Best Free Fitness Trials in Singapore: Crossfit, Yoga, MMA & Muay Thai

Up until I discovered free fitness trials a couple years ago, paying to work out had always sounded steadfastly absurd to me.

Why spend silly amounts on an overpriced gym membership when you could attempt yoga from the comforts of home, guided by a YouTube video?

Or clock a workout using your ActiveSG credits?

If you’re determined to get fit(ter) this 2020, though, these are the best money-can’t-buy fitness trials to test your stamina with.

TL;DR: The Best Fitness Trials in Singapore

Whether it’s mixed martial arts (MMA), yoga, pilates or barre classes you’re looking at, this table will have you sorted.

We’ll also be updating it with the latest trials from time to time, so be sure to bookmark this page.

Meantime, here’s our complete round-up of free trials at gyms and fitness studios for your picking.

Crossfit Gyms

For the uninitiated, crossfit combines gymnastics, endurance and weight-lifting with HIIT. While popular gyms like UFIT Singapore and F45 Training only offer paid trials, there are three where you’ll be able to work up a sweat for free.

CrossFit

Trial length: One 30-min introductory class

No UFIT trial, no problem: CrossFit is your outdoor playground of an answer, aided by the support of a nutrition team. A focus is also placed on Fundamentals classes, in which workouts are adapted based around an individual’s  existing injuries.

220 Turf Club Rd | +65 6225 5059
Monday to Friday 6am to 8pm | Saturday & Sunday 8am to 11am

SetFree CrossFit

Trial length: One 60-min class

With a complete focus on high intensity workouts, you’re in for some serious fat-burning. Plus, its Eleiko-branded equipment are the same that Olympic weightlifters use.

100G Pasir Panjang Rd, #01-14 | +65 9389 3723
Monday to Sunday 8am to 8.30pm

Innervate Fit

Trial length: One 60-min class

Whatever your age, Innervate Fit prides itself on being an all-inclusive community with trial classes across four pricing plans: CrossFit, Adaptives CrossFit, Kids and Teens, and the Silvers CrossFit Programme.

994 Bendemeer Rd, B Central #01-04 | +65 9788 7859
Monday and Wednesday 7am to 8am; 4pm to 8.30pm | Tuesday and Friday 7am to 8am; 4pm to 9.30pm | Thursday 6pm to 7pm; Saturday 8am to 12pm; 3pm to 4pm

Yoga and Pilates Classes

Pilates BodyTree (PBT)

Trial length: One 60-min class

As Singapore’s first mobility fitness studio, Pilates BodyTree offers first-timers a look at easy ways to rid yourself of aches in the lead-up to its signature classes.

Three outlets, including 137 Cecil St, #12-01 Hengda Building
Monday to Thursday 9am to 7pm | Friday & & Saturday 9am to 2pm

Jal Yoga

Trial length: One hour-long class

Jal — to mean water in Hindi — refers to the fluidity of the body in yoga practice.

At Jal Yoga, each of its 17 instructors specialises in a specific area of yoga — like hatha or prayanama, to name two. But what’s probably worth a shot is the studio’s infrared heat yoga practice, which uses therapeutic heat panels to directly target the skin and muscles. It’s far removed from the discomfort of hot yoga, and purportedly promotes circulation while detoxing the body.

Five outlets, including 260 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, #02-01 | +65 6732 1483
Monday to Friday 7am to 9pm | Saturday & Sunday 9am to 3pm

Platinum Yoga

Trial length: One class (1.5h to 2h; excludes aerial and prenatal yoga)

Platinum Yoga is one of those studios I’d gladly return to, even if its facilities are no-frills at best. That’s because emphasis is placed on first getting the foundations of your practice right, whether in aerial, rope yoga, power and hatha, or hot flow.

Six outlets, including 3 Temasek Blvd, Suntec City Mall #02-462 to 466 | +65 6837 0234
Monday to Friday 7am to 10pm | Saturday  8am to 8pm | Sunday 9am to 8pm

Pure Yoga

Trial length: One introductory class and studio tour

Pure Yoga’s comprehensive programme — guided by over 200 teachers over 1,600 classes weekly — features all manner of area-specific yoga options. There’s yoga therapy for injuries, for instance, or inversion practices such as yoga wheel and wall rope yoga. Private yoga sessions are also on offer.

