Forgetting the familiar

Because we know going to the gym isn’t for everyone, we reached out to fitness instructors who teach alternative, challenging and fun workouts that positively affect both body and mind, and – best of all – won’t ask you to do squats or lunges.

RoCK CLiMBing Storm Myburgh

I started rock climbing about four years ago when I first moved to Cape Town and got a part-time job at CityROCK. Living in a new city felt lonely at first, but the climbing community quickly became my new family because they were so welcoming and friendly. That’s when the climbing bug bit.

Cape Town has so many amazing spots that are ideal for bouldering and sport climbing, and it’s been a real treat to take my climbing outdoors because I’ve always loved nature. Conquering your fears and your body is empowering, almost magical. There’s no better feeling than the rock underneath you and the wind in your face. I climbed Sands of Time, a 115m sport climb at Paarl Rock, with some colleagues. At one point, I had my hands pressed up against the rock, and I felt like I was a million miles above the ground. I was so freaking afraid but felt so alive at the same time. I looked at the incredible view, thrilled that I’d climbed so high, could see so far and felt so alive. I was afraid of heights when I was growing up, so to do something that big despite my fears was a big achievement.

Rock climbing has hardened my hands and taught me core strength and balance. The mental game is just as challenging because you have to focus, juggle excitement and fear, be fully present and breathe. I love climbing because there’s no room for negative self-talk, and your body and mind must work together. Treadmill running and spinning classes aren’t the only way to sweat, just as lifting weights isn’t the only way to build strength. Climbing helps you do both because it’s a full-body, physically challenging workout. But it’s also super-social, fun, can be done outdoors, increases your confidence and the fear factor takes you out of your comfort zone.

CityROCK is fantastic because it offers you all the indoor climbing you could wish for: bouldering, toproping, lead and crack climbing, a climbing-specific training area, and peg, campus and hang boards, you name it. We also offer a wide variety of training courses on everything from basic techniques to climbing on real rocks outdoors. Let’s face it: that’s the ultimate goal.

For more information, visit cityrock.co.za

BoLLYWooD FiTnESS Veena Sukha

I would attend dance-style fitness classes and always felt like something was missing from these workouts. Coming from an authentic, Indian background, dancing comes naturally to me, and I was fit. With this in mind, I decided to customise a class that balances the best of my dance and fitness abilities. After doing extensive research, I started teaching Bollywood fitness classes. Six years later, our team’s still going strong.

Bollywood fitness is an Indian-dance-style workout. Its movements come from the Indian dance forms of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Rajasthani folk and Bhangra, fused with elements of salsa, jazz, hip-hop and Arabic. It’s a fun, invigorating class, set to high-energy, upbeat Bollywood music. The workout engages your entire body, from your eyebrows to your toes. All movements involve your hands, feet, facial expressions, swaying arms and gyrating hips. The class has evolved to incorporate HIIT workouts using authentic dance moves.

A Bollywood fitness class is accompanied by the coolest, hottest music. It’s the only form of fitness that tells a meaningful story because it involves hand and facial gestures. There’s a point to it, rather than it being a series of random movements. As an instructor, I love the challenge of choreographing new dance routines and watching them unfold. When my students are familiar with the dance, I tend to add more movements.

Through Bollywood fitness, I get to share my culture with other people. One of the highlights of the year is our participation in the annual Cape Town Carnival street parade. Over six weeks, we learn a traditional dance to perform at the Carnival. Seeing ordinary women from different cultural backgrounds and age groups working together as one unit to execute a dance is heartwarming. I’ve had the most amazing, positive response to my classes, which vary from 45 to 60 minutes. We perform a wide range of dance forms, from Garba using sticks to legwork with a Kathak influence, and to fusion pieces involving kickboxing, cardio and toning elements. For more information, follow Bollywood Fitness CT on Facebook, or email Veena at veena.sukha@gmail.com or call 083 650 6745 (your first class is free)

Tai Chi

Dr Michael McLoughlin

I’ve been doing martial arts since I was 14: first it was Japanese, then I switched to Chinese in the mid-’80s. It was then I started practising Tai chi, which was different from the fast, hard systems I was used to. In 1992, my teacher, Grandmaster Lin Feng-Chao, from Taiwan, taught me Kung Fu, Hsing I Chuan, Ba Gua Zhang, Chi Kung, meditation, Chinese medicine and acupuncture. I’ve practised Tai chi Chuan for 30 years, 20 of which I’ve taught it.

