THE MERMAID WORKOUT
HOTEL DEL CORONADO SAN DIEGO, USA
I consider myself a fit person – I run, spin, do yoga – but when I go to a spa, I treat it as an excuse to decompress and the most arduous exercise I do is reaching for a magazine while lying on a sun lounger.
So I approached the prospect of a fitness weekend at the Hotel del Coronado with trepidation. The 757-room hotel and spa is one of the most historic buildings in the USA, set on an impressive beachfront in the small city of Coronado, just across the bay from San Diego. Built in 1888, ‘The Del’ retains original features, including a wood-panelled lobby dominated by a brass elevator and giant chandeliers designed by author L Frank Baum, who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while staying at the hotel. Not to mention Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like it Hot here in 1958.
I received my schedule before arrival: day one involved a 7.30am outdoor spin class and it didn’t let up much from there. I was also signed up to a paddleboarding session, yoga on the beach (free for guests) and for the hotel’s signature Mermaid Fitness session: a 45-minute pool workout while wearing a stretchy nylon mermaid tail. The idea was developed by fitness instructor Veronica Rohan, who aims to engage core muscles in a way no other workout could. Anyone can do it, at any fitness level – and that includes men, although my group was fully female.
The six-person class took place in the hotel’s Beach Club pool. I wriggled into a pink tail and strapped my feet to the plastic ‘fin’ at the end. It was comfortable, but the different way of moving took some getting used to. Veronica talked us through the ‘body roll’, which required swimming laps without using our hands or legs. It was exhausting, but you don’t notice because you’re laughing at the absurdity of it. This was followed by a poolside ab session: crunches and yoga poses made even more challenging by the weight of the tail. The next day, I noticed the ache in my abs, glutes and calves with righteous smugness.
As well as mermaid workouts, I loved spinning on a lawn overlooking the vast Coronado beach. Having been provided with a set of Beats headphones, we could listen to the instructor and the music as loudly as we liked. I tried paddleboarding, too (taught by Stingray Steve, who proudly explained he’d been stung by stingrays 46 times). A calming experience, Steve’s advice was to look ahead so you didn’t lose your balance and to keep a relaxed stance on the board. After an hour, I’d used muscles I never knew existed – again, it was an all-over body workout of the kind you rarely get with conventional exercise.
After all the hard work, there are treats in the form of fantastic spa treatments (I had the signature facial, one of the best I’ve ever had), a hot tub and three swimming pools, and rooms with rocking chairs on the beach-view balconies. I loved that everything was on site, but the shops and cafes of Coronado were just a short walk away. Everything was easy to get to, which was probably the most relaxing part.
There was no nutrition plan, but in The Del’s three restaurants, it was easy to eat healthily: green juices and egg-white omelettes for breakfast, fresh seafood for dinner. Admittedly, I caved during the all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, but only because they had a make-your-own doughnut bar and I’m not about to turn that down. (I had mine jam-filled and dunked in maple icing, since you asked.)
I returned from my trip refreshed and relaxed, as I would from any spa, but I also had burning abs, a stronger core, and a new sense of motivation (I checked to see if there are any paddleboarding lessons near my house). I’m not sure I’d want to stay longer than a week, because you could start to feel a bit hemmed in, and The Del can get very busy with locals at weekends. But these are minor quibbles in what was otherwise a fantastic stay – pink tail and all.