Joy Keller
Joy Keller is executive editor of IDEA Fitness Journal and IDEA Fit Business Success, and is also a certified personal trainer, indoor cycling instructor and yoga teacher (RYT 200). She has been working as a business to business journalist for more than 25 years and specializes in custom communication and content strategy/ production.View FitConnect Profile
Article Archive
Weight Training With Yoga Principles is offered by the Mirbeau Inn & Spa in Skaneateles, New York. This “personal training experience” combines the benefits of yoga and weight training, according to IDEA member Maggie Thomson, who is the health and wellness coordinator. Thomson says the class combines yoga concepts such as guided imagery, breathing, concentration and awareness with strength training equipment and free weights to create “structurally sound posture.”
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How good does it feel when your clients start seeing results? An educated personal trainer who knows how to put together the perfect program is a metabolic magician. When clients see and feel they are manifesting their goals, the impact of your program design is apparent. The best personal trainers work at their craft, constantly learn new concepts and upgrade their expertise. This pays off with powerful, purposeful, client-focused sessions that make a lasting impression.
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Students go on an intense ride in Tabata Trek Spin, offered by the Boston College Flynn Recreation Complex in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. This class “combines intense intervals of work with intervals of rest that challenge every cell in your body,” according to the online description. Participants are encouraged to push to their absolute maximum, which is followed by a “complete rest for a metabolizing boost to your system.”
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The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers in New York City offers its running enthusiasts a chance to excel with Warp Speed. This drill-oriented class includes sprinting, hurdles, relays and stretching techniques. According to the online schedule, participants will notice “improvements in running time, speed and endurance that will assist in national and regional open/master’s competitions.”
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How many times does the staff email blast urge you to “talk up other classes on the schedule?” It’s a good idea, but by the time you get to the studio, cue the music and lead people through your own class, either you forget to mention the vinyasa yoga class or participants leave before the cool-down, which is when you usually share announcements. Why not use the warm-up instead? This dynamic, yoga-inspired warm-up works for a step, dance, boot camp or strength circuit class and serves many purposes:
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The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston has Fanatic Friday on its schedule. This “very high intensity training session” gives participants different training options each week. Choices include step, martial arts, core board, The Body Bar® and more. 40-Minute Reshape, offered by Campus Recreation at DePaul University in Chicago includes “intense intervals followed by deep stretching” and is designed to “give your body an elongated and defined appearance,” according to the online schedule.
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Osteo Impact is “a truly valuable class,” according to the McLean, Virginia–based McLean Racquet and Health Club’s online schedule. This low-impact class features strength training and stability/balance challenges that target “an increase in bone density.”
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Legacy Gym in Los Angeles recently launched SKORE Cross Conditioning, a semiprivate group training program. SKORE fuses Spinning® and Kranking for a “complete upper and lower body workout.” According to the press release, each instructor or trainer teaches a maximum of eight participants per 55-minute session.
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Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle, director of the Pilates Center of Austin, is a pioneering voice for Pilates. From her start in yoga in the early 1970s, she plunged into Pilates during the 1990s, studying with first-generation Pilates elders and developing a reputation as a “teacher of teachers.”
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When was the last time you got excited—really excited—about the programs you design for your clients? There was a time when you paid lavish attention to detail. From the ground up you considered all the variables and options. Somewhere along the way, however, you may have lost a little passion and focus. You didn’t stop caring, and you still inspire your clients, but what would you give to reignite your purpose?
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The William G. White Jr. YMCA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, “warns” members that they will definitely get results with Metabolic Effect, which includes 30 minutes of “controlled-intensity weight training and athletic cardio drills.” The online description challenges participants to combine push-ups, lunges, squat jumps, sprints and other exercises to get the “strong physique you’ve always wanted.”
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Boogie Box Fitness rolls cardiovascular training, core balance and strength training into one program by utilizing the principle of “applied muscle resistance.” The 50-minute interval class is a “high-intensity fusion of hip-hop and Latin dancing, mixed with kickboxing, plyometric exercises and military drills.”
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Hoopilates is a new Pilates-based workout created by Brooklyn, New York, resident Jen Bleier. The hybrid class combines the Hula-Hoop with Pilates moves. According to the website, “A waist-hooping warm-up is followed by seated and standing Pilates exercises and stretches.” Hula dance intervals keep the heart rate up, and participants also learn hooping tricks.
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EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois, gives its members a blast from the past with Retro-Cardio. The schedule touts the 60-minute timeslot as “an aerobics class from the good old days” and features a high-low floor routine combined with strength training.
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Joann Melgar, founder of Exceptional Body Pilates Studio in Abingdon, Virginia, created Pilates Pump for her more “hyper” students.
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The St. Paul Jewish Community Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, offers its members B.L.A.S.T. (body locomotion and strength training). According to the online schedule, the intermediate-to-advanced workout is a combination of low-impact cardio and strength training. The facility challenges its members and guests to “have fun exploring some nontraditional exercises that challenge your strength, balance and dexterity.” The St. Paul JCC also offers Logrolling throughout the year.
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The University of Florida Department of Recreational Sports gets executive with its class descriptions for Upper Management and Lower Management. Both classes
focus on building core strength, but the former is all about arms, chest, shoulders and upper back, while the latter homes in on the legs and glutes.
Washington Athletic Club in Seattle offers members a triple threat with Buff, Bike & Balance. This “express workout” combines 4-minute intervals of cycling, weights and core balance practice “for an intense fat-burning, cardio and sculpting workout.” The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) gives participants a range of options with its Dance Potluck. Each…
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