Tai Chi Chuan means ‘the great ultimate everything’ or ‘contains everything’. The system was formed in the Song dynasty a thousand years ago, and was based on the three philosophies and practices that formed the core of Chinese culture at the time. It shares similaries with Toism Confucianism and Buddhism, which each have a path to enlightenment. Many systems emerged according to how it was interpreted by its practitioners, but the main requirement is to follow its principles.

The main purpose of the discipline is to follow the changes in the environment and maintain the equilibrium of the body’s energy and functions, thereby reducing entropy and ageing. Sickness is a loss of cohesion with good health and proper function. These are principles Tai Chi shares with Chinese medicine. Most other fitness systems concentrate on agility and physical strength but lack an inner factor, and so they cause imbalance. Tai Chi’s philosophy’s built on what’s known as the interaction between Shen Tien (heaven) and Ho Tien (earth).

The benefits are many, and because you don’t need to be fit to start, anyone can do it. Most of my students have come to me with various health problems and, after a few weeks, months or even years, depending on the condition, they’ve healed. Diligent practise will increase flexibility and overall body strength, and promote robustness, general good health and resistance to disease. It helps to slow the ageing process, reduces stress and increases concentration. Common health issues, such as back pain, poor circulation and painful joints, are often resolved quickly. For more information about the Long Hu School of Tai Chi, visit taichi.co.za

huLa hooping Chantel Berrill

Hula hooping came into my life as somewhat of a surprise. I’d never tried it as a child, as others had, and wasn’t aware that interest in the sport had grown so much among adults over the past few years, or that there was an entire community of hoopers and flow-art performers in Cape Town. I’d always thought of it as something only kids did. My perception changed at a friend’s birthday party when I realised, for the first time, that it was anything but ‘just for kids’. I was mesmerised by my two friends dancing gracefully, or ‘flowing’, as it’s referred to in hula hooping, in perfect union with their LED-lit hoops. They spun them away from their bodies in effortless weaves, tossing them between their hands. These were movements I’d never seen performed with a simple, plastic hoop. I had to try it. The following week, I went to one of Hoop Flow Love’s hula hoop classes for beginners, where I was introduced to a new community. My passion grew, not just for the sport itself, but also for what hooping represented for me. I had to share the pure joy I felt doing it with the rest of the world.

I think hooping is multifaceted because it has subtle, healing effects on the mind and spirit. Racing thoughts disappear, and stress melts away, as you focus on your practice, perhaps on perfecting that trick you’ve been trying to get right. More oxygen starts coursing through your body as your breathing becomes deeper and more regulated to control your hoop. Naturally, this results in a gentle, meditative state. Some people feel an overwhelming sense of joy as they lose themselves in the flowing movement (I’m one of them), while other people experience a deep sense of peace, simply by hula hooping on the spot. Hooping helps correct your posture and alignment. Once you start to move and dance with your hoop, you begin to reap the cardiovascular benefits, get your blood flowing through your body and work up a sweat. Practise will lead you to perform more advanced, off-body tricks, most of which require a degree of coordination, balance and flexibility.

To say I was shy before I started hooping is an understatement. Socially awkward would be a better way to describe how I used to behave in a group setting. I lacked confidence, in manyways, and was afraid of looking foolish or embarrassing myself in front of other people. I’m sure many people can relate to this. That was why I used to avoid participating in sports and group activities. But once I started hooping, I slowly began to feel more comfortable in my own skin. The more I practised with my hoop, the more confident I felt about my capabilities.

For more information, visit hoolacornhoops.com