Fit City

KEEPING FIT IS SO MUCH MORE THAN LIFTING WEIGHTS OR FINDING YOUR GROOVE IN A DANCE CLASS. LISA O’NEILL TAKES A LOOK AT SUBI’S OPTIONS FOR KEEPING SVELTE THIS AUTUMN.

THE SUBIACO LIFESTYLE is so well-equipped for a healthy body with multiple fitness studios with different styles that all promise the same –sweet, toned muscles. Here are some of Subi’s best spots to work that body.

Pilates, but make it fun

Is there anything more painful than the slow burn of hold ... hold ... holding the intense poses of a Pilates class? For a seemingly sedate class where movement is minimal, Pilates sure does create serious DOMS (delayed onset of muscle soreness) and silent screams when you have a set of stairs to descend after class.

So when Heartbeat High swung into Shenton Park with its partyvibe music, décor and branding, locals flocked to it (there’s waitlists). Heartbeat co-founder Phoebe says their classes are technique-based and focus on slow and controlled movement, with upbeat classes all about raising your endorphins and enjoying the freedom to just move.

“We wanted to make exercise a pleasure, not a chore, and with plenty of timing options to cater to a diverse group of people from hospital workers to stay-at-home parents,” Phoebe says. “For the ultimate feelgood class, try our Bump n Grind.”

In the centre of Subi, FS8 has just opened its doors on Churchill Avenue with its own fresh take on Pilates reformer and mat classes. Aided by torture instruments such as the reformer machines, dumbbells, and bands, FS8 provides a low-impact workout requiring high energy. The F45 founders created FS8, so you can expect a similar format to the popular

F45 class, which is led by qualified instructors with screens around the room to guide participants.

“My favourite class is the Original which runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday because you spend half the time on the reformer and half doing mat Pilates – best of both worlds!” FS8 studio manager Olivia recommends.

LA Fit Studio on Hay Street has been burning the booties of Subi locals for eight years now with their Megaformer Pilates classes.

“It’s Pilates on steroids, our workouts are intense and we don’t muck around,” LA Fit founder Claire says, painting quite the picture. “For a low impact class, you can burn up to 800 calories in 45 minutes, and strengthen, lengthen and tone your body in two to three sessions a week.”

The studio has recently expanded its offering to include Rhythm Ride classes to provide a full fitness experience for members.

“Rhythm Ride is less cycle class, more dance party,” says Claire. “We have the lights low and we move as one to the rhythm.

"It’s 45 minutes to let go and reconnect, before leaving feeling fit, inspired, and ready for anything.”

Big muscle energy

There is no right age to start strength training, with far-reaching benefits for all age groups, especially for muscle and bone health. Subiaco offers a range of fitness studios with strength components with different appeals.

The grand dame of Subiaco fitness has to be Lords, now owned by the City of Subiaco. Starting as an indoor cricket centre in the late 1970s, in 1983, it began its journey as a fitness centre. It closed for one frightening period in 2008 with talks of housing developers hovering. The City of Subiaco swooped in, hearing the community’s desire to maintain Lords as a health and fitness institution. Within a couple of years, over 3,000 members and 440 sporting teams played indoor basketball, netball, and futsal.

If you sign up to be a member, you can choose from the open plan gym, 25-metre indoor swimming pool, an indoor cycling studio, fitness classes, squash and tennis courts, and saunas.

“I’ve been a member for around 30 years at Lords, and the variety of classes on offer has kept me fit throughout those decades,” says Subiaco local Linda Bynon. “I go most days to a class, but I especially enjoy classes in the community like Zumba at the Palms, where you meet locals, and it becomes a social experience, too.”

Slightly newer to the Subi fitness community and tucked behind Mimosa Café, F45 Subiaco has been around since 2017. F45 offers a mixture of HIIT (high intensity interval training) and strength classes that aim to strengthen and improve everyday movement. Thanks to some heavyweight celebrity endorsement including Mark Wahlberg, it’s a global brand, but has found its bestperforming gyms are those with a solid, local community around them (smug grin ... is anyone surprised the Subiaco studio has thrived?).

While community is important to many, big classes are not for everyone. Thankfully, husband and wife team James and Ashleigh opened Exclusive Personal Training (EPT) in Subiaco to provide a personalised fitness experience.

“James and I both have a deep passion for personal training, education and helping people in whatever way they need, whether that’s sport-specific training, fat loss, body composition, getting stronger and/or healthier,” Ashleigh says. “So, we created a space that has an exclusive feel to it, in the sense of professional coaches, a startto-finish experience for clients and results, all while having a welcoming environment that I call a ‘third place’ outside of work and home that allows like-minded people, no matter their level of fitness, to come under one roof to better their health and fitness.”

While the numbers in the gym are small, the space isn’t, and is stacked with top-shelf equipment James and Ashleigh sourced from Canada, the UK and Sweden with features they say you won’t find at bigger gyms.