Looking to shake off the ‘toxicity’ of the festive season, let your ‘bodies’ hit the floor, and get ‘one step closer’ to your fitness goals? Well, if you have a penchant for alternative music, get yourself down to RockFit, Nottingham’s alternative fitness class where friendly metal fans rock out to work out. We spoke to Nottingham instructors Jack ‘Kastor’ Wilkinson and Sam ‘Blu’ Rynne to discover what it’s all about…
The music is loud. Everyone’s smiling, cheeks flushed, skin hot and sweaty. Feet move, fists punch the air. The energy builds, sweeping everyone up towards the endorphin high they came for.
It might sound like a peak live music moment at Rock City. But it’s a Monday night, we’re in a brightly lit annex round the back of Mapperley Sports and Social Club, and the guy who’s got the audience hanging on his every move isn’t a famous rock star. He’s a RockFit instructor.
Welcome to the UK’s alternative exercise class, where heavy metal heads get their musical kicks and raise their heart rate with an hour of cardio. They’re also - it turns out – finding friendships and gig buddies.
Launched in Plymouth in 2015, the brainchild of dance teacher, Hannah Hawkey, has grown into a nationwide success story with 79 live classes a week across England, Scotland and Wales. The brand also has a growing roster of special events, including charity fundraisers and flash mobs. Collaborations with local bands are helping support grassroots music, and a surprisingly popular 10am slot at Download has been getting groggy festival goers out of their camp beds since 2016.
In Mapperley, as we kick, punch and grapevine our way through twelve tracks led by Jack ‘Kastor’ Wilkinson, it’s easy to see why RockFit is striking such a chord with fans.
Jack, a former local wrestler who fell in love with online RockFit classes in lockdown, is a white-collar salesman by day. But three nights a week he’s helping people of all ages and abilities get fitter, while living out his rock star fantasies.
“It’s funny,” Jack says. “I feel like I’m wearing a costume when I’m at work. I have to put on a shirt and sit at a computer and do human things.”
The real Jack, he tells me, is the one down the front tonight, rocking a smudge of eye makeup and a Lycra crop top and leggings, hyping up his 149th class.
With wife Evie on the front row (a committed fan with over a hundred classes under her belt), Jack gets us warmed up to Linchpin by Fear Factory, slicing the air to Knives by Bullet for My Valentine, and air shovelling to Diggy Digg Hole by Wind Rose.
“It makes sense doesn’t it, marrying heavy, alternative music with fitness,” Jack says. “It lights a fire under our asses. And it’s for everybody! We’ve had everyone from people in their sixties and seventies, to new parents who feel like they’ve lost themselves a little bit, come here for a bit of Friday night energy.”
Everyone at the session agrees, saying how working out to the music they love has transformed cardio into a fun, social activity. One participant admits she rarely bothers going out anymore. She just comes to Jack’s class instead.
“We’re all from the other side of the tracks,” Jack explains. “This is a place where we can all feel safe and feel accepted.”
As we squat to the guttural roars in Holy Roller by Spiritbox, we realise no-one is doing it perfectly, but everyone is having a good time.
“The Instagram ideal of what fitness should look like can be quite intimidating for people,” Jack adds. “But rock & roll has never been about perfection. RockFit is adding years on to people’s lives and improving the quality of those years.”
Jack’s inspiration and Nottingham’s very first RockFit instructor was dreadlocked mum-of-three Sam ‘Blu’ Rynne – a teacher, personal trainer and former competitive weightlifter who grabbed the RockFit concept with both hands during COVID.
As we squat to the guttural roars in Holy Roller by Spiritbox, we realise no-one is doing it perfectly, but everyone is having a good time.
“All the gyms closed and I needed something that really spoke to me. I started doing the classes at home and I just thought, ‘Yeah, this is a bit of me’.”
After completing the RockFit training, Sam launched an online class. Then when lockdown restrictions were finally lifted, the stage was set for her RockFit journey.
“The first class I ran I’d get all my mates along and ask people to just pay what they could. I was prepared to do anything to get RockFit out there and give something back. Everything I’ve ever done is about helping people feel better about themselves.”
As the only Nottingham instructor at the time, Sam was invited to lead the RockFit sessions at Download 2022 – the first full festival after the pandemic.
“I rocked up on the Thursday morning and did my class in front of hundreds of people. It was absolutely insane,” Sam remembers. “Now I’m on the instructor team that presents Download and Bloodstock. I just love it! RockFit is a strong and original concept that’s meeting people’s needs and I just feel like this is where I’m meant to be.”
When I arrive at Sam’s last class of 2025 in Hucknall, a chat about a nu-metal night some of them went to together at the weekend becomes an animated discussion about the latest acts announced for Download 2026.
Then the music starts and all eyes are on Sam, who leads us through a track list of crowd pleasers featuring Billy Talent, Limp Bizkit and Bloodhound Gang, plus a few festive bangers where air guitar and swinging an item of clothing over our heads is actively encouraged.
Like Jack, Sam is proud to offer a safe, welcoming space and loves how RockFit can be adapted to suit anyone, including people with health and mobility issues.
One regular started when she was getting over an injury and has been coming for four years. Another, who works from home, says the weekly sessions get her out of the house and keep her sane.
“I’m not great at socialising,” she says. “But I come here and I feel like I’ve been out.”
As we leave, skin clammy, limbs weak, endorphins still pumping, we realise RockFit’s Jack and Sam have pulled off the perfect encore… they left us wanting more.
RockFit takes place on Mondays in Mapperley, Wednesdays in Hucknall and Sherwood, Thursdays at The Olde Salutation Inn, and Fridays at St Jude’s Church, Mapperley. Head to their website for more info.
The set list
A taster of what your twelve-track RockFit work out could sound like...
Linchpin - Fear Factory
Knives - Bullet for my Valentine
Diggy Diggy Hole - Wind Rose
Move Mountains - Sumo Cyco
Closer - Nine Inch Nails
Fat Lip - Sum 41
Holy Roller - Spiritbox
Princeless Princess - Delilah Bon
Superbeast - Rob Zombie
Wicked Game - HIM
Black Heart - Bleed Again
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