooching Selfies' are 'totes apropes' Maggie's will be running a competition to see who can tweet the best kissagram with the winner receiving a complimentary fishbowl cocktail sharer.

Valentine's Day Toga Party at BungaBunga

This year BungaBunga in Battersea will be harping back to their Roman roots, in celebration of one of history's greatest love affairs, between the infamous Cleopatra and Mark Anthony with a Traditional Toga Valentine's Party.

The dress code will be titillating toga attire, of course and the night will see guest enjoy not just a feast fit for emperors but also an array of amphitheatre worthy entertainment in the form of love song karaoke.

Fighting the festive flab? Grab a Slice of the action!

If you're anything like me, at this dreary time of year you'll be mid-way through a half-hearted January detox and an inch away from binning the 'green juice' and reaching for the nearest biscuit tin/wine bottle/fag packet (delete as appropriate).

And let’s face it; that’s totally understandable. The weather is miserable, we’re back at work, and the annual influx of not so fair weather fitness fans is making the average gym class studio feel more like a sardine tin.

Having narrowly avoided a black eye from an over-enthusiastic neighbour’s energetic ‘Superman’ leaping, it was after a packed out Body Attack class at my local gym that I set out to find a fun and fresh new way to exercise in SW6.

Like Sarah and Jess before me, I trundled off to discover the brilliant local business that is Slice: an innovative group-exercise concept housed in a beautiful, bespoke building in the heart of Parsons Green.

Tucked away round the corner from Waitrose, Slice offers an enormous range of exercise classes to suit every taste, whatever your fitness level.

Launched last year and growing all the time, Slice is a breath of fresh air when it comes to exercise classes. From your more traditional Yoga and Pilates, to Barre Conditioning (a Slice speciality) and Fighting Fit, there’s something for everyone.

Scanning the list, there was one particular option that I had to try: 80s Aerobics.

I don’t care what anybody says, I know it’s tacky and well renowned as ‘the decade that taste forgot’, but I LOVE the 80s. Leg warmers, Wham!, big hair. I love it all.

So it was with a spring in my step and my leopard print leggings in my gym bag that I headed in to meet the impossibly smiley Colby, our instructor for the evening.

The beauty of Slice is – as Colby explained to me - that, unlike other gyms, you get rewarded for going. Slice starts with the “Slice and Dice” card – which works as an Oyster card – giving you discounts as you do more classes.  You come because you want to! Plus, this month, you can sign up for 30 days unlimited classes for the bargain price of £40.

The studio that the class took place in was spacious and warehouse-y in feel. Obviously not alone in my 80s fandom, I was joined by about 15 other ladies all ready to strut their stuff to some of the decade’s cheesiest tunes and work up a sweat in the process.

Apart from a disappointing lack of leg warmers and not a Richard Simmons sweatband in sight, it was an excellent turnout.

A deceptively loud portable stereo in the corner blasted out a series of the 80s finest musical masterpieces. We jumped to Journey, lunged to Lionel and pranced to the Poynter Sisters in a fun, high energy cardio workout for half an hour, before it was time to hit the mats and channel our inner Jane Fonda with some good old fashioned floor work.

We leg lifted, squatted and there was hip thrusting that the girls in that Eric Prydz video would have been proud of; though in my case it was more Eric Pickles than Eric Prydz. (I blame the mince pies).

A frequent albeit reluctant attendee to Les Mills torture sessions like Body Combat and Body Attack, I was expecting 80s aerobics to be fairly tame in the difficulty stakes. What felt like several hundred sit-ups and crunches later, though, and I stood very much corrected. My stomach muscles ached good and proper the next day – always a sign of a proper workout.

So, if you’re on the hunt for something to freshen up your workout routine that’s fun, different and a great way to get fighting fit for 2014, head down to Parsons Green and grab a Slice of the action!

SLICE URBAN LIFESTYLE STUDIOS
11 Heathmans Road
London SW6 4TJ
PH: 020 7186 6007
Email: hello@slicefitness.co.uk

Happy New Year, SW6 residents!

Happy New Year, everybody!

It’s Stef here, the new writer for this blog page. I hope you all had a brilliant Christmas, ate far too much turkey and drank your body weight in champagne to celebrate in style. 

Sarah has very kindly handed me the reins of the SW6 blog on her departure for the hip and achingly edgy streets of N1.  She left us a fabulous Fulhamite, and I just hope that she doesn’t return with an undercut, nose ring and charity shop fur coat...

Choice of abode aside, Sarah has done a fabulous job with the blog up until now, so I’m very aware of the big boots I have to fill! Fingers crossed I can do her justice and keep it up to date with all the happenings and goings on in this brilliant borough.

First things first, I have a teeny tiny confession to make. I don’t actually live in Fulham. BUT before you all run for the hills, or at least go back to browsing Facebook instead of reading this bit of blurb, don’t panic. I’m only down the road in Putney.

Plus, unlike many stalwart Putney dwellers, I’m happy to travel (within the bounds of other SW postcodes. I’m not as adventurous as Sarah our new Angel inhabitant). I’ll do my very best to make sure that all areas of local life are covered on here, from Fulham to Parsons Green, and Putney to Barnes. 

Like Sarah, I too am a PR gal, and very happy for anybody and everybody to Tweet / Facebook / email me suggestions of things to cover on here. Do drop me a line with anything you think could be of interest in the coming year!

I’m currently planning a Battle of the Bulge post for later this month, where I’ll be reviewing local fitness classes in the area to combat Christmas calories. Any suggestions, do give me a shout!

That’s all from me for now, but I’m chuffed to bits to be handed this brilliant blog and hope I can carry the torch in suitably Sloaney style!

Stef x