The newest, most innovative, and most motivational form of burning calories is here. Hungry & Fit enjoy working out… most of the time. It’s not a challenge for us to stay healthy because the highlight of our day is pushing ourselves to the limit. Whether it’s in the gym, on the field, in the forest, on the court, in the ocean, or anywhere else you can imagine, we feed off the energy around us and create an environment for success in our physical fitness.
Well, I know what you’re thinking. I can’t do that. I workout because my doctor told me to. I workout because I have a wedding coming up in a few months. I workout but I don’t want to workout! It’s frustrating and it only makes your life harder. Imagine if that wasn’t the case. Imagine if burning calories on the treadmill, bike, elliptical, or whatever piece of equipment you use was more enjoyable. Imagine if you were transported into a world where your success was guaranteed. Imagine IMMERSIVE FITNESS.
Les Mills International has been one of the top names in the fitness industry since the 1980s. Les Mills, the four-time Olympian, has a special place in our hearts as a Kiwi. (He and the company are from New Zealand.) Despite starting on a relatively small island in the Pacific Ocean, the company has grown to be the world’s top company for group exercises classes. There’s only one way to stay on top and that’s to keep getting better. Enter IMMERSIVE FITNESS.
IMMERSIVE FITNESS is the prototype for the future of group exercise fitness classes. It might even be a prototype for the future of individual fitness. Les Mills International has teamed up with 24 Hour Fitness to provide the very first immersive exercise experience, The Trip. Located in the 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport in Santa Monica, CA, is a single room that some might think is nothing more than a room for SPINNING classes. It is just that for part of the week but every few days it transforms into something more.
The Setting:
The room is large enough to fit 32 Spinning bikes and an extra for the instructor. Instructor… tour guide… challenger, whatever you want to call them. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all painted black and there are blue LED light strips all around. Mount your bike, look forward, and see a screen that makes you think you’re in a movie theater. Enter The Trip, a visual masterpiece with a killer soundtrack. Climb up steep hills among the mountains to fly down the other side to a beautiful landscape of oceans. That’s just a taste of the different stages.
The Instructor:
Standards are clearly very high for Les Mills International. After speaking with Lissa, our instructor, we found out that in order to teach IMMERSIVE FITNESS you would be contacted, invite only. It’s much more rigorous than most instructor courses, but what’s wrong with that? If a product is going to be successful, don’t you need the best salesperson possible? The same goes in fitness. Not only did Lissa give perfect instructions for setting up the bike before starting, she outworked every individual in the room, combined. Is an instructor supposed to be motivational and inspiring? You better believe it and clearly Les Mills knows that. We don’t expect anyone taking The Trip to go home and say, oh, but I had an instructor that had no idea what they were doing.
Hungry and our instructor, Lissa
The Workout:
This is a top-notch indoor cycling workout. It’s a solid program that will help individuals burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. It is also designed, by no accident, to help people improve their performance by being a TRUE high intensity interval training style workout. Short bursts that force you to your limit and long rests that allow you to recover to push yourself to your maximum ability over and over. It’s smart but simple, challenging but fun, effective but manageable. You’re in and out in no time but you’ve accomplished to major goals: 1. Become stronger, better, faster. 2. Burn major calories in your quest to lose weight.
The X-Factor:
It actually feels real. When you bank, it feels like you’re falling in that direction. That never happens to me in normal cycling classes. It’s a combination of the quality of the programming and level of visuals on the screen. The instructor and the soundtrack have such high quality standards that you won’t have a bad workout because your instructor had a bad playlist. It’s guaranteed, if you put the work in, to be an enjoyable and safe way of increasing endurance, building muscle, improving stability, and burning calories. It’s no impact and it can be scaled since it is a cycling class.
Click here for the schedule for Immersive Fitness The Trip at the Santa Monica 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport. Please believe us when we say you DON’T want to miss this! We will be uploading a GoPro video of this amazing class soon!
Real-life!!
I could go on and on about how this makes stationary cardio enjoyable but you need to see for yourself. You need to head over to 24 Hour Fitness and tell them to start Immersive Fitness at their location! Now it’s cycling but eventually it will be combat, dancing, and one day, in your living room! You need to enjoy your workout to become consistent, and consistency is key to being hungry & fit!
Thanks for the review. I’m a Les Mills Body Pump and RPM instructor, and I’ve been hearing about Immersive Fitness… I wonder how similar the workout structure is compared to an RPM class.
That is an awesome question. It would seem like this is just an Immersive version of RPM but I’m going to talk to an expert to get a better idea and we’ll try to get back to you ASAP!
I have been to hundreds (maybe thousands?) of spin classes, and I have to say that the instructor either makes it or ruins it. Visuals and good music go very far in making riding a bike that sits in place a tolerable experience, but in the end a great instructor seals the deal.
Agreed! But if you have a great instructor with awesome music and visuals vs a great instructor with average music and visuals, the choice is easy!
Yes! A great instructor is absolutely essential.
I have been participating in spin classes for a good 15 years. In my experience, the instructor either makes the class or ruins it. Visuals and music go a long way to making sitting in one place on a bike tolerable, but a good instructor who can keep it lively and motivating is a gift. So glad you found a program and an instructor who is fabulous!
Lori, I think the best part about this program is since Les Mills has such high standards for their instructors, there’s such a small chance you’ll get one you don’t like!
Once I was in a spin class and the instructor got a cramp in his hamstring. I don’t require my instructors/coaches to be more fit than I am, but I think getting a hamstring cramp is pretty amateurish for someone who is trying to lead a class. I know so many people who have gotten injured trying to “get in shape” that it is good to hear that Les Mills is demanding high expectations! Clients deserve it! I look forward to your updated observations.
miss spinning it’s a great work out and once you get on the path of exercise it becomes as essential as breathing …forty years strong
Well you are the one person who introduced me to indoor cycling over twenty years ago =)
Do you happen to know where we can find a track list of all the songs? I’ve been searching the web but thus far unsuccesfully so. Please let us know! Thanks!