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Exercise/Class Formats

Power Up to Prevent Injury

Participants rarely think about injuries until after they happen (hopefully not in your class!). But someone who needs rehabilitation may face a delay in meeting fitness goals. Another issue: Our group fitness studios are filling with people of many different ages and abilities.

Plyometric cardio class
Sample Class: It Takes Two

Sample Class: It Takes Two
Pair up participants for a great cardio workout.
By Jennifer Renfroe

If you’re looking for a new way to add interest to your cardio classes, double the fun with partner drills. In this intense interval workout, drills consist of a 1-minute work effort, a 30-second recovery, and then a second 1-minute work effort. However, there’s a twist: The recovery isn’t a true recovery. Instead, you use the 30 seconds to do a quick series of “sculpting” moves designed to bring down the intensity while strengthening the body.

Creative Ideas That Inspire

Shaka Fitness® in Cleveland puts a new twist on an old favorite with

SUP Pool Yoga.

While yoga on a standup paddleboard is not a new idea—especially in locations where people have access to ocean or lakes—this offering utilizes an indoor pool. This allows participants to experience the core-strengthening and balance-training benefits of yoga on the water year-round. Even better, the predictability of indoor weather conditions allows the facility to maintain a consistent schedule.

Creative Ideas That Inspire

While not exclusive to men, Yo-Bro YOGA at RIO Pilates & Yoga
Studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a high-energy class that allows
practitioners to explore their physical limits. Catering to the
masculine energies of both men and women, the program offers
techniques for strength building and endurance—as well as opportunities
for arm balances and inversions. Participants are rewarded for their
efforts with craft beer at the end of class.

Creative Ideas That Inspire

At multiple locations throughout the country, Equinox offers

The Pursuit,

an indoor cycling experience that combines video game technology and visuals to create a competitive and interactive ride. There are two class options available—

Burn,

which aims for maximum calorie expenditure, and

Build,

suited for cyclists who focus on distance and endurance.

Creative Ideas That Inspire

Located in Boston, The Club by George Foreman III offers

BOX-FIIT 360™.

Participants complete 36 minutes of ?circuits, visiting 12 individual stations. The class combines cardio, strength and boxing through a variety of training modalities, including suspension exercises, rowing, biking, kettlebells, boxing, jump rope and turf exercises. The workouts change weekly to provide members with new goals.

Great Exercises for Older Caregivers

Adults over 50 who are caring for aging parents are not like other fitness clients of similar age.

For starters, caregivers tend to be less healthy. A study by the insurance company MetLife noted that “adult children 50+ who work and provide care to a parent are more likely to have fair or poor health than those who do not provide care to their parents” (MetLife 2011). Another study showed that 17% of caregivers felt their health had gotten worse as a result of their caregiving responsibilities (Feinberg et al. 2011).

Sample Class: Circuit Progressions

To achieve results, your participants need to be challenged in new ways. If your strength training classes are circuit-style and you want to up the ante, try adding strategic progressions. This workout, a traditional circuit format, cycles through several exercises with minimal rest. The key is to challenge participants by adjusting a variable during each cycle. With this approach, they enjoy the familiarity of the sequences, as well as fun surprises.

Circuit Progressions Details

Creative Ideas That Inspire

At Gymbox™ in London, members experience the dance sensation

Nae Nae.

The celebratory dance was invented by Atlanta-based quintet We Are Toonz, and it features cardio dance moves.

Sample Class: 3-2-1 Kick!

Are you ready to mix up your martial arts moves? 3-2-1 Kick! is an interval kickboxing class that integrates cardio, strength and core work. In each round of the work phase, innovative cardio kickboxing combinations, martial arts–inspired strength work and core moves are performed in quick intervals to keep participants engaged, motivated and challenged.

3-2-1 Kick! Details

Goal/Emphasis: total-body kickboxing interval training workout

Time: approximately 45 minutes

Equipment: dumbbells, stability balls and mats

Farmhand Fitness Among the Trilliums

Praise for IDEA Personal Trainer Institute™ East

Thank you for the great article “Sample Class: Farmhand Fitness,” by
Ryan Halvorson [Class Take-Out, April 2015]. I have a group of older
adults (mean age 70) who train outdoors near Montreal, doing boot
camp–style classes in summer and snowshoeing in winter.

The Science of Suspension Exercise

Suspension exercise combines body weight and anchored, seatbelt-like straps to provide an alternative to free weights and machines. The question on a lot of trainers’s minds is whether these strap-based training systems work as well as more traditional resistance training tools. Though research into this question has been somewhat sparse, studies are starting to paint a picture of effective ways to integrate suspension exercise into a workout program.

Self Myofascial Release for Seniors

Did you know it’s important to take care of the fascia—or connective tissue—in your body? The health of connective tissue is a serious concern for older people, as movement restrictions can make it hard for them to perform simple activities of daily living. The condition of our connective tissue depends on two factors—how old we are and what we have done in our lives to keep our tissue healthy, hydrated and flexible.

Powerful Postures to Melt Stress

In today’s complicated world, just listening to the evening news on television or radio can raise cortisol rates in the body. High stress levels, combined with current technological advancements, almost unending sensorial bombardment, and the ever-changing dietary habits of many developed countries, can deny the body time for repose and resynthesis.

Sample Class: Second-Chance Recess

Do you remember being a kid? Before you could even pronounce “perceived exhaustion” or “cardiovascular exer- cise,” you were running around outside with friends, playing games just for fun. If your workouts are feeling stale (to you and your members), maybe it’s time to ring the bell for recess.

May 2015 Inner IDEA Web Extra

Web Extra!
For more guidance on the May 2015 Inner IDEA exercises, view this special IDEA Web Extra from author Lawrence Biscontini, MA.

Sample Class: Farmhand Fitness

Several years ago, I attended an IDEA World Fitness Convention™ session led by Michol Dalcourt, director of the Institute of Motion. During that presentation, he discussed hockey camps he used to lead and described the differences in capabilities among the young athletes. He remarked that athletes from rural areas tended to perform better on the ice than those from cities and towns. His assertion: The rural hockey players’ advantage was due to full-body training using low-tech “tools” like heavy logs or hay bales.

From the Couch to Conditioning

Youth are flocking to fitness classes as parents face concerns over inactivity, obesity, sports injuries and performance. Instructors are learning to cater to the vast needs of this market, and it can be difficult to create a safe environment where all children can participate, get results and have a good time. While challenges will always exist in group classes, some simple strategies, particularly during the first few minutes, can turn frustration into fun.

Engagement and Physical Literacy