How this 30 Minutes water class will keep you fit

AquaPhysical along with Speedo India launched their first Floatfit class in Mumbai. The Floatfit Classes will be touring the country, attracting fitness enthusiasts in Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai. AquaPhysical is initially planning to partner with gyms and to have around 300 instructors on board. Talking about the brand’s future course of action in the Indian market Leila Francis-Coleman, Creator & Founder and Tom Whelan, Founder of AquaPhysical spoke to Wellnessindia.com in a joint conversation in Mumbai on the sidelines of the launch.

Please tell us about Floatfit class?

Leila - This is AquaPhysical’s launch in India, a new fun way for people to work out. We offer Floatfit class which is a low-impact, cross-training workout on water on the world’s first fitness float the Aquabase. The class incorporates a mix of both water and land-based exercises using the Aquabase board. It is a thirty-minute fusion of high-intensity training and yoga-inspired body movement on water. Working out on the water means you are using a lot of muscle power because you have to stabilize on the boat. We are already running classes in 58 countries around the world.

Tom - We provide Floatfit training which has been endorsed by many government bodies across. The prerequisite for this training is a level 2 gym instructor because you are in the water. It involves a lot more body weight exercise when usually in aqua your weight is taken off on your feet.

What are the health benefits of these Floatfit activities or training?

Tom - Actually, your exercise and muscles or any muscular imbalance like squats on dry land usually gets ignored in gym. But in aquabase it shows off and you have to correct it to help rectify muscular imbalance. It improves core strength in cardiovascular fitness. It’s a perfect supplement to your usual gym work out. It changes your routine with different environment to work out and encourage people in the swimming pool as well.

What is unique aboutAquabase the floating mat?

Leila- We at AquaPhysical have created a unique, effective and challenging way to exercise using the movement of water. We have invented the aquabase, the first ever floating exercise mat - now selling to clubs and individuals worldwide. It adds a new, effective dimension to an everyday workout and often participants don't realize that it's actually an exercise class until they wake up the following morning.

Tom - With Aquaphysical we have invented this world’s first float matt. We have had double aquabase, thin aquabase, and thick aquabase matt. This is strong and rigid floatable matt weighing 8 kg and can hold up to 100 kg weight of product.

While majority of people don’t know the basics of swimming India how will you impart the training?

Leila – It is not mandatory to know swimming because you can do the class in shallow water where you can stand on mat. It depends on the confidence level. We enroll both swimmers and non–swimmers.

What is the age group that you are targeting?

Leila – Our target audience are the people of the age 18 to 40 years. We have run classes for 12 years old and 70 years old as well. Our biggest demographic is 18-30 years old.

What is unique with Speedo’s H2O active range?

Leila - It’s a gym to swim active wear. It can be worn in the gym and around the pool. People feel covered up and it’s a chlorine resistant.We have only clothing agreement with Speedo.

What are your future plans in the Indian market?

Leila - This is our chance to create a buzz about the class.We want to venture into new cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Chennai. We would like to have five to six locations in each city to run classes. In five cities we are going to have around 20 classes and are expecting 200 participants annually. One batch would term for 6 months. The optimum schedule for Floatfit activities will be twice a week and that’s what most people do.

Initially, we will partner with gyms.We will supply equipment to gyms and train the instructors so they would run the class. We are hoping that this will create interests.In future, we may come up with own classes.

Tom -In Floatfit all around the world we train 1500 instructors and they have access to Floatfit online portal. In India also we can provide online training but people want face to face interaction.Hence, for people placed far off, we can offer online training.

Are you planning to bring more trainers on board?

Tom – Yes, we want to host training days in India and face-to-face training. We would like to get 200-300 instructors trained onboard in India.