How to sleigh it in the gym this season

Tis the season to be jolly. Santa hats are virtually mandatory; at this stage, if there’s no elf involved, what’s the point. December comes but once a year — so turn up the Mariah Carey.

That applies wherever you are, whether that’s doing the dishes in your PJs or at a spin class. London’s best studios are in on it: for one month only, their trainers have switched out the reverberating R’n’B that’s usually used to raise your heartbeat (and the roof) for an unashamedly festive playlist.

Start with Boom Cycle, which has studios in Holborn, Hammersmith, Battersea and Monument, and is giving its exuberant, high-velocity classes a festive spin throughout this month. Make a date for the Christmas ride at Holborn on Saturday December 15 — expect Wham! — and a Christmas at the Movies special on Tuesday 18 at Monument, with the best scores from the best seasonal films. Visit boomcycle.co.uk for the full timetable.

Digme is putting on a Christmas session at all its studios on December 18. There will be prizes for the best fancy dress — give this spin class a Bikram twist with the addition of a Santa suit and you might just win — and cocktails replace the usual protein shakes afterwards.

Meanwhile, Frames Fitrovia and Hammersmith are throwing a Jingle Bell Rock music video class — very thank u, next — on December 20, and there’s Christmas Eighties Aerobics and a Nutcracker ballet class at Frame Victoria.

On the theme of dance, The Refinery in London Fields is opening its doors to the inimitable House of Voga, flamboyant voguing extraordinaires, for a Christmas voga x barre mash-up that presumably has to be seen (and heard) to be believed.

Last, if you’re in the mood for a challenge/incentive to swerve that third glass of wine the night before, Kobox, whose third studio opened in Marylebone last month, is doing the 12 Days of Kobox: starting on December 12 and running until Christmas Eve, classes are only £12, down from £20, and its fast and furious trainers will be running fitness challenges during the sessions, with stocking-filler prizes to be won.