Fit For The Next Fad
Central Coast Herald
Saturday September 6, 2003
Coming to a gym near you: cardio-striptease, heavy hula hoops and plyometrics. In an industry that runs on crazes there's no shortage of weird ideas.
SICK of new-age workouts and high-protein diets?
When it comes to health and fitness trends, urban Australia is still in the grip of an intense love affair with Pilates, yoga from Bikram to Ashtanga and the Atkins diet regime. But all manner of new options are either here or heading our way.PlyometricsAerobics with a twist, Plyometrics is training that seeks to enhance agility and strength through powerful muscular contractions as a result of rapid, eccentric contractions. It's a favourite with runners.
Gym owners describe it as ``explosive fitness". It's all about short, sharp, explosive movements using body weight.Brazilian dance classesIf you're bored with gyms and need a fun alternative, consider shaking your booty to a variety of Brazilian rhythms, steps and choreography. These classes move all your muscles, from neck to toes. They work the whole body and are a great way to keep your cardio working properly. Classes incorporate the samba, a fun and energetic dance step encompassing the true spirit of Rio Carnaval; the samba-reggae, an Afro-Brazilian dance workout that's really a high-energy aerobic dancing class and a fusion of Brazilian samba and Jamaican reggae; and Brazilian funk. Sha-DoThis derivative of tai bo is best described as aerobic kickboxing, or a cardiovascular workout done to music. Sha-Do is the ultimate high-energy workout, providing an aerobic conditioning class, combining dance, strength training, flexibility and self-defence.Body JamA one-hour, pre-choreographed dance program for men and women of all ages, Body Jam works your cardiovascular system and incorporates funk, jazz, Latin American and hip-hop dance moves. Devotees of Body Jam say its an addictive melting pot of dance and aerobics moves that improve your coordination and help you look better on nightclub dance floors.Vale-TudoNot for everyone, Vale-Tudo involves wrestling, striking, punching, kicking and submission grappling. Its name is Portuguese for anything goes, and is based on a fighting style that developed in Brazil. Vale-Tudo and Pancrase (hybrid wrestling) are among the fastest-growing combat sports internationally and are also expanding in Australia. Eat like an apeAfter flirtations with Atkins and the Zone, it may be time to return to your roots. Researchers have discovered that adhering to a primitive, ape-like regime reduces cholesterol by up to 30 per cent in just a month. Nutritionists quoted in London's Evening Standard have described the new diet as near perfect, claiming it also leaves its followers satisfied after a meal. Key components are plant sterols, found in plant oils, leafy greens and enriched margarines, along with viscous fibre, common in oats, barley and aubergine, and finally soy protein and nuts. Researchers at the University of Toronto created a range of meals using the same raw ingredients as apes. A typical human meal would consist of tofu bake with a ratatouille of aubergine, onions and sweet pepper, with pearl barley and vegetable side dishes.
Ka Huna Hawaiian Massage Ka Huna Massage is a form of ancient Polynesian massage taught by the spiritual teachers of Hawaii. It is a form of body and energy work essentially performed to align the physical, spiritual and emotional bodies of an individual. Popular in the US, it is now available at a few spas in Australia. The practitioner uses long, flowing, rhythmical strokes to facilitate deep relaxation of mind and body. The use of intuitive movement, breathing and rhythmic music helps an increased awareness of self. It involves alternating light and deep pressure applied to specific body points with the hands, forearms and elbows. Cardio stripteaseGyms are hardly fields of dreams, but in New York and Los Angeles the traditional workout with a mat and halter top is long gone, replaced by fusion classes such as yoga disco and punk-rock aerobics. In one gym close to New York University, the seductive lighting and suggestive gyrations mark a new arrival cardio striptease. A mixture of dance and aerobics, the class uses pounding pop music to whip up a seductive rhythm among 30 young women and a solitary male. Given the scant nature of gym attire, participants don't exactly have much clothing to strip, so imagination plays a key role. For one hour, the students whirl towels or shirts above their heads, roll their shoulders, grind their hips and mime removing their underwear in front of a chair seating an imaginary man. Jeff Costa, who invented it and taught it at the West Hollywood Crunch, presents it as an exercise in empowerment: Your body is a work in progress. This is celebrating you at the moment, he says. Only the last 25 minutes of each session are devoted to the actual removal of clothes. Nudity is optional, as are poles and tables. Bridal boot campCrunch, a large New York gym chain, recently started up a speciality bridal boot camp aimed at preparing women for their wedding day. ``One day, one dress, one body make it one to remember", says a leaflet that depicts, somewhat alarmingly, a muscular army drill sergeant shouting into the face of a quivering, veiled bride. It costs $US999 ($1522) and offers 16 personal training sessions and a group fitness class targeting specific muscle groups for brides-to-be. Established in 1989 in New York's bohemian East Village, Crunch made its name by giving an original twist to classes, and hiring drag queens and actors as instructors.Special-interest classesGym chain Crunch's selection of courses include a Broadway dance program, a class modelled on firefighting skills and a cardio French Can-Can. The New York Sports Club chain, meanwhile, offers reggae aerobics and Turkish belly dancing, while classes at the Gospelcize club in Long Island begin with a prayer and use gospel standards remixed with house music. Anti-establishment types are also catered for by fringe classes such as Heavy Metal Survivor, which encourages students to wear their favourite black T-shirt. Latest on the scene is punk aerobics, created by two out-of-work guitarists who encourage you to pogo away your love handles at classes held in the legendary New York club, CBGB.Heavy Hula-Hoop A staple of schoolyards the world over, the hula hoop has been souped up for 21st-century workouts. The heavy hoop (so called because it weighs 1.4 kilograms or more) is the latest must-have in Los Angeles and New York, with gyms offering cardio hoop classes. Devotees say it is the most effective way to trim waists and thighs and get a washboard stomach. According to Dr Conrad Earnest, an exercise physiologist at the Cooper Institute in Dallas quoted in London's Evening Standard , 10 minutes of vigorous waist-circling with the heavy hoop can burn 110 calories as much as running an eight-minute mile. Less strenuous hooping can still burn 85 calories the amount you would burn on a slow 12-minute jog.
THE AGE
© 2003 Central Coast Herald