Shake it Off

We have hit peak fitness fandom. What began with the odd juice cleanse and yoga retreat is now a media swarm of exotic "superfoods", nonsensical detoxing and daft workouts. At first it was exciting but now, to be frank, it's getting little bit boring. I am fed up of being told that I ought to look like a supermodel– no amount of training is going to get me VS standard.

Alas, we have lost our way on the fitness front– exercise is supposed to be about feeling good, but now it is the opposite. Go to one of London's It classes, and you'll know what I mean– "The models swear by it," they say, and then you turn up, clad in holey leggings and a crinkled top and end up panting like some sort of grunting pig amongst impossibly elegant gazelles (Gisele/Gazelle - see what I did there?) How that's ever going to make you feel good, I have no idea.

Up, Up and Away: Flying Fantastic Review

I have a confession to make: for a health and fitness writer, I am actually pretty unfit. Sure, I go through spells of obsessive running, gymming, HIIT-ing and yoga-ing, but I soon straight fall back into lazy cycles of wining, dining and watching Orange is the New Black. However, with my long-awaited summer holiday a matter of days away, it is high time for me to get back into the swing of things, for that teeny tiny bikini of yesteryear is calling.

I hate to talk about "bikini bodies", for it feels so passé and somewhat derogatory. There is no right or wrong bikini body, and as long as you are happy in yourself, then nothing else matters. Otherwise I have a groundbreaking, life changing tip: to get a bikini body, buy a bikini and put it on your body.

Joking aside, if you would like to tone up a little before your summer holidays, then I have just the thing to get you off to a flying start. Fun, exhilarating and undeniably challenging, aerial fitness is best way to kick your body up a gear, working muscles from top to toe. Based in Battersea's Wilditch Centre, with a couple of weekly classes at Gymbox in Farringdon, Flying Fantastic is London's first aerial fitness initiative for all levels.