When it comes to fitness, it’s a lifestyle, not just a routine. Heading into Summer is the perfect time to shake up your workout regime, so we’ve put together a collection of this year’s hottest fitness trends that are sure to keep you happy, mindful and active during the warmer months ahead!
Stand Up Paddle Boarding
Think of a stand up paddleboard like a windsurfer without the sail. It’s a win win for your core and balance, and you look pretty fabulous while you’re doing it. This form of exercise won’t make you feel like you’ve run a marathon. Instead, the meditative and rhythmic motion of gliding across the ocean can provide an amazing form of cross-training. Balancing on the board targets your core and legs, while paddling activates your arms, shoulders and side abs. Paddle boarding has moved out of resort beach fronts and taken over your local body of water, don’t forget to take your bestie along for an Instagram worthy pic.
Top spots to visit are Donut Island, Whangamata and Oneroa and Onetangi beaches, Waiheke Island. We also recommend protecting your skin with COOLA Classic Sport SPF50
Aerial Yoga
It’s Yoga, but not as you know it. Picture Cirque du Soleil but with yoga pants and a bunch of other free-spirited women ready to defy gravity. While traditional yoga poses are generally performed on a mat on the floor, aerial yoga is practiced on a silk hammock that hangs from the ceiling. The hammocks are hung at various heights, allowing you to try different types of yoga poses with a greater range of motion and a deeper stretch than your usual floor yoga. If you’re ready to be weightless, empowered, and don’t mind a bit of upside down action, this is the class for you!
Check out Raw Yoga, Auckland and Float Fitness, Mt Maunganui
Tramping
It’s a kiwi classic. We are lucky to have lush scenery all around us, and during the drier months what better way to explore your backyard than being immersed in nature. Tramping is a fantastic workout for burning calories and building muscles and often you completely forget that you are technically exercising. There’s no shortage of tracks to walk, and you can pick and choose the intensity, pace, and distance, all while taking in your surroundings and getting off the grid. It’s a proven way to reduce anxiety and increase happiness. Even just looking at a photo of nature has calming effects (refer to every computer screensaver created).
Tramping tracks we love are Te Henga Walkway, Bethells Beach and Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Tongariro National Park. Keep a handy tube of COOLA Matte Tint SPF30 in your backpack
Digital Fitness/At Home Workouts
Let’s face it, sometimes you just can’t leave the house to exercise. Digital Fitness has made it possible to transform your living room or backyard into a studio or circuit class, so there’s no excuses now. Interactive online platforms, fitness apps, live streaming and even wearable tech have revolutionised the way we work out in our busy lifestyles, and there’s no signs of slowing down for technology’s place in the fitness world. Yoga in your pyjamas, boxing in your bedroom, even monitoring your daily steps with a biometric sports bra, it’s all possible.
A few of our favourites apps are SarahBethYoga and Freeletics
Surfing
Salty skin, beach hair, Vitamin D. Need we say more. There are no shortages of beaches in our beautiful country, and if you don’t mind getting wet and potentially falling gracefully into the water a few times, surfing is a sure way to have fun and stay fit and healthy this summer. Surfing strengthens the core and legs, and it develops your body and balance through the constantly changing movement and height of the waves. Most local beaches with waves provide 1-2 hour lessons for beginners which include a wetsuit and board, and don’t worry, you always learn the moves on the sand first!
Our top picks for surf spots are Pauanui beach (great for beginners) and Te Arai beach. Don’t forget your COOLA Sport Spray SPF50 for those beach days.
