Break a sweat without breaking the bank – disco style

Let disco fever burn your calories away at Disco Health Club. Photo Credit: Aaron Dieppa

London’s nightlife prices leave minimal room for a gym in your budget. But why choose between the two when you can have both? At the Disco Health Club in the heart of Soho, the dance floor meets your fitness needs. You can get physical  in true eighties disco fever fashion at just £5 for students—that’s almost less than half the cover fees at most posh West End nightclubs.

Disco Health Club joined the fitness scene just a month ago, “…to incorporate the club experience with exercise and fitness,” says creator/organizer Thomas Knights. Iconic eighties dance moves are mixed with aerobics to the classic sounds of Madonna, Michael Jackson and plenty more. Flashing pink lights, a smoky dance floor fog and a few dance poles in the back for the brave few all create the disco era feel. Attendees dress the part too, turning up in full lycra gear with sweatbands, bodysuits, leg warmers and all.

A highlight of the night is when the class is separated into two halves of the room and bust a move facing each other in a “West Side Story” dance battle. Disco Health Club happens Wednesday nights at the Green Carnation night club.

Knights is also extending the club theme to other types of music such as zumba, a South American street dance quickly catching fire in the US. Zumba Health Club is at the same venue on Thursday nights. Other themes planned for the near future include R&B Health Club, Rock ‘n Roll Health Club and a Muscle Health Club, a body-pumping class geared for the blokes (ladies are, of course, always welcome).

Ania Poullain Majchraz, 30, from Poland, called it “an amazing experience…better than yoga.”

Londoner Lydia Menzier, 27, joined the class “to exercise in a fun way so that it isn’t a drag and also have a drink afterwards.” The club experience continues into the night with an after-class party at the venue from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., which includes free entry to those from the aerobics class.

“We’re taking it to new levels with different concepts, but the main thing is it’s all in the nightclub,” says Knights. “You’ll burn calories without even realizing it. Turn your fitness into a fun thing to do.”

MORE BUDGET-FRIENDLY FITNESS OPTIONS:

Sequin Park Women’s Gym offers a free trial class or one-day membership, giving you access to their gym and any class. Other cheap options are also available, such as a gym-only post-8 p.m. membership and restorative yoga class. Special rates apply to students. All memberships include all classes and free personal training sessions.

DanceVision offers jazz classes at just £5 a class with no membership fee.

London Academy of Pole Dancing offers free introductory pole-dance classes on Wednesday nights at various LA Fitness gyms in London.

British Military Fitness offers a free introductory taster class available at various locations in London. Different classes such as a running club are available for to members.