What better way to celebrate the opening of a new fitness-focussed hotel in 2024 than with an Olympic-themed weekend? Katy Sunnassee flies to Turkey to Anda Barut Collection’s new Didim property to hobnob with former Olympic stars… and do a bit of exercise while there!
Imagine going for a pre-breakfast run with Paula Radcliffe; rowing with husband-and-wife team Ric Edgington and Vicky Thornley; improving your backstroke with Rebecca Adlington or doing HIIT circuits with a dream team of Dame Denise Lewis, Colin Jackson CBE, Daley Thompson CBE and Jamie Baulch. Even one of these would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience with an Olympic legend, let alone getting to do all the above, and more, over just one weekend. But that’s what a lucky group of journalists and members of the public are doing for the opening week of Anda Barut Collection in Didim, the latest offering from the Turkish-based five-star hotel group.
Also on the packed three-day itinerary are yoga classes with former diver Leon Taylor, who won a silver at the Athens Olympics in 2004 (he turned to yoga after retiring from diving and still commentates on the sport for the BBC). Taylor introduces all the athletes to a captive audience by the main pool on the Saturday afternoon, as well as introducing the former Strictly Come Dancing professionals that are also taking part over the weekend.
As a life-long lover of dance, I’m super excited to see Ian Waite, who’s teaching Fitsteps (fitsteps.co.uk) each day, and Ola and James Jordan who are doing their Dance Shred workout (danceshred.co.uk). When the time comes for their classes, I’m up the front, prancing, dancing, squatting and loving life. Denise Lewis, who partnered with Waite on the Strictly Christmas Special in 2004, is in the row behind me and leans forward to say, ‘I can see who’s danced before!’ to which I reply that I used to teach Fitsteps so I’m at a bit of an advantage! The steps come flooding back and I begin to question why I ever gave up teaching it in the first place (when I became editor of Top Santé I reasoned with myself that I’d have no time, but my fitness levels have never been as good since!).
Dance Shred is even more of a killer, as it alternates four-to-eight bars of music doing a dance move, with four-to-eight bars doing a functional move, such as squats, press-ups or sit-ups, meaning we’re up and down like yo-yos. It’s the workout responsible for getting James and Ola trim again after they both put on weight during lockdown. It was also really endearing to see their daughter Ella alongside them, doing bits of the workout, as they really espouse whole-family fitness.
Non-stop activity
The early morning – well, 9am, which isn’t early but it is when you’re on holiday – beach-front circuits with Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis (heptathlon), Olympic silver medallist Colin Jackson (hurdles), two-times Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson (decathlon) and Olympic gold medallist Jamie Baulch (4 x 400 relay) are understandably, popular, drawing an enthusiastic crowd of what feels like 100 or so. The former Olympians have everyone running in circles, jumping, lunging, and more, and everyone groans when Baulch suggests a minute of burpees, and so Lewis comes to our rescue to offer a less intense alternative. As well as the fitness circuits, it feels as though we’re on the comedy circuit as Thompson delivers one-liners about what was acceptable in the ’80s and creates entertaining banter with his fellow Olympians. They have such great chemistry and larger-than-life personalities when in front of a crowd that, while most have come for the fitness, they return the next day, and the next, for the camaraderie and banter, not to mention the post-workout shakes and yummy protein balls provided by NGX Protein (nutri-genetix.com).
Baulch is no stranger to entertaining the public while motivating them to exercise, as he and wife Cheryl regularly visit and curate the fitness offerings at BodyHoliday in St Lucia. They are the ones responsible for curating this amazing line-up of athletes and dancers at Anda Barut. And with the resort housing the largest hotel gym I’ve ever seen (most are tucked away in a basement as an afterthought, whereas this one sits pride of place taking up the entire length of one side of the Community Zone), as well as offering daily classes in yoga, Pilates, dance, aqua fit and much more, not to mention all the water sports and the vast spa, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Anda Barut Didim becomes the new go-to resort for fitness fanatics.
The gym really is huge, as well as light and airy, packed with all the machines you could ever want. It’s where my husband, a strength and conditioning coach, retreats to twice a day during our stay. I, on the other hand, only make use of the adjacent studio where I’ve arranged private dance lessons with Ian Waite, which I’ll be honest are the highlight of my stay as he teaches me a little routine from Dancing with the Stars. Private lessons are not on the itinerary but when I saw he was going, I pre-arranged them as I took up ballroom dancing again earlier this year – and when, after all, does one get the opportunity to be in the company of professional dancers, let alone the chance to dance with them? The lessons were easily my toughest workout of the whole weekend – you soon realise why people get so lean and toned when they go on Strictly!
Row, row, row your SUP
The second most-enjoyable part of the weekend is rowing with former GB Olympians Ric Edgington and Vicky Thornley. Edgington won silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the men’s eight, and in 2012 was part of the GB crew that won bronze in the same event, while Thornley represented Team GB at three Olympic Games, the most recent being Rio 2016 during which she and Dame Katherine Grainger gained silver medals in the double sculls. For our lesson out on the water at Anda Barut, the pair had SUPs shipped over, along with rowing rigs which attach to the top to turn the boards into rowing boats by replicating the rowing action.
