News :
Fitness fusion
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE BUSINESS NEWS,
July 5 2005 -- After an intense half-hour session in the upstairs spin
studio at Spring Valley Athletic Club, Lower Heidelberg Township, a
line of women chugging water, arms glistening with sweat, filed down
the steps toward the gym's main area.
But rather than disperse individually toward the locker
room or the main fitness floor, class members regrouped minutes later
in the gym's main exercise room, where they grabbed hand weights and
stability balls for another half-hour of lifting and toning.
They weren't a group of particularly devoted exercisers,
nor were they a group of gym buddies committed to staying together over
several classes.
They were taking part in a so-called fusion class, or one
that combines several different formats into one class period for a
total body workout.
While not a new trend per se, health club personnel report
that such fusion classes are getting an increasing amount of space on
gym schedules.
"It seems to be building over the years," said
Janet Hangen, aerobics director with CHB Sports Inc. (parent company
of Wyomissing, Flying Hills and Colonial Fitness health clubs), which
boasts several such classes at its three locations.
The most common format for area fusion classes combines
a half-hour of intense cardio with group strengthening and toning sessions,
though some incorporate flexibility training such as yoga, as well.
Often, as with Spring Valley's spin and sculpt, classes physically switch
locations to do so.
Though the combination format may be nontraditional, the
individual formats being fused during class tend to be traditional,
and popular, fitness club staples.
Many area clubs, for example, combine popular spinning
and step aerobics with such strength exercises as free weights, core
conditioning and circuit training, though some clubs also incorporate
less traditional boot camp-style drills, and even jump roping in one
class at World Gym and Fitness Center, Mount Penn.
Gym personnel say that the classes are usually well-attended.
"Everybody loves half-and-half classes," McConnell
said.
Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex, Spring Township,
already has several popular fusion classes, said Stacy Brown, director
of group exercise.
Brown said she plans to add a yoga/strength and a spinning
and yoga class in the fall.
"Attendance is definitely up with the combined disciplines,"
she said. "This is a trend that is not going to go away any time
soon."
So what accounts for the classes' popularity?
In part, the classes are aimed at and no doubt attended
by exercisers who might find a full hour of intense cardio too challenging.
"A spin class is an extreme cardiovascular workout,
and sometimes an hour might be too much for some people," McConnell
said a point with which some of the spinners in her class agreed.
"I think it's good for beginners who turn away from
spin because it is very hard," said Colleen Strickler of Wernersville.
But the classes also play to two other major trends in
the fitness industry.
Consumers are more aware now than they ever were about
the importance of a balanced fitness program, including strength training,
cardio and flexibility training, Brown said.
At the same time, consumers are more time-crunched than
ever, leading to the popularity of express circuits, which can be found
in large health clubs and smaller, circuit-only facilities such as the
popular chain Curves for Women.
"Members don't have 75 minutes to spend in a yoga
class," Brown said. "They want to get their cardio in, their
strength training in, their flexibility in, and this helps them do that.
They want that all in the quickest manner that they can get it."
Stephanie Schaeffer, the instructor of a fusion jump rope,
cardio drill and group strength class at World Gym, agreed.
"It's the best overall workout," she said of
designing the class's format. "You can do all the cardio you want,
but you're not going to see the results without weight lifting, and
vice versa."
And club personnel and customers alike theorize that part
of the classes' popularity is that the variety of activities in one
class keeps exercisers engaged.
"I like it because of the variety," said Melanie
Leininger, Penn Township, one of the women in McConnell's spin and sculpt
class at Spring Valley. "It keeps you from getting bored."
(source : www.fortwayne.com)
