Trading in the treadmill: Boutique fitness taking off in Regina

Boutique fitness trend takes hold in Regina As Jamie Fischer reports, people in Regina are walking away from treadmill workouts to take part in trendy boutique fitness programs

The Local Barre is Regina’s latest boutique fitness option.

The warehouse district studio officially opened their doors last weekend, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that they had their first paying customers.

Don’t know what “barre” is? Like the French name suggests, it’s a new fitness sensation based on a mix of ballet, pilates, and weight work.

"We stay in the muscle a lot which means it’s really accessible for a lot of people, it’s really low impact,” said Julie Wilson, Local Barre co-owner.

The studio follows a simple philosophy: fitness should be fun.

“It shouldn’t be boring,” Wilson said. “And there’s also that accountability factor. You book a class, then you kind of have to come, whereas a gym can always wait.”

Fitness fanatics might agree with that sentiment. According to a 2017 Ipsos poll about New Year’s resolutions, 33 per cent of Canadians say improving their personal fitness is their top resolution. But the same survey found that only 18 per cent of respondents would buy a gym membership to achieve that resolution.

“A lot of fitness is just getting some movement in and if people can do it and enjoy that, then it creates better habits,” said Adrienne Hassard, co-owner of Regina’s Fly Pole and Fitness.

And, as for movement, Fly Pole has fitness fanatics covered. The studio offers dozens of pole dancing and aerial classes a week.

Karen Peck has been doing aerial workouts for five years and even has her own silk hammock at home. She’s both an instructor and a student at the studio. For Peck, the classes are about more than getting in a fun workout, they’re about empowerment.

“You can put yourself in these pretty wonderful, powerful shapes,” Peck said.

Peck said the classes are also a chance to socialize, and get fit without feeling judged. The classes have created a community of students and teachers.

According to Steven Halladay, owner of Mettle Performance Training Centre, that sense of community also drives people to independent gyms instead of big chains.

"You're not just around people who are looking in the mirror and worried about what they look like, you're around people who are worried about their sport, strongman, rugby whatever it might be, you're surrounded by people with a positive goal in mind,” he said.

His gym only has one mirror, and he said it was put there as inside joke with one of his clients. Unlike a traditional gym, there’s no line of treadmills, elliptical and stair climbers. Mettle is packed with weights, tires, and even stones.

The unconventional take on working out has helped Sean Reynolds lose more than 100 pounds. He tried working out at traditional gyms, but he never got anywhere.

"Being a football and rugby guy growing up, this feels more like a sport,” Reynolds explained, “when I’m doing strong man or power lifting, it’s more of a sporting event, so it's not exercise, it's practice.”

Regardless of where people work out, Halladay, Wilson, and Hassard agree: the more someone enjoys the process, the more likely they are to stick it out and meet their goals.