Four outlets, including 391A Orchard Rd, Lvl 18 Ngee Ann City Tower A | +65 6733 8863
Monday to Friday 6.30am to 10.30pm | Saturday 7.30am to 7.30pm | Sunday 7.30am to 7.30pm

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Martial Arts and Kickboxing Schools

MMA’s been steadily gaining popularity in recent years, thanks to its umbrella of full-contact sports including wrestling, Muay Thai, boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).

But if you’d rather hone in on a single sport, Muay Thai’ll have you working up a major sweat. The combat sport is characterised by the eight points of contact required while in combat: the fists, elbows, shins and knees.

FaMA

Trial length: One week

Short for Fitness and Mixed Martial Arts, FaMA’s selling point lies in its family-friendly fitness curriculum, which includes Kids’ Martial Arts classes.

If you aren’t sure which to go for during your week-long trial, start with the FaMA Fitness Fundamentals class for a taste of various martial arts training techniques — think bodyweight exercises and movement drills for grappling.

3A River Valley Road, #02-03 | +65 6352 0992
Monday to Friday 6.30am to 10pm | Saturday & Sunday 9am to 5pm

Evolve MMA

Trial length: One 30-min introductory class

Have you really tried MMA without having undergone an Evolve class? There’s a reason it’s developed a cult-like following; the MMA academy claims to be the only one in Singapore whose instructors are former or current world champions and professional fighters. These include Shinya Aoki, Bruno Pucci and Miesha Tate.

Four locations, including 26 China St, #01-01 Far East Square | +65 6536 4525
Monday to Friday 6.30am to 11pm | Saturday & Sunday 7.30am to 9pm

Fight G

Trial Length: One class (1.5h to 2h)

At Fight G, trial classes are offered for even advanced-level students, given classes are split based on your experience. Choose from BJJ, NoGi Grappling Fundamentals, MMA, Boxing and Muay Thai. If you’re opting for the latter two, you’ll also be required to bring gloves — or rent them at $2/pair.

41C North Canal Rd | +65 6438 5788
Monday to Friday 4pm to 10pm | Saturday 12pm to 4pm

JR Muay Thai

Trial Length: One 45-min class

A beginner’s training programme at JR Muay Thai is enough to ease even the most wary of newbies into the sport. Apart from acquiring all-important self-defence techniques, you’ve the option of training to be a professional Muay Thai fighter. There’re also women-only classes at its Raffles Place outlet, and classes for kids over at its Pioneer branch.

Ten locations, including 45 Jln Pemimpin | Monday to Friday 11am to 9pm | Saturday & Sunday 10am to 6pm

9Round

Trial Length: One 30-min class

At 9Round, expect a kickboxing-themed fitness programme that fuses interval, cardio and circuit-training elements. Unlike other gyms, you’re free to show up at any time to be guided through a 30-min kickboxing session. Each workout also includes heart rate training to maintain your target fat-burning zone based on your fitness level.

Nine locations, including 79 Anson Rd, #01-04 | +65 9162 4444
Monday to Thursday 7am to 2pm; 5pm to 9pm | Friday 7am to 2pm; 5pm to 8pm | Saturday 8am to 12pm

Full-Fledged Gyms and Fitness Studios

Fully-equipped fitness clubs, some of which include HIIT, boxing and yoga classes, are only part of the experience at these fancy spaces.

You’ll be paying for all the extras if you do commit to a package, so be sure to make full use of the facilities — from pool to sleep pods.

Amore Fitness

Trial Length: One-day pass

This all-women’s gym offers training zones complete with equipment including battle ropes, the agility ladder, kettlebells and the TRX Suspension Trainer, the latter of which aims to guide you through a full-body workout using just your body weight.

