Creative Cross-Training

IDEA member Kimberlee Jensen Stedl and
her husband, Todd, created a workshop, Yoga for Scuba Divers,
which is also the title of their book. The workshop is practiced on land (not
in water) and teaches poses, breathing exercises, visualization techniques and
yoga lifestyle principles designed to make participants better divers.
According to Stedl, these principles help “improve balance and stability; build
core strength to protect your back when carrying tanks and weights; build
abdominal control to fine-tune your buoyancy; strengthen your legs for those
fun walks down to the water in full gear; and develop powerful muscles that
improve your finning.”

The New York Sports Clubs partnered with Snapple to offer Saints &
Spinners, a 24-hour-long Spin^®-a-Thon.
The mara­thon class raised funds for Health Corps, a health education and mentor
program founded in response to the country’s child obesity and diabetes crisis.
Every hour during the class a new group of riders mounted 100 Star Trac Spinner^® bikes for a 50-minute experience to
music led by a New York Sports Clubs instructor, along with a celebrity
instructor.

Baleté
is a “weightless total-body workout” that incorporates key principles of ballet
and karate: strength, grace, discipline and technique. The objective of the
class is to “strengthen and elongate muscles,” and participants use a belt
system similar to martial arts.

IDEA member Sue West teaches Mélange at Pomegranate
Studios in Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to West, the class combines
“conditioning components of classical ballet floor barre and Pilates, with yoga
stretches and dance warm-ups.” The workout starts with gentle floor stretches
and then transitions to standing stretches and core work. West fuses Pilates
poses with elements from ballet that emphasize control, using the “whole body
as one unit.” “We end with deep stretches, which include power stretches from
yoga and cool-down stretches from classical ballet,” says West. “The class is
taught with an emphasis on fluidity and movement to classical adagios.”

NOSS
is a Japanese dance exercise class created by Ukon Nishikawa.
NOSS represents the words Nihon, Odori, Sports and Science. Nihon means
Japan (in contemporary speech) and Odori is a reference to classical Japanese dance, which has a 400-year
history. NOSS sets classical movements to modern music. “Unlike aerobic dance,
[NOSS] is not too hard and many generations can enjoy,” according to a NOSS
fact sheet. “Like yoga or tai chi, it [offers] relaxation, but it is a simple
dance and, once you get it, you keep it throughout your life.”