I love coming to the swimming pool at the SCAA on weekday mornings! It costs HK$28 per entry to the…read morepool, which is a little bit more than the public swimming pools, but it's worth it (this is an extra fee on top of the SCAA membership fee). The water is just so much cleaner than the Victoria Park swimming, the locker room is much bigger and less cramped. You do need to bring your own amenities: towel, shampoo/conditioner/soap, and a lock for the locker, but it's quite easy to manage. If you want to do lap swimming, there are specific lanes for it - look for "circle lap swimming" yellow signs.

I never realized the value of having a sports club sponsor a rugby team up until recently. I've…read moreplayed rugby for Causeway Bay and for many years all we had was a changing room and a couple of showers. Hong Kong Football Club has... Hong Kong Football club and a few other teams have their own fancy clubs. Some how we managed to get the SCAA on board and since then I've discovered things about the place I would have never imagined. It has a huge range of facilities, including bowling as well as the other more boring sports like badminton... or squash. There are also a couple of restaurants within the complex that cater to different preferences in terms of cuisine and cash flow. Most of the time I go there (with my team) to eat in their new Inside Out restaurant, a simple place that serves great burgers, lots of beer, and has one sports or another playing on big screens. It was obviously designed to support sports teams as it's partitioned off from the rest of the floor, which happens to be a DIY barbecue. It's certainly better off that way, for safety reasons, considering the amount of alcohol consumed during the meal. And there was me, walking by the place twice a week thinking why on earth would people want to join that place just for a driving ranger?! It turns out there is a lot more than meets the eye and still more for me to experience. It's a great place to go with a group of friends for a list of occasions - drinking games while golfing, a hardcore gym workout, or just a meal with the family, it's got it all.

This is the ultimate cardio workout! I consider myself to be quite active and exercise regularly,…read moremore focusing on strength training. But whenever I go to XYZ, my heart takes a beating haha! Love taking Gigi and Jess's classes at XYZ! When you check in at the front, they quickly provide you with your cycling shoes (rental included in each ride) and a locker key. I personally like taking the bikes on the side so that I can follow the moves better, especially when we need to be in sync with the music, "left right left right". The class style is quite similar to Soul Cycle, dark room with club-like lights, about 5 or 6 rounds in, there is a track with dumbbells. Who said you could only work legs and not your arms?!

I'm not the most athletic person you'll know, that's for sure. And the older you get, the more…read morereasons you need to lift your arse from your seat to get some exercise. I was never a big fan of spin studio. I'd rather ride a bike at Shatin than staying indoors with some overly competitive gang fighting for the highest scores / fastest records, well, ironically on their same respective spots. Until I heard about XYZ, obviously. That becomes a new rule of mine recently - if a business has been mentioned by three or more friends around me, I have to try it. And as a disclaimer, I've been here for try-out class only, although I'm very likely to come back as a regular. First of all, hell yeah it's a like clubbing at Play or Volar, but with both of your feet on pedals. When the class started and the light dimmed, the vibe was really exciting, but minus the competitive bs. It was kind of relaxing in its way if you think of it, as it was my very first time ever been to a spinning class. And 5mins in? I felt like dying already. Muscles were burning, and THEN our dearest instructor Kat started getting us to double our spins. Kat was amazing, and made me realized the instructor was the most important element in the class. She motivated each and everyone of us just enough to keep our head above the water, but not to drown us with anything too harsh. I was just able to keep up an hour long lesson, (and I said I'm not the most athletic person!), but looking back from the second I started, I didn't stop pedaling at all for an hour. It made me felt really good, and surpassed any instructor-based fitness classes I have ever been.