Aqua spinning and aerial yoga are just two of the classes that will be listed on a forthcoming mobile app, created by a young Islington entrepreneur, which allows people to book in for last-minute gym classes across London.
Konstantinos Aristotelous, 27, of Percy Circus, had the idea for the Viva la Vita app with his friend and co-founder, Styliana Vasili, after tiring of paying for gym memberships that they had stopped using.
He said: “Me and Styliana both signed up to gyms. We had memberships but after a few weeks we would get bored. We’d still be paying for the membership but not using the gym.
“So we came up with the idea of being able to go to classes as a one-off, when you wanted to.”
Taking inspiration from apps providing curated events listings, the pair have applied this formula to list the best and quirkiest fitness classes available in London.
The app will promote the ten best classes happening on the day, as well as a general class listing for the following few days. Users will then be able to use the app to book and pay for an available space.
The classes will predominantly be run by niche, local businesses as they are more willing to have non-members filling last-minute free spots, and nearly all of the featured classes have been personally tested by one of the app’s founders.
Mr Aristotelous said: “The Altitude Training class was my favourite so far. It’s designed for people before they go to places like Kilimanjaro to train but you can also just go yourself. Apparently you burn calories faster that way, although it’s not the sort of thing you’d do five nights a week.
“I also enjoyed Krav Maga which is an Israeli martial art employing various defence techniques. It’s taught to the Israeli military so it’s quite hardcore but enjoyable.”
The iPhone app is nearly ready for its May launch, but they are hoping to raise a further £25,000 via crowd funding investment site Seedr to develop it for Android users.
Mr Aristotelous said: “We have nearly reached our investment total but we only have a few more days to get the full amount otherwise we lose it all.”
https://www.seedrs.com/startups/viva-la-vita
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