Review: GoGo Bounce Dubai

We try to bounce our way to fitness with GoGo Bounce Dubai…

Over the years, we’ve tried pretty much everything that Dubai’s fitness scene has to offer, from pumping spin classes in dark rooms to obstacle course races in the desert. So GoGo Bounce, a class in Al Quoz that involves bouncing on a rebounder, sounded like a walk in the park. How wrong we were.

Class sizes are relatively small, with between six and ten people taking part. You choose your rebounder trampoline, a bar and two sets of weights: one for your arms and another, heavier set for your legs. This was our first clue that it might not be as fun and easy as the name ‘GoGo Bounce’ would have us believe.

You begin with easy bouncing to warm up. The rebounder means that it doesn’t take long to raise your heart rate, but without it being heavy on the joints. Plenty of squats and jumping jacks are thrown in to up the intensity and deliver a full body HITT (high-intensity interval training) workout. Studies show that short bursts of intensive exercise are the key to burning fat, but we’re too busy wheezing at this point to be thinking about that much.

In between three-minute HITT intervals, we get the dumbbells out for sets of chest rows, weighted lunges, bicep curls and more. Each strength exercise is completed either while bouncing or balancing on the rebounder, meaning that your core has to work extra hard to stabilise you.

The choreography of the cardio aspect gets increasingly complicated – our instructor Nicole is a former dancer – and if you’ve never watched yourself in the mirror while trying to perform can-can kicks on a trampoline, you might be in for a bit of a shock.

Near the end of the workout, we (and the rebounder) are drenched in sweat, but the final 15-minute abs workout and stretches allow a little time to catch your breath.

Overall it’s a heart-pumping, muscle quivering workout, and one that you shouldn’t underestimate. We imagine that you’d get the most out of it by attending consistently and learning the choreography; the regulars that we chat to rave about it. Gents, be warned, it’s ladies only, although you can contact Nicole to find out about her similar classes throughout Dubai. For any mums out there, they also offer babysitting on site.

Train SF Gym, 4th Street (near Times Square Centre), Al Quoz, Dubai, Sun, Tue and Thur 9am. Tel: (052) 7776108. Taxi: Times Square Centre. facebook.com/gogodxb