Leith’s first health & fitness festival takes place at Victoria Park tomorrow, hosted by local carity Looking After Our Elderly. It aims to bring back community spirit and unite all generations of the community with the aim of getting healthy, active and having fun.
Demonstrations & entertainment highlights:
Tai Chi, 10.00, Thistle Foundation, Lambs House Circle
The Thistle Foundation are a Scottish Charity that supports people with disabilities and health conditions to lead full lives. Thistle Gym is a bit different. With a friendly and relaxed environment, Thistle Gym helps members to improve their health and fitness levels, regardless of their disability or health condition.
5k fun run, 11.00, demonstration drive
Fitness Soul, Booiaka, 11.00, Lambs House Circle
Booiaka is an intense cardio dance workout that feels like a fun night spent dancing with friends at a party or a favorite club, to music you love. It incorporates elements of many different dance styles, such as Latin, Brazilian, Jamaican, hip-hop and Reggaeton – but the emphasis is on having fun, releasing your spirit and feeling the beat.
Canongate Cadjers (ceilidh band), 13.00, Lambs House Circle
Space hopper race for adults, 14.00 – 15.00
Organised by Tracy Griffen, of Griffen fitness, competitors will race in heats and go on to a final hop off! Hop at your own risk!
Hula Honeys demos, 10.00 –16.00, demonstration drive
Kim Sibbald, personal trainer and hula hoop teacher based in Edinburgh, is on a mission to spread the love and share the joys of hooping. Hula Honeys hooping classes are fun, friendly and addictive. Don’t worry if you have never been able to hoop before, the hoops provided make the skill much easier to pick up. The great thing about hooping is you are training your mind as well as your body. It is progressive and you can always learn new skills. But remember the focus is on having fun!
Kuk Sool Won workshop, 12.00– 15.00, demonstration drive
A comprehensive, modern, traditional Korean Martial Art. Kuk Sool Won™ is a systematic study of all of the traditional fighting arts, which together comprise the martial arts history of Korea. As a martial arts system, Kuk Sool Won™ is exteremely well-organized; and seeks to integrate and explore the entire spectrum of established Asian fighting arts and body conditioning techniques, as well as mental development and traditional weapons training. The following list includes some, but by no means all, of the elements of Kuk Sool Won™. For a history of Kuk Sool Won™ click HERE
Links Fitness Bootcamp 12.30– 14.00, demonstration drive
Women’s only bootcamp classes held at Leith Links on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. Bootcamp is suitable for all levels of fitness with classes including sandbags, medicine balls, bodyweight circuits, cardio drills, fun games, battling ropes, boxing. Varying activities keeps the classes interesting and challenging.
SwishandHips, bellydancing demos by Elspeth, 12.30, entertainment area & 13.00 demonstration drive
Belly dancing is the name given to many different styles of dance which originated in the Middle East, but which dancers all over the world have taken to their hearts and made their own.
Belly dance is known in arabic as Raks Sharki, and comes in many different forms – oriental style, cabaret style, American Tribal style, tribal fusion, and many other sub-strata. Elspeth studies and dances in the Egyptian Oriental Style, as performed by dancers in Cairo today.
Strictly Fitsteps demos, 12.30 – 16.00, demonstration drive & 15.30 main stage
FitSteps® came to life in 2013 as the result of a collaboration between two of the UK’s most famous ballroom dancers and Britain’s most successful swimmer! During the long, arduous dance training sessions that are an integral part of Britain’s most decided to mix the graceful steps of Ballroom and the up tempo steps of the Latin dances together to create a really fun, energetic and effective way to stay fit and keep trim that would appeal to everyone, even if they couldn’t dance. The programme is based around twelve of the most popular Latin and Ballroom dances and the first class that we’ve launched has elements of six of these dances – Jive, Cha Cha, Samba, Tango, Waltz and Quickstep.
Edinburgh Lau Gar Self Defence demos, 14.30 – 17.00, demonstration drive
Lau Gar is the most popular form of Kung Fu in the UK and was brought here by Master Jeremy Yau in 1961. Lau Gar Kung Fu is derived from the form of boxing that was practised in Kuei Ling Temple, situated on Bac Pye Saan (the Bac Pye mountain), in Hong Kong in Western China. It was first learned by a monk fleeing from Kuei Ling Temple by the Master, “Three Eyed Lau”, a tiger hunter, who is honoured as the founder of Lau Gar Kung Fu.
Metamadness, 13.00, main stage
The MetaMadness class is an all over body work out based on the sport of boxing.
Fire Safety demos, 11.15, 12.30, 13.45, 15.00, Lambs House Circle
Chip Pan Fire and Fire extinguisher demos
It promises to be quite a day – don’t miss it!