I hate cardio, but I hate networking more.
So, like a child who needs their broccoli served on an imaginary airplane-spoon, I took myself to an 8 a.m. “sweatworking” HIIT class for VCs and founders, to see if working out would make the chatting easier and camaraderie the exercise less daunting.
Plus, there was free food.
It was the second event in a month I’d attended by Rally, a fitness networking community whose slogan is “sweat over small talk,” the first being a summer evening 5k run through London’s leafy Regent’s Park.
White-collar workers have been making deals in locker rooms for years, but in these wellness and longevity-obsessed times, fitness networking is becoming a popular alternative to traditional events — the kinds that flare up my social anxiety. According to McKinsey & Company’s 2025 wellness survey, 84% of US consumers say wellness is a “top” or “important” priority, up from 42% in 2020.
In recent years, young people have used run clubs to find community and love. At the same time, millennials and Gen Z are drinking less. And amid fears that AI will steal our jobs, networking is, for many of us, no longer something that can be avoided.
Rally’s first event last October in London had 20 attendees. A year later, there are waiting lists for its free, monthly 60-person HIIT classes. Its summer run clubs, which sell out almost instantly, have also been hosted in Munich and LA. In the next year, Rally plans to expand to Dubai as well as more cities in the US and Europe. Pitch and Run, a similar group that started in 2019 and hosts weekly morning jogs for founders and VCs in London, Austin, and San Francisco, has hundreds of members.
Ahead of the Rally events, I was excited to experience the hype for myself and possibly unlock a new life hack. But I was nervous the workout would be way too difficult and I would humiliate myself. I do a lot of yoga and Pilates, but minimal cardio.
Here are my big takeaways.
1) I was nervous heading to the meeting point alone, but breaking the ice was easy
My editor said she’d join me for moral support on the VCs and founders run, my first ever 5k, but failed somewhat because I arrived first at the meeting point, a pub in central London.
I felt self-conscious walking in alone, but I forced myself to swallow my feelings and said “hello” to one of Rally’s three co-founders, Oliver Fitz-Gibbon, who introduced me to a few more runners.
I found that asking whether a person was a VC or founder and if they had attended past Rally events was an instant icebreaker that made the conversation flow naturally. It felt less forced than other drinks reception-style events I had been to.
2) Being honest about being a beginnier runner helped me bond with strangers
Everyone was friendly and enthusiastic, but clearly more experienced at running than me (not hard), which made me feel a bit out of place. Some people looked shocked when I said I’d never run a 5k, but my fellow runners were supportive, and mentioning it made them part of my journey. After the run, some checked in to see how I fared (better than I thought).
Chatting about our running times back at the pub helped with transitioning into socializing.
Red in the face and sweaty, sharing an experience totally unrelated to work meant people’s walls were down and masks were off. Conversations felt less transactional than at a typical networking event.
We were greeted with non-alcoholic beers after the run, and flavored sparkling water and raspberry compote yogurt bowls with peanuts, and protein powder after the HIIT class. Both times, people hung around and chatted, partly about work and partly not, which was fun.
I met helpful contacts at both events, aided by the endorphins, which eased my nerves. After attending just two events, I felt quite comfortable in the community and could imagine forging genuine relationships if I became a regular. I asked Fitz-Gibbon if there had been any Rally romances, but he said he hadn’t heard about any just yet.
In hindsight, I think the evening run was better for networking than the morning HIIT class, because people didn’t have to rush off to work.
3) Take a friend if you’re worried about being less fit than other people
For the run, we were split up according to speed, and my editor and I were the only runners other than the pacekeeper in the slowest group. We got to know him quite well, and he didn’t mind us slowing down or taking walking breaks.
Before the HIIT class — again my first time trying this type of activity — we weren’t split up according to fitness level, but put into groups of four. In pairs, we had to alternate between running on a treadmill and doing a beastly routine involving free weights and many burpees, until the machine showed our group had collectively burned 600 calories.
After two sets, I felt like I might faint or vomit, and my heart was pumping out of my chest. My body was not taking my first HIIT class well. At one stage, the instructor told me I looked like I was about to cry. I put pressure on myself to push myself harder than usual because my teammates were fitter than me.
Fitz-Gibbon told me afterward that this class was uncharacteristically intense.
If I were to attend another 8 a.m. fitness networking event, I wouldn’t go on an empty stomach but eat something small beforehand. I don’t usually have breakfast until about 10:30 a.m., but I think a quick energy release snack would have helped me cope better with the intense exercise.
If, like me, your cardio fitness could be better, I would also consider taking a friend of a similar fitness level along to team events, so you can partner up and go at your own pace. Failing that, I’d ask around before the class starts to find someone on your fitness wavelength.
However, regardless of my fitness level, everyone was friendly and didn’t make me feel like I was slowing them down.
I would take going to a fitness networking event over a traditional one any day, because it kills two birds with one stone, is good for your health, and is, in my opinion, more conducive to making connections.
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