Bali has become the ‘go to’ place for every type of health and fitness retreat you can think of. It’s a chance to forgo the ‘holiday hangover’ and return home with refreshed fitness habits while having fun and meeting like-minded people. But if you want to skip the luxury villa experience, the shopping and the trendy bars and head to the hills where the Balinese culture is still intact and the climate is distinctly cooler (which is ideal for especially challenging workouts), then Sharing Bali, may just be exactly what you need.
Sharing Bali has been running health and fitness retreats for small groups since 2009 and is the sort of place where you can work on your fitness, healthy eating and relaxation, minus all the distractions. There’s no Wi-Fi or swanky bars to tempt you, as the Ayung Sari Indah property – which translates to ‘a place for re-energising or relaxing’ – is surrounded by rice paddies and volcanoes and is far from the madding tourist crowds.
Nestled in the hills, just 40 minutes north west of Ubud Sharing Bali offers a range of 5-night/ 6-day retreats specialising in Bootcamps, General Fitness, Yoga/Pilates, Body Transformation, Fitness Adventures and Rejuvenation. Don’t expect shiny gym equipment though; instead, you’ll be making the most of the local terrain and innovative equipment such as rice sacks filled with volcanic soil, ‘kettle bells’ and obstacle bars made from bamboo, and – of course – coconuts. There are a few mod cons available, such as boxing gloves, pads and skipping ropes, but this is, after all, fitness – Bali style!
To complement the sessions are jungle walks, cycling tours, and everybody’s favourite, according to co-owner Karen Willis, ‘the Mt Batur volcano walk’, which requires you to cut short your beauty sleep with a 2.30am start. Karen says she partners up with a varied selection of, predominantly, Australian businesses, who all provide the expertise for some of the programs.
Personal trainers can create new and exciting profit centre for their existing PT business, by offering retreats for their clients. Trainers who are interested in running a retreat but don’t know where to start will be keen to learn about the program that can teach them everything they need to know. Australian trainer Cliff Kovacs, from Fit-shop, will be running Bali-style Business Bootcamp, which will be specifically designed for trainers to experience a Bali Bootcamp Retreat first-hand, and to learn the tools to plan, coordinate, market and successfully run their own. It will be an opportunity to share ideas and network as well as try all the activities available to clients. Unfortunately, the program is not scheduled to run until September 2014 but we’ll be sure to let you know the moment information becomes available so be sure to watch this space!
Article by Toni Krasicki.