Having worked up a sweat, you’ll then have the option of retreating to the Amore Boutique Spa to unknot tense muscles — or maybe even squeeze in a facial — for a fee.

Eight locations, including 200 Victoria St, #03-01 Bugis Junction | +65 6336 6822
Monday to Friday 9am to 10pm | Saturday & Sunday 9am to 9pm

Anytime Fitness

Trial Length: One-day pass

The fun in Anytime Fitness is that you’re given 24/7 access to its over 4,000 gyms worldwide — so squeezing in a workout while overseas is fully possible. While gym facilities and membership benefits vary by location, you can expect coaching services, occasional free classes, plus gym equipment including free weights, medicine balls, jump ropes, rowing machines and spin bikes.

20 locations, including 10 Anson Rd, #03-41 International Plaza | +65 9477 1182 | Open 24 hours

Virgin Active

Trial Length: One-day pass

Cycling, reformer pilates, grid training, boxing and indoor climbing: these are only a handful of classes on offer at Virgin Active, which prides itself on offering members an experience.

Such marketing spiel would typically have gone over my head — except I found myself gawking stupidly while scrolling the Virgin Active website. A ‘hydrotherapy spa pool’, sleep pods and Himalayan salt room? Sign-me-up. Alas, peasants like myself’ll have to settle for free classes, complemented by a one-time tour of a Virgin Active branch of choice.

Six locations, including 7 Fraser St, #01-09 Duo Galleria | +65 6911 0570
Monday to Friday 6.30am to 10.30pm | Saturday & Sunday 8am to 4pm | PHs 8am to 8pm

Fitness First

Trial Length: One-day pass

With over 2,100 weekly classes spanning dance, cardio, conditioning and freestyle training, your options at Fitness First are virtually unlimited.

Facilities vary by location — but the Capital Tower branch features a a heated swimming pool, indoor and outdoor cardio and resistance strength training equipment, and a cycling studio with views of the city skyline.

19 locations, including 168 Robinson Rd, #09-01 Capital Tower| +65 6536 5595
Monday to Friday 6am to 10pm | Saturday 7am to 7pm 

TFX

Trial Length: One-day pass

If you think TFX sounds familiar, you aren’t wrong: it sits under the True Fitness Group, except the ante is upped to condition the body in ways yet unknown to un-fitspos like myself.

Try classes spanning hot yoga, bodypump and zumba — or push your limits with a TFX Small Group Training class, which incorporates elements of HIIT across five workout types for all fitness levels.

At its Funan outlet, you’ll find a technology-enabled training zone, spinning studio, swimming pool and a well-equipped gym.

Three locations, including 107 North Bridge Rd, #04-18 Funan | +65 6690 2388
Monday to Sunday 7am to 10pm

Pure Fitness

Trial Length: One introductory class and studio tour

Like its counterparts, Pure Fitness is practically a household name, and for good reason. Its shower and beauty station facilities are top-notch, all sheeny surfaces and polished wood — but don’t linger too long, lest you miss the myriad of classes on offer.

Apart from the standards including yoga, kickboxing and gymnastics, you’ll find slightly daunting-sounding training areas like Life Fitness and Iron Grip Resistance Training, and Power Plate Zone.

There’s also an Immersive Fitness studio for spin classes, set to a thumping soundtrack as life-like projections send you racing up steep glaciers and through a space-age city.

Four locations, including 8 Marina View, Lvl 6 Asia Square Tower 1 | +65 6100 2233
Monday to Saturday 6am to 12am | Sunday & PHs 8am to 10pm

OrangeTheory Fitness

Trial Length: One 60-min class

Its name hints at what to expect: OrangeTheory uses five colour-coded heart rate zones to rank different levels of exertion, which are tracked using a heart-rate monitor and shown in real time during classes.

The goal’s to spend at least 20 minutes of the workout — which includes a combination of cardio, strength and bodyweight exercises — in the orange zone, or at least 84% of your maximum heart rate.

Two outlets, including 2 Gopeng St, #01-58 Icon Village | +65 6224 4288
Monday to Sunday 7am to 10pm