Sweat Life Festival 2017
- Simply Martha
- Aug 28, 2017
- 6 min read
Sweat life festival has been running for a few years now, but this July it was my first time attending the highly awaited sweaty fest!💦
This festival was ran by Lululemon, a yoga brand that seriously have the best ethos and clothes for all things fitness related (their yoga mats are lush!)
The Event was held at Tobacco Dock, East London. I'd never heard of this place before the event, but it was perfect venue for the festival. It was both indoors and outdoors, had loads of different rooms perfect for big yoga classes to be held as well as smaller ones for talks, food vendors and exercise classes. The event had lots going on from yoga classes held by Lululemon ambassadors, exercise classes ran by top studios in London (Including UN1T, FRAME and Psycle London) and my fave part about any festival.... FREE FOOD!😋 I was so excited but also a little apprehensive because I was attending on my own, however with my rucksack on my back, yoga mat under my arm and my other hand free to grab me some samples, I WAS READY! (lol, i'm so dramatic).
The set up was really colourful and vibrant, it made you feel both energetic and zen at the same time. I felt super comfortable here and very inviting, nothing quite like being in a room with other yogis and sweat enthusiasts.
I'm both someone who gets overwhelmed quite easily by new surrounding, busyness (great word right?!) and unfamiliar people. So at this moment I was like 'ahhhh, what should I do?' but like any great explorer (Dora being my fave😉) I channelled her energy and explored before I went to my first class. I was scheduled for a Yoga Class with Emily Clarke. A massive room was filled with colourful yoga mats and a big gong in the corner had me both extremely excited and also a little complexed but I was ready to get into the spirt of the mediation and yoga class.
It doesn't matter whether you are a seasoned yogi or a complete beginner the class was tailored so that everyone was able to fit the practise and could enjoy elements (the class was split between more advanced moves as well as more simpler too!). Ive never felt more at peace with myself. I really do encourage people to try meditation or yoga and fit in a practise once a week, there really is nothing else quite like it.🍃
The class was complete. I headed to the food vendor section (because who doesn't want a constant supply of free samples throughout the day) if I wasn't going to be in a class or talk you're most likely to find me here.... BY FOOOOOOD! At the end of the festival i even got to know some of the name of the people on the stalls I was hanging around waaaay to long for that to happen but #noshame😂 Pip n Nut (a nut butter brand, basically... perfection😻🍯) were doing a protein ball making workshop for an hour, which was so great. you could make your own balls from their products FOR FREE!! Sadly I wanted to go to a nutrition talk at the same so didn't have time to make any😢
However I felt this talk was not to be missed! Considering I'm about to do a degree in all things food and health I wanted a little taste (pun intended😏) into nutrition lectures. This talk was ran by James Collins, who has worked with massive football clubs being their nutritionist and is currently working for dancers in the West End as well as being a private nutritionalist for public clients too. I found it very fascinating and really helped with understand how to fuel workouts better and I feel I've become more quizzical about myself in terms of food/nutrition too.
Right now I was feeling more educated, feeling stretched and relaxed (and full of food!) I was ready to embrace the name of this festival, TIME TO GET A SWEAT ON!!! My first class I was booked in with was Heartcore. and yes.... the workout was damn hardcore to say the least!
This how I looked before I start
(ahh so naive to what
i was about to endure, fool!)
and then
This was the disgusting mess I
turned into at the end
After this sweaty mess I had turned into I felt I needed to return to the calm Martha I was (and also less disgusting and smelly😷) so headed to another yoga and mindful session with Lululemon's Mona Godfrey. Another good yoga session completed I was feeling rested and only a tiny bit sweaty at this point. After a quick lunch break I wanted another sweaty session to commence so went to Xtend Barre, a new kind of workout, where bodyweight meets ballet. I kid you not... this was HARD!!!! A plie is not for the faint hearted😅 who knew ballet could be turned into a seriously intense workout! My arms were practically screaming at the end.
I feel though I was putting my mind through a rollercoaster as after another intense session i needed another rest (I know it was a constant day of rest/sweat/rest/sweat) so I headed to the Lululemon Mediation Bus- wow this bus was really pretty inside💫 The mediation was done through headphones. The guided session was conducted by again, another Lululemon ambassador. It was only 15 minutes- but so much can happen within that session, mentally all you need is a really good 10 minutes calm.
I felt my headphones looked mega cool
This was it. I was in my last part of the day, and I was ready for the big one. THE class of alll fitness classes....... I was coming for you.
UN1T is one of the biggest London studios at the moment. Highly talked about around the fitness communities and also been know as the hardest studios that work you to YOUR max! I was scared. Considering I had already done 2 classes before- I didn't think I had anymore sweat to produce, It was physically impossible right? HAHAHAHAHAHA I laugh so much writing this- I was dripping in not only more sweaty existence but I swear half my DNA was probably on half the rest of the class and I had theirs on me. It was not a pretty experience, but hell yeah it was GREAT!!
The class was essentially a circuit made up of exercise bikes, ropes, deadlifts, weights, rowers, sprints- basically every aspect of a workout you hate IN ONE WORKOUT!!! I was sweating before I even started I was that nervous😥😅 Ive honestly never enjoyed or workout harder than in that class- if you really do enjoy working your hardest, this workout was for you. I'd highly recommend UN1T- the trainers were incredibly motivating (but you kind of hated them at the same time because they would shout when you had a rest between sets- that was a major NO NO!) Their ethos for their workouts are- we train as ONE. Therefore if someone has a rest everyone has to workout as twice as hard for your weakness. Now thinking about it, its kind of brutal but if you want to see results from exercise no better this really.
To say I left the class on a high was an understatement- I was extremely proud of myself for completely it (especially since 2 people had dropped out mid way through). I finished on a even bigger high because as the festival was ending I got my best free sample yet! Rebel cocao yoghurt with almond butter and seeds (this was soooooooo needed)
So my time at Sweat Life came to an end, but hell yeah did I embody the name of the day.... I THINK SO! I really enjoyed myself, pushing myself through workouts, eating new foods (even better when they are free too!) and trying different things and learning new ways about health. I am also so so so proud and chuffed that I did it all with my own company- there is something to be said for people that attend events on their own. It's not always the easiest things to do, and can be a little scary at first (but sometimes you end up having more fun then you would do going with people😉) So if you're one of those people- I applaud you👏👏👏👏
So I think it's safe to say I'll be booking my ticket for next years.
Until next time,
Simply Martha x
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