The Fitness Project’s HydroFit Series: Get Zen In The Pool With Water Yoga At Chinese Swimming Club

If you’re looking for an exciting twist on the passe yoga poses that are taking over your Instagram feed, you will want to try this up-and-coming fitness programme by The Fitness Project.

A relatively new programme, HydroFit is a gentler alternative to Stand Up Paddling (SUP). Since SUP is usually done in open waters, it can be more intimidating for beginners. But instead, this is held at the pool at the Chinese Swimming Club; the HydroFit sessions here are split into two types: HydroFit Zen, and HydroFit Pump.

HydroFit Zen is exactly what it sounds like, a course that will help you find your inner peace. For an hour, the instructor guided us through meditative yoga poses as we balanced on floating mats.

Sounds tough? That’s what we thought too, especially since we’re hardly yoga gurus! While the poses were simple, it took some intense concentration to maintain our balance on the wobbly mats.

But first, before we even got into the poses, we had to get wet. There was no way to get on the BOGA FitMats without getting into the pool, so into the water we went.

Much undignified scrambling later, we were up on the mat! Flowing through calming poses, we were told to feel the water around us – a good five minutes at the start of the session was spent lying face-up on the mat and taking deep, calming breaths.

And despite my initial scepticism, the five minutes were well-spent. I emerged from it much more focused and ready to get bendy.

The simple poses and exercises that the instructor ran through with us might seem unchallenging on land, but on water, they really worked our muscles and core. Try keeping your balance when the mat shifts with every move you make, and then add in the twisty yoga poses.

The other programme, HydroFit Pump, is a more intense and active workout. Comprising bodyweight calisthenics exercises like squats and sit-ups, it really gets your blood pumping!

At my request, co-founder, Yao Xiang, added in an extra three minutes of HydroFit Pump workout for us.

For intervals of 20 seconds, we did squats on the mats. But then came the challenge – only those on alternating mats were doing the squats. By rocking the mats they were on, they created waves in the pool, which meant that those in-between would be in utter chaos.

If I thought balancing on the floating mat in a static pool was hard, the turbulent waves just made everything 10 times harder.

I must confess: I fell backwards onto my bum once or twice as I was doing the squats. Extremely undignified, but thankfully, I stayed dry on the mat. No dunking for me!

Throughout the session, I did feel apprehensive about the potential dunking. But as Yao Xiang told us, falling into the water is actually part of the HydroFit experience. Once you’ve gotten wet, you learn to let go of that fear.

And indeed, this session has been about stepping out of my comfort zone; maybe I should have let loose more and let myself fall into the water after all.

So who’s eligible to participate in HydroFit sessions?

If you want a fun and low-impact way to destress while keeping fit at the same time, HydroFit is for you. It’s also advisable for people recovering from injuries, who want to try out physical activities that are low-impact but high-resistance.

Interested? Head on down for a session, and get your next fitspo fix!

Prices (without discount): $45 per pax (1 class), $152 per pax (4 classes), $350 per pax (10 classes), $600 per pax (20 classes) 

HydroFit: The Fitness Project, Chinese Swimming Club, 21/34 Amber Road, Singapore 439870 | Tel: +65 9112 6768 | Website | Facebook