38 Degrees North review: how to return from Ibiza in better shape than ever

Arriving back at the hotel, sweaty and euphoric, as the sun had barely risen: it sounds like the end of a typically hedonistic night in Ibiza. But my high wasn't the result of anything illicit; it was the endorphin rush that comes from doing several rounds of burpees, jump squats and hill sprints before breakfast.

Over the past few years the White Isle has become just as much a destination for the health conscious as for party animals. Yoga retreats and #cleaneating cafes seem to open as regularly beach bars and nightclubs, making it the spiritual holiday home of avocado-loving yogis as much as it was for the Flower Power generation of the 1960s.

Ibiza-based fitness retreat 38 Degrees North has operated on the island since 2011. Its tag line is “reset your coordinates” and James and Claire Davies, the husband-and-wife team who run it, have a refreshingly realistic approach to wellness. “Our ethos is summed up by ‘train hard, play hard’,” says James.

While guests on the four-day Jump:Start retreat will squat, lunge, jump and thrust more than they ever thought possible, let alone advisable, over the course of 96 hours, there’s no sense of deprivation. It’s categorically not a detox retreat, so while clean eating and teetotalism is obviously encouraged, guests are free to do as they please in the evenings. Nothing – not even wine or pizza – is off limits.

“It’s not about weight loss,” says James. Instead, they focus on realistic sustainability. “We’re about teaching people effective ways to get fit and stay fit while still enjoying the things they want in life.”

Getting and staying fit the 38 Degrees North way means HIIT (high intensity interval training); lots of it. Each day begins with 30 minutes of fasted cardio, with head trainer Rob Faircloth leading different obscure-sounding sessions (AMRAP, Tabata, Met-Con) that all essentially boil down to: move your body as fast as you can, as hard as you can, until you can no longer string a coherent sentence together. It’s the world’s most effective cure for a foggy head.

The reward is free rein on the breakfast buffet at the four-star Sol Beach House Hotel. Potentially ruinous, given the array of cakes and pastries on offer, but a nutritional workshop on the Monday and a goal-setting session later in the week kept us on the straight and narrow.  

The workshops are an important part of the holistic wellness approach that James and Claire believe is fundamental to lasting change. “If this part isn’t on board, we’re never going to be able to change this,” says Claire, patting her own temple then washboard abs. With a background in psychology, she encourages guests to take a pragmatic look at their goals and motivations, and how to avoid backsliding into bad habits.

The bright, airy Sol Beach House, perched on a cliff in Santa Eulalia, with its superfood juices and cheery motivational posters, is a fitting base for this type of mental and physical reset. Bounding up the stairs to my whitewashed room, it really did feel like anything was possible.

But sitting around soul-searching is just a tiny part of the itinerary, which comprises four to five hours of training per day, all of it high-intensity except for a blissful end-of-day yoga or Pilates session overlooking the sea.

The team have ever more inventive ways to work up a sweat, so boredom never enters the equation. Kettlebells, boxing, TRX suspension, circuits galore and a strangely enjoyable form of torture called a ‘tonne up’ target every area: you'll wake up feeling hardly able to move, let alone blast a round of burpees.

It's a shock to the body for even the most fervent gym bunnies, so skipping sessions is absolutely ok. But the camaraderie fostered between the group (retreats are capped at 14 people) is a huge motivation to turn up and work hard, while the trainers – even ex-army PT Rob – are masters at the art of positive reinforcement, pushing everyone, no matter what their fitness level, to give it their all.

While there’s a weigh-in at the start, there’s no weigh-out. Four days is too little to see significant results, says James, although he adds that clients who eat clean, avoid booze and turn up to all the sessions will lose weight and body fat. It’s not a quick-fix, but is designed to kickstart a more lasting change.

I left with a whole new exercise arsenal and the motivation to use it. The prospect of AMRAP on a drizzly London morning might not have me jumping out of bed with the same enthusiasm as it did in Ibiza, but those four days got me out of my workout rut and revived my attitude towards ‘wellness’ – pizza, wine and all.

38 Degrees North's Jump:Start retreat runs Sunday to Thursday at Sol Beach House Ibiza throughout May - October. The first retreat is running May 6 - 10. £1,599 pp sharing a double or twin room; £1,999 single occupancy, including accommodation, breakfast, lunch and all training. thirtyeightdegreesnorth.com