Family Roadtest: Next Gen
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It was day 13,879 of the July school holidays (ok, it felt like it), and after five days of the Antarctic Vortex the two little Miss HerCanberras were getting kinda stir crazy. Then came the offer that saved my parental bacon: an afternoon at Next Gen Canberra for all three of us.
I hadn’t been back to Next Gen since filming the commercials that are dominating free-to-air prime time at the moment (I haven’t had so many ‘OH MY GOD YOU’RE ON TV!!!’ messages since reading the WIN Griffith News back in 1998), but I was looking forward to enjoying all the facilities I’ve been spruiking.
A whole afternoon of activities was sent my way: a one-on-one swimming lesson for each little Miss HerCanberra, baking and crafts for both girls, and a Born to Move class where they could work off any excess energy.
While for me? Well, while there were no adult group fitness classes scheduled during the afternoon, I was free to check out the other facilities around the club while the girls were occupied. I could swim, spend some time in the gym, play squash, tennis, or just hang in the Regeneration Spa.
I don’t really need to tell you what I was most looking forward to, do I? I could not wait to get my body into that spa…
The Regeneration Spa – shirtless guy not included.
First cab off the rank, though, was getting the kids into the pool. The girls both do regular swimming lessons, but they’d never had one-on-one aquatic attention before. Their instructor, Stef, was great – tailoring each session to the girls’ individual ability and personality. Olivia is nine and quite confident in the water, and it was great to see her doing really well in freestyle and backstroke, and Stef doing some intensive work with her on breaststroke (later, at home, Olivia showed me how her arm movement was all about ‘drawing a pizza and cutting it in half’). Sophia is a little timid and wasn’t quite sure about the ‘deep’ water (it’s a uniform 1.1 metres, so probably lip level for her), but Stef had her swimming happily by the end of the 30 minute session.
The girls bake and colour with Debbie.
Once they were showered and safely off to their baking and craft session with Stef and Children’s Activity Coordinator, Debbie, I thought I’d better check things out myself, so I headed upstairs to the enormous gym floor.
When I was filming the Next Gen ads, I got to briefly check out the Technogym Artis machines, and they looked pretty impressive, but this was some dedicated playtime. A disclaimer: I usually hate gym machines…doesn’t matter if it’s a treadmill or a bike, or a stepper, or an elliptical trainer, I’m usually out of my head with boredom after 15 minutes. But these machines are perfect for my easily-bored brain.
If you want to get the al fresco experience, you can choose the ‘Outdoor’ option and walk or ride a select number of trails (I had a lovely hike in San Francisco). You want to watch YouTube videos? Done. Prefer to check your Gmail or play Angry Birds? You can do that, too. Or, you can keep up with friends on Facebook…and discover that there’s an art to typing when you’re walking on a treadmill. I’m sure there’s some kind of hand eye coordination training benefit in that.
Look Ma! I’m in San Francisco!
All this distraction saw me put a good hour in on the gym floor, which was enough time to eye off all the strength training equipment on the gym floor and the free weights area. But I’ll save that for next time.
The kids and I met up briefly before we headed off to our next respective activities: they proudly showed me the cookies they’d made (and Chef had baked) and the artworks they’d made. They were also eyeing off the new playground that’s under construction in a dedicated room just off the Members’ Lounge.
Then it was their turn to exercise, and mine to chill out. Next Gen is the only Canberra club to feature the Les Mills’ Born To Move program, specifically designed for kids aged two to 16 years of age. Renowned Canberra dancer and fitness instructor (he’s a Les Mills Master Trainer), Jamie Winbank, took the class and had all the kids (boys and girls aged from about five to 13) eating out of the palm of his hand within minutes. I watched for a few minutes as they ran, jumped, punched, balanced and more – there was a lot of smiling!
That’s Sophia in the pink top and colourful sneakers, doing her thing.
But then it was all about me. I headed down for some well-deserved ‘me’ time in the Regeneration Spa, where I couldn’t quite decide what to try first – spa, sauna, steam room or ice shower? I decided to steam, sauna and then spa – where I nearly nodded off after half hour of bubbling bliss. Then it was to the ice shower (which can also do ‘warm’ and ‘hot’) and I was awake again and ready to step back into Mum duty.
The ice shower…coooool (literally).
All in all, we spent three-and-a-half hours at Next Gen, and it was a great way to while away the afternoon. We saw people just chilling out in the Members Lounge, others grabbing an early dinner with their families, people swimming and playing squash. For us, it was perfect timing – we escaped a grey and boring day and found one place that kept us busy in so many different ways…it would be easy to spend a whole day here, especially in summer when the outdoor pool and tennis courts beckon.
As the ads say, ‘you’ll never want to leave’…
the essentials
What: Next Gen Canberra
When: See the website for opening hours.
Where: 1 Riggall Place, Lyneham
How much: Various membership packages are available
Phone: 1800 077 177
Web: www.nextgenclubs.com.au/home/canberra
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