By Nora Zelevansky
Look around: If you have a stripper’s pole installed in your home or boxes of dusty Jazzercise videos stashed in your closet, you’re probably a follower of fitness fads. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Or do you?
“Group class people deserve credit for creating new things,” says trainer Ashley Borden, “but sometimes people are afraid to stick with the basics, catering to clients who are bored.” Thus, such fads as yogilates (a yoga-pilates hybrid) are gone in the blink of an eye.
Fads can be great motivators if they keep you interested and exercising, but be careful to mind potential pitfalls, as not all trends are created equal for all fitness levels and types.
Parkour
The most prevalent fad benefit/hazard is the introduction of an unknown movement vocabulary. Targeting new muscle groups is truly beneficial, but there are potential issues. Stacy Berman, creator of Stacy’s Bootcamp, cites new parkour “urban rebounding” classes: “If the trend’s popularity originated with 15-year-old skater boys, as a 40-year-old woman you may need to work up to that,” she explains. “You don’t have the mechanics yet. It’s important to build a solid foundation before trying twists and jumps.” For less experienced, easily bored exercisers, Berman recommends Bollywood or hip hop dance classes, which are fun and potentially stress the body less. Otherwise, focus on learning the moves inside and out before jumping in.
Piloxing
Hybrids are huge these days. Some are fantastic, while others just don’t make sense, according to Ashley Borden. While she loves boxing and pilates individually, she believes “piloxing”—a pilates/yoga blend involving weighted gloves—is fishy (even though V Pilates claims it burns a whopping 800 calories per class). “Pilates doesn’t ready your body to step up and box; it readies your body to dance,” explains Borden. Still, if the pilates is mostly about stretching, then perhaps it’s not a bad way to cool down post-workout.
Koga
To Borden, koga (yoga meets kickboxing) seems a little more practical because yoga could be a good pre-martial arts focuser. “[But] if you’re generally a yoga practitioner, you’re not trained to kick a heavy bag,” she warns. There’s vast variation in torque and rotation. Borden herself swears by Brazilian jujitsu with Duda Guerra at L.A.’s Fortune Gym, but recommends five private sessions before joining any mixed martial arts class.
Actually, koga classes are comprised mostly of kickboxing with a little yoga at the beginning and end. But the combination still merits consideration: “Kickboxing is still a number one cause of knee injuries I see,” explains physical medicine and rehab specialist, Nadya Swedan, MD. “It’s potentially problematic to overstretch your muscles with yoga beforehand because the looser they are, the less they’ll hold strength.” So be careful!
Yoga Booty Ballet
Though it may sound oxymoronic, Yoga Booty Ballet is an example of an enduring fad. The class was created in 1998 for Crunch by Gillian Clark, now co-owner of LA’s Swerve studio, after a particularly vivid dream. It’s the ultimate hybrid, based in meditation, cardiovascular dance, ballet, kundalini and hatha yoga. And there are now 18 DVDs associated with the workout!
Consistent waiting lists and lines out the door for evening classes at Swerve are indicative of this class’s popularity. (Yoga Booty Ballet has also been picked up by other studios, such as Atwater Village’s Heart Beat House, where they teach other trendy classes like Zumba, Bellydance Burn, Salsa Passion and Hoop Fitness with hula hoops.)
But newbies should be forewarned that, while yoga and ballet may be light inspirations, the emphasis is definitely on “booty.” This class can kick yours, and while some meditative poses are struck toward the beginning and end, mostly attendees strut and dance to pop and hip-hop beats as if in music videos.
No matter what the focus, experts agree that the teacher makes the class. So if a resort spa offers the same yoga class from home, for instance, make sure the original creators have trained instructors for a consistent caliber experience.
Borden also warns against untested trends: “New fads indicate that another passing fad is no longer okay. For instance, the reason we don’t do high-impact aerobics anymore [is] because it’s so hard on the knees.”
It’s great to stick with a few effective practices for an extended period. “When it comes to exercise and body, we’re not reinventing the wheel,” asserts Stacy Berman. “You’re best off with simple exercises modified for your level.”
