There’s plenty of articles floating around at the moment about what people think the 2018 fitness trends are going to be but from what I can see, I think it’s going to be all about convenience.

As fitness has become mainstream (everyone and their nan knows what a burpee is), convenience is the name of the game. People like to be able to fit a workout into their day whether they’re working, chilling out, travelling or staying with friends. With a traditional gym membership this kind of working out isn’t possible and with a lot of the other options on the market, it’s only possible to go to classes. But what happens if it’s leg day and you need to get under that barbell and squat?!

Well, there’s options like PayAsUGym but I tried one out called Esquared. It’s an app that you top up with credit to spend at gyms. You can book into any classes that the gyms offer or you can book a slot on the gym floor to do your own workout.

 

 

The app, once downloaded, is easy enough to use although there’s a lot of options for central London so you need to zoom right into the map to get any visibility of what’s around you. At the moment it’s largely based in zones 1-2 in London. The closest gym floor slot to where I live now in Hertfordshire is about 8 miles away, a perfect distance on the bike to get my cardio in too!

I tried the app out by booking into Energie Fitness in Bethnal Green just before Christmas and before I moved house. It just takes a couple of clicks to book your session once you’re topped up with credit. When I turned up the guy at reception was clued up on the app, buzzed us through the gate and gave us a short tour of the gym. Once we’d warmed up I put together a 25 minute circuit with all the fun equipment they had there and finished with a good stretch. That 2-hour session cost £8 worth of credit, much cheaper than a lot of day passes for gyms.

 

Would I use Esquared past the trial? Well, the short answer is yes but probably not as the sole provider of my fitness access. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I think convenience is important so I would combine Esquared with something like the 5 class option on Classpass, especially as the credit on Esquared doesn’t seem to expire. I’d also be more likely to use it if they extended their reach out beyond London.

Have you tried out something similar to Esquared? What did you think?

 

 

I was paid for my time to write this blogpost & provided with credit on Esquared but all opinions are my own