After a quick explanation by Thornley to make sure we keep our left hands over our right, and when to push back with our feet to co-ordinate them with our arms, we’re out on the water. For the first few minutes I keep my legs straight while I get to grips, quite literally, with the oars. I’m a bit clunky to begin with but having rowed a handful of times with my dad, as well as having been on a SUP a few times and, therefore, worked out how to get it to turn, I’m able to manoeuvre fairly well, including stopping quickly if needed. This helps on quite a few occasions as most participants aren’t looking where they’re going and are crashing into each other – or the beach! But I manage to stay out on the water for a while, enjoying the feeling of gliding along.
As I turn to come back to shore, Edgington shouts out, ‘What sport to you do?’ to which I shout back across the water, ‘Dancing!’. He says it’s interesting that a lot of the dancers have been able to grasp rowing as they can co-ordinate their arms and legs. When he tells me I’m a natural, I feel rather proud, especially as I thought I’d be rubbish and almost chickened out of doing it. Again, when do you get the opportunity to row with Olympic athletes?
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Making a splash
One of the classes I do chicken out of, though, is swimming with two-time Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington OBE, who is holding backstroke, breaststroke and front crawl classes across the three days. Adlington won gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in both 400m and 800m freestyle, as well as bronze in both the 400m and 800m freestyle at the London 2012 Games.
Here at Anda Barut, her first class is at the indoor 25m pool and has a 10-person limit, plus it clashes with one of the dance classes, so that’s my excuse. But on day two and three she relocates to one of the outdoor Community Zone pools and, as it’s sunny, it’s packed with way more than the 10 max participants, but no one minds and the pool can easily accommodate everyone.
I stand on the side-lines, taking the odd video, as Adlington gets everyone to practise floating like starfish before moving on to front crawl. Curtis Pritchard, ballroom dancer and former Love Island contestant, is also on the trip and in the pool. Unable to float like everyone else as his legs keep sinking – as mine no doubt would – he provides everyone with a laugh and is a great sport. But he redeems himself moments later by executing a near-perfect front crawl and Adlington singles him out for it. I really ought to have joined in, as I’m one of those swimmers who has her head out, doing breaststroke all the way, and don’t like putting my face in. I even took goggles with me in the hope I might participate but, alas, they remain unused – and we even have a swim-up room, so I could have practised!
Water, water everywhere
The 25m indoor pool is virtually empty when I pay a visit – although the hotel has only just opened – with guests preferring to sun themselves around the outdoors pools, of which there are six: one in the Adult’s Only area to the right of the complex (if looking from a birds-eye view), three in the Community Zone in the centre of the resort, where Jordan and Ellie hold their high-energy aqua-fit classes, and two in the Family Zone, one of which is curved and surrounded by sand, albeit more gritty than regular sand, to recreate a ‘by the sea’ vibe and which has shallow areas perfect for little swimmers. In addition, there are two under-cover shallow, square pools for toddlers to splash around in out of direct sunlight.
Another big attraction for families is the Aqua Park located behind the Family Zone, only part of which is open during our visit as workmen are still putting the finishing touches to the complex. For adrenaline junkies, there are some super-fast slides and rides that involve whizzing through flumes and/or sliding down a huge almost vertical drop. But on hearing Jamie Baulch, former sprinter, say even he was a bit scared shooting down one of them, my son and I choose to splash around the periphery, as we’re not really ones for adrenaline sports.
The all-inclusive, 562-roomed resort scores highly for food, with an extensive buffet breakfast and lunch – the likes of which I’ve never seen before – with a million types of meats and cheeses, as well as healthy salads, cooked breakfast items and every flavour of Turkish delight (if you fancy it that early on!). The all-day patisserie is also a hit, with cakes and chocolates to tickle your tastebuds. Though, as I’ve just returned from a gut health detox in Austria, I swerve the sweets (OK, I confess I did have a few chocolates after my lesson with Ian, and I also succumbed to dessert on the last night!).
And lastly, I have another confession: I didn’t get up early enough to run with Paula Radcliffe around the 1,570m jogging track that hugs the shoreline (WF editor Sarah, a keen runner, is no doubt shaking her head right now!). My mind wanted to, but my body, and husband, kept telling me I’d ruin my calves trying to do 5K when the farthest I run is down the hill to the school gates. But I did (part of) the circuits, the dance classes, a relaxing (and emotional) yoga class with the lovely Leon Taylor, plus killed my calves dancing in 3-inch heels with Waite and was told by Edgington that I was a natural at rowing. I’ll take that!
A week at the 5-star Anda Barut Collection in Didim starts from £1,381 (transfers not included). The hotel is located on the Delice Peninsula and occupies 147,000 sq m. To find out more about upcoming fitness holidays and to book, visit barutanda.com. Katy flew to Izmir from Stansted with Jet2 – visit jet2holidays.com
