Free summer fitness classes in Cinquantenaire park

A fitness and sports organisation that claims half a million members back in its home country of Sweden is hosting free pop-up workout classes at several locations in Brussels throughout July and August.

Friskis&Svettis, which began in Sweden in 1978, says it has a team of 12,000 volunteer fitness instructors throughout Europe - and there are more than 500 members signed up in Brussels alone.

Spokesman Alex Mascia said: "We are not P90X, we are not the Spartan Run, we're not trying to make you suffer. We are here to have fun, to enjoy ourselves, to get fit, to get healthy and to do it together in a fun and exciting way."

At a typical Thursday night class, hundreds of people - men and women of all different fitness levels - gather in the centre of one of the tracks at Cinquantenaire Park, dancing along to music and clapping to the beat with each move.

Classes are offered at three different levels: simple, medium and intense sessions in a range of activities from boxing to nordic walking.

"There are a lot of different sessions because we have a lot of different instructors who have a lot of different interests," said Mascia. "I wasn't quite prepared the first time I came here. I was never really an exercise guru or fit in anyway so in reality the only thing we tell you to bring is a good pair of sports shoes, because you will be moving around a lot. The second thing, the most important thing, is a smile."

He adds: "We are trying to have as far and as wide a reach as we can. We tend to have all kinds of people from all kinds of countries."

Fitness sessions are on Tuesday and Thursday at 19.30 in the Cinquantenaire Park, running on Monday and Wednesday at the same time and place. Nordic walking sessions in the Sonian Forest set off from Tervuren Quatre-Bras on Saturday at 9.30, and on Sunday there are indoor sessions at 10.00 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert sports centre.