Gen Z and young millennials are adding fun to their health-conscious routines, bringing raves, that were once limited to bars and clubs, to alcohol-free spaces – cafes, restaurants and even gyms. “It’s an experience that combines fitness activities with elements of a conventional party that you would find at a nightclub. But it’s in the morning and is a sober space,” says Sidharth Yadav, founder, Stride Run Club, a running club. “Fitness raves caught on in foreign countries post-pandemic, but I saw them start in India around a year ago, and in Bengaluru early this year. We’ve been hosting one-two every month.”
The popularity of these raves has been fuelled by social media through reels and posts of organisers and attendees. They usually have a typical routine – meeting early in the morning to exercise, usually a run, and afterwards, dancing to live DJ music. The appeal is partly driven by a desire to socialise offline for a generation that grew up on social media. “Anywhere between 150 to 400 people show up; most of them are in their 20s and from outside Bengaluru. They want to meet new people but the traditional avenues of socialising, like apps, workplace, or other fitness events are not working for them anymore,” explains Yadav.
With many of these raves being hosted by established communities, the trust that participants already have in the organisers plays a role too. “They are curious because they’ve seen it trending on social media and when they know a particular community is hosting the rave, they feel they can enjoy without thinking twice,” says Madhu R, founder, Namma Weekend Community.
The alcohol-free nature of it too, adds a feeling of safety, evident in the fact that these raves, as Yadav notes, “have fairly equal participation of men and women. It doesn’t attach having fun to consuming alcohol and fitness is the common denominator among everyone instead.” Prashant Paliwal, a nutrition coach and co-founder of Nuvie, has attended and hosted such raves. He adds, “Gen Z is the first to abandon alcohol on a mass scale and this gives them something fun and Instagrammable to do. People still want it to look like a party, but don’t want the after effects of alcohol.”
While run clubs are largely driving the fitness rave movement, the event often incorporates other forms of exercise in a high-motivation, sometimes competitive environment. “We do a warm-up and a two to five kilometre run. Sometimes we do more intense workouts like Hyrox (includes a 1km run, a functional exercise, running another kilometre and repeating this eight times),” says Madhu.