Meet the Wagga women redefining what fitness means to the people they train

Two in three Australians exercise at least once each week and these Wagga women are changing what that looks like.

Gone are the days of long repetitive sets, intimidating machines, and solo sessions staring at a mute gym television screen.

As social understandings of fitness continue to evolve, there's an ever growing cohort of niche workout classes popping up across the region.

Primarily targeted towards women, these classes are creating safe and welcoming spaces for people to move their bodies in fun ways.

And they're still quite the workout.

Boogie Bounce instructor Zoe Davis ready to lead a class. Picture by Tom Dennis

Zoe Davis spent nine years in the military, during which she struggled to pass the annual fitness test.

Each year she trained herself to pass, and though she loathed the monotony of what she was doing, the feeling of being fit was infectious.

Mentally and physically she felt stronger, so when she re-trained after leaving defence, she decided to become a qualified personal trainer and fitness instructor.

Admittedly, she was all-in when she first got her qualification, counting calories and spreading the good word of one size fits all regimes.

But when she attended a Boogie Bounce class with her mother, her eyes were opened, exercising could be fun.

"I came across Boogie Bounce because it's low impact on the joints, and it's everywhere in the UK, so I took her along and I got to do a class with my mum," Davis said.

"In a lot of fitness classes you wouldn't be able to do it with different generations, you have to go to separate classes and I just loved that you could do low impact and high impact with all different abilities in one class.

"I just loved it."

Boogie Bounce classes are based on individual rebounders, with participants moving between mat-based exercises and the trampolines.

Loud music, party lights, and plenty of wooing keep the energy up and the 30-minute long sessions fly by.

Davis said it's a flashback to her younger clubbing days, when she'd spend all night dancing and working up a sweat.

Believing there is a default understanding that fitness needs to be serious all the time, she's not afraid to look a bit silly if it gets people comfortable moving their bodies.

Consistency is something that she noticed was a concern for a lot of people looking to begin their fitness journeys, and ensuring there is joy in her classes is part of her plan to keep people coming.

Once a workout is a chore, she knows they won't come back.

Defeating the 'no pain, no gain' mindset is key.

"I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to move," Davis said.

"After leaving the military, I knew my aim now was to show people that fitness doesn't have to be a chore, that you can get moving and actually enjoy it.

"You can find these workouts that are high burn, high energy and you can actually burn if not more calories doing something fun, and it's great for your mental health as well."

Zoe Davis (centre) leads a Boogie Bounce class at the Riverina Veteran and Family Hub. Picture by Tom Dennis

Erin Griffiths is a Boogie Bounce regular, but also frequents the gym multiple times a week.

Community has been a big part of her continued attendance at the classes.

She's experienced the positive social impact of attending classes with the same people each week and moving their bodies in a non-competitive environment.

Apprehensive at first of the party-like atmosphere, the workouts are sending her back to her childhood.

"When I was a kid, one of my favourite things to do was jumping on the trampoline," Griffiths said.

"I was getting a bit bored with all the gym stuff, which I do love, but three or four lessons a week with Boogie Bounce is just so much fun, it fuels my soul."

All you need is a pair of bathers

Jessica Reardon has been running aqua aerobics classes at Oasis Centre for close to ten years.

When she first gained her qualification they were running three classes a week, now they host close to 20.

She accounted the boom in popularity with changes in understanding of what fitness and exercise can look like.

Meeting new markets by offering early morning and after hours classes has also created a shift in demographic.

While the day-time classes continue to be mostly older people, she said that out of work hours classes have quite a young demographic in attendance.

Through the summer she ups the ante, running classes in the dive pool, so that attendees can't rest by touching the bottom of the pool.

"You can do a hard workout and you won't feel all those aches and pains straight away like you would if you did it on land," Reardon said.

"You find you can work harder in there without realising you're working that hard."

Jessica Reardon instructs one of Oasis Aquatic Centre's day time aqua aerobics classes.

With up to 50 participants in a class through the summer period, similar to Davis, Reardon enjoys having people of varying abilities in one class.

It's easy to adapt the movements to be more or less strenuous for each individual.

All participants need to join a class is a pair of bathers, with all the in-pool equipment provided for them.

Reardon said it helps by removing the need for people to purchase specialised equipment to participate.

By the end of a lesson she's given her participants a muscular endurance and cardiovascular workout, and by all feedback the classes fly by.

Finding a pace that works for everyone

High intensity workouts aren't for everyone though and there's plenty of low intensity options around too.

Jenelle Gray has been running ChiBall classes for four years.

Beginning her career as a therapist, she knew that wellness was more than just speaking about your feelings and wanted to help people feel better in their own bodies.

Based on a combination of modalities, ChiBall is a slow movement program with aspects of Tai Chi, yoga, dance, and Pilates incorporated.

Creating spaces for slow movement was important for Gray who believes everyone should be able to move their body in a way that's comfortable for them.

Jenelle Gray leads a Chiball class during a lunch-time session. Picture by Tahlia Sinclair

"The last thing you want to do is do something that you feel you have to do," Gray said.

"Unless you're a bodybuilder and that's part of your long-term goal but if you just want to move and if you want to get fit for fun, it has to be that, it has to be fun, so going to a gym just because you need to be fit is a chore.

"You don't want it to be a chore, there are many different types of exercises and there is plenty of room for us all here in Wagga.

"Not everybody likes Pilates, not everybody likes yoga, but they're quite happy to do ChiBall, or they want something a little bit more fast-paced and they've got Zumba, so it's important to find something you're happy with and that you enjoy."