Burn, baby, burn: how London's gym freaks are burning 1,000 calories per session

When London works out, it goes hard. The city marches to an increasingly hyperactive beat: we work longer, stay out later and exercise harder than ever. But unfortunately, time hasn’t expanded to match our schedules. We can’t help the long working hours, and we don’t want to curb the long nights. So we must make cuts elsewhere — and luckily, workouts are evolving to deliver huge, calorie-blasting experiences with minimal time investment.

The big workout has arrived. Spin classes are a consistent favourite of the aggressively fit — and now their disciples have a new hyperbolic practice: Edge Cycle (edgecycle.co.uk) in Holborn, London’s largest indoor cycling studio, where classes burn up to 1,000 calories per person in every session. The studio promises the workout is suitable for everyone but offers introduction sessions for anxious beginners. Classes involve cycling — obviously — but also segments with free weights for all-over sculpting and toning. Classes last 35, 40 or 60 minutes and payment is on a class-by-class basis, so it’s tailored to the frenetic and unpredictable London schedule.

There’s an offbeat option at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton (lta.org.uk): cardio tennis, which smashes through 600 calories in an hour-long session. Classes typically involve six to eight players and mix up racket frolics with intense cardiovascular aerobic moves. The club describes it as “tennis’s answer to spinning”.

Runners should look to Project Fit (project-fit.co.uk). The workout, based in a designated City studio in Cornhill, self-brands as “the ultimate workout” and promises a confusing stand-off: “you versus your body”. The logistics of this notwithstanding, the workout itself involves treadmill interval training — increasing and reducing speed and resistance — and burns up to 1,000 calories in an hour. It’s another turn-up-and-work-out affair — the first class is free and you can get a one-month unlimited pass for £130.

“We shock the body and the mind, and you will never do the same workout twice,” says Ben Staines, co-founder and trainer at Project Fit. “The time intervals and equipment change all the time. It’s all about getting the most out of every individual by creating a thrilling atmosphere and environment through our high-octane lighting, motivating tunes and experienced instructors. We are in the heart of the City and even cater for the time-poor city worker with an intense 35-minute workout over lunchtime.”

Cardio blasts fat: Fitness First’s BEAT studio in Charing Cross (fitnessfirst.co.uk) — a heart rate-based training club — will get your blood pulsing with HIIT Pro, which pushes your heart rate to more than 90 per cent using high intensity movements and short recovery intervals.

Innovative City-based class Speedflex (speedflex.com) — another 1,000-calorie guzzler — involves a resistance machine that responds to the force and strength of the individual. “Speedflex is a HIIT training concept which combines cardiovascular and resistance training for a highly effective, full body workout that is suitable for all ages and abilities,” explains head trainer Matt Bolam. “It’s a circuit-based workout that exercises multiple muscle groups simultaneously and eliminates momentum so that users are working as hard as possible at all times. This makes for an incredibly high-calorie burn in a single 45-minute session, with little to no post-exercise muscle fatigue or soreness thanks to the nature of the machines. State-of-the-art monitors help you keep a check on the heart-rate zone you’re working in and encourage you to work in a high-intensity zone of 85 per cent and above for optimal calorie burn, even hours after your session is finished.” It chews through hundreds of calories, and improves muscle tone and bone density.

Another high-octane option is Yotopia (yotopia.co.uk), which has launched Urban Tri: 45 minutes of hot yoga followed by a three-mile run, then an eight-mile cycle at BOOM Cycle (boomcycle.co.uk) in Holborn: the mega-workout has a clan of fit fanatics.

London, these are your marching orders: go hard and hobble home.