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We Tried A Mermaid Fitness Class And It Was Everything We Dreamed It'd Be

The class is held by a 'professional mermaid' and yup you definitely need to read all about it...

Ever find yourself slumping into the hotel gym the morning after a big night out? Or just avoiding exercise altogether because, well, you’re on holiday? Hotels.com have a pretty out-there solution: “Mermaid Fitness Classes” – the perfect mix of fun and fitness that’ll balance out the vacay feasting, boost your insta-action and tick something off your bucket list you didn’t even know was there.

We went to Mallorca to meet “Merchelle” – a professional mermaid who teaches mermaid fitness around the world – to learn how to work out ‘under the sea’ and embrace our inner Ariel. And boy did we love it.

Available at select hotels in Mallorca, Japan and Mexico City, here’s five reasons why mermaid fitness is a must-do on your holiday itinerary.

You get to actually be a mermaid – duh!

Who hasn’t watched The Little Mermaid and thought: ‘I wonder what it would be like to sleep inside a clamshell’? No? Just us then. As it turns out, more than a third of people believe mermaids exist (that’s higher than unicorns FYI) and many of those peeps claim to have actually seen them too.

So, thanks to these new pool-based fitness classes, you can now make this fantasy a reality.

Don’t be fooled though, the transformation isn’t as smooth as Disney would have you believe. After squeezing our feet into the snug, monofin base, it was a slightly ungainly wiggle, shuffle and shunting manoeuvre that got us into the tail – not at all the graceful, sparkly transformation Ariel had down.

Once in the water though, we felt totally #mermazing and transformation from maid to mermaid was complete.

It’s a great workout

Forget weights, treadmills and yoga, working with a mermaid tail is a full body workout like no other.

Merchelle really put us through our paces, starting with a tail-free warm up that included running through the water, knee-high jumps and quick transitions from standing to star and T floats. Only after proving we could use our legs did we strap them into tails and the workout really began.

Simply standing upright in the pool with tail and fluke (yup, we didn’t know what that was either) took a bit of getting used to, as did mastering the undulating body movements required to perfect the graceful glide synonymous with mermaid swimming.

Though Merchelle made it look easy, it was surprisingly challenging to coordinate from head to toe without the use of individual legs, and even stronger swimmers floundered. After several lengths of swimming front, back and on both sides, our abs had had enough, proving that it’s a great core workout we more than felt the next day.

But it’s not all underwater shenanigans. Using principles from pilates, yoga and barre, Merchelle had us using the side of the pool to work out our abs, quads and glutes, as well as our upper body, with tail raises and body lifts rounding off the session.

It’s great for the 'gram

Becoming a mermaid is great for the gram, and an easy way to make sure your feed stands out from the usual beach, cocktail and ‘here’s what I ate today’ snoozefest shots.

Make sure you leave enough time for pics though, as before we knew it, a few quick snaps had turned in to a full on photo shoot. After all, it’s not every day you get to wear a fishtail and flaunt it.

Underwater cameras are also a must, as though the perched-on-a-rock look is a classic, there’s far too much fun to be had filming “under the sea”.

It’s fintastic fun

While it’s without a doubt a work out, the best thing about the class was that it’s flat-out fun. For every tricep lift there’s an underwater handstand, and every tail raise an attempt at a forward roll.

Plus, wiggling in and out of the tail is hilarious in itself, so expect some serious rofls when you give it a go.

Everyone can grab a tail

Mermaiding is 100% a social sport. For a start, you need a mate to take the pics, but you’ll also want a hand when you can’t get your fluke beneath the water at the end of each length.

What’s more, this is the perfect hen do or big birthday activity that’s something you and your mates will never forget. Make a splash with your tails, swim along to the in-pool bar and then sip some champers in a private jacuzzi and you will’ve aced the best bestie/bridesmaid role ever. Thank us later ;)

'MTV Travelled With... Hotels.com, who offer an array of Mermaid Fitness classes at various hotels, including Zafiro Palace Palmanova hotel in Mallorca from 20 – 22 September, Kanucha Bay Hotel & Villas in Okinawa, Japan from 17 – 21 September, and Camino Real Polanco Mexico in Mexico City on 1, 8, 15 & 22 September. Follow them on FB and Instagram.'

'By Ally Wybrew'

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