THE BASICS: Free Hot and Happy is for normal girls everywhere, and I think I have a girl crush. Devised for girls who want to look hot, keep it real and reap the benefits of feeling free and happy as a result- I completely adore this concept that Nikkita and Becky are the driving force behind through their bootcamps and website.
After a glowing report from fellow HB Nid, I was delighted to be able to make it down to Battersea to try out Free Hot & Happy’s special one off bootcamp, held in conjunction with Sweaty Betty. It was completely free and strictly girls only. My kinda Saturday!
THE BITCHES: Carly and Hanna
THE CLASS: Back down to probably one of the most lovely places I have lived in London on a Saturday morning- Battersea! A walk along Northcote Road, dodging all of the yummy mummies and their super buggies, I made it to Sweaty Betty in time to say a hello to Nikkita and Becky (incredibly welcoming and friendly, and looking glamorous to boot- these girls rocked the sweating whilst looking hot thing).
There were about 20 of us in total which was a brilliant turn out, and after leaving our bits and bobs at the shop, we took a gentle warm up jog across Wandsworth Common and all the way to the unique little space right next to Wandsworth Common station, the Train Station Gym.
Aside from two guys on the rowing machine in the corner of the gym (who looked completely bemused by the number of women suddenly descending upon the gym, chatting excitedly) we had the whole place to ourselves.
The workout took place in pairs for the majority of the class, with half of us working on blocks and the other half on the floor. 6 blasts of 30 second reps, taking each circuit up to 3 minutes. We repeated each circuit twice before swapping (blocks to floor, floor to blocks) and Nikkita and Becky did a great job of walking around between us all, advising and correcting, and spurring us on.
They’d devised a lot of the reps so we were facing each other or helping each other in some way; so, for example, one pull while the other push, or both of us had to high five at the top of a press up…. it was a really nice and clever way of keeping us interacting and making us work as a little team, which kept both partners going and made it fun.
The music was great; upbeat pop songs which left you bouncing around and feeling happy- my personal fave has to be the moment where we had to freestyle dance to Rudimental’s “Not Giving In” (if I was my parents, I might say “CHOOOOOON!” ….but I am far younger, cooler and less of a geek than my parents obviously. Ahem. So I won’t be saying that).
Dancing around and not giving a flying turd what I looked like in a room full of happy, sweaty laughing girlies, I was completely high on life and feeling the love for Saturday mornings at that moment. Free Hot and Happy indeed!
The workout lasted maybe 50 minutes, after which we gave lots of sweaty hugs and high fives, and messed about taking photos, before walking back to Sweaty Betty and being very kindly handed some pretty awesome goodie bags full of kind donations from the likes of Samba Swirl, Kiehl’s, Whole Foods, Edward James and Vitality. I felt very spoiled indeed as I headed to my lunch meeting (lucky lady meeting me, I was rocking the hair-stuck-to-my-forehead look, ha!)
THE VERDICT: Love love love these girls, their thing, and the bootcamp collaboration. Atmosphere was a total winner, and both sets of cheeks ached- a good sign of laughter and squats if you ask me, pah!
THE EXTRAS: Hanna and I have been in touch since the very start of Project HB, but we rarely manage to make our schedules work when it comes to meeting up for a workout. It was so lovely to meet unexpectedly at this event, have a workout together and partner up. I think we managed to put the world to rights whilst getting sweaty- Free Hot Happy… and Opinionated. Brilliant!
