Lexington, KY - Clinging to the coattails of New Year's Eve fitness resolutions, we have taken stock of some of the area's most popular fitness crazes in order to provide a primer for folks who are looking to spice up their workout.
Adding variety to your exercise routine prevents your body from plateauing, and adds a new level of interest and challenge into a practice that can otherwise become monotonous.
The trends we covered include Aqua Zumba, TRX suspension training, fitness "bootcamps" and Bikram yoga, but Lexington has no shortage of independent specialty studios, personal trainers and larger fitness centers that feature a variety of group fitness classes.
If you're starting to feel stagnant in your fitness routine, we recommend checking out one of these options, or doing some research to find a fun, new routine to incorporate into your practice.
Bikram Yoga: the Heat is On
Bikram Yoga is an increasingly popular form of "hot yoga" conducted in a 105 degree, 40 percent humidity studio. Introduced to the United States in the 1970s by Indian yoga guru Bikram Choudhury, Bikram started to gain more popularity in the '90s, when Choudhury began offering nine-week teacher training courses and franchise options for Bikram studios.
The practice utilizes a series of 26 hatha yoga postures and two breathing exercises to create a 90-minute workout sequence touted to "give your body total health," according to Lexington teacher Jodi Chmielewski, who owns Lexington's Bikram studio on Pasadena Drive.
"The yoga is designed to give body awareness and mind awareness, so over time, you really start to feel in tune with your body," she said. "Every day, your cardiovascular system improves, then your balance, your mind, your spirit -- all that comes together, little by little."
The high level of heat is intended to help warm and stretch the muscles; the sweat (with which most practicers are drenched at the end of the class) also helps release toxins from the body and works to clean out the skin. Chmielewski added that the actual struggle of practicing in intense heat for 90 minutes also is part of the gain.
"When you struggle for 90 minutes, you look in the mirror and find compassion for yourself," she said.
The postures combined with the heat can be an intense workout -- even longtime practitioners are often struggling during class -- but champions of the practice encourage everyone to give it a shot, no matter their skill level or experience level.
The studio sees people of all ages, shapes and sizes, as well as varying stages of sickness, healing and health -- Chmielewski herself started practicing to heal a softball injury about six years ago, and says many of her students are healing from injuries, battling anxiety, depression, sleep disorders or a variety of other ailments.
"Whether it be mental or physical, everyone's healing in there," she said. "I always say it's a 90-minute reset button. No matter what's on your mind, no matter what's stressing you out, after 90 minutes it's gone."
The Bikram studio on Pasadena is the only local studio to offer the authentic Bikram practice; however, The Massage Center at Dudley Square also features hot yoga classes. For more information on the studios, visit www.bikramyogalexington.com or www.themassagecenter.org.
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Saraya Brewer
Boot Camps: Station to Station
For the past few years, fitness "boot camps" have been an increasingly popular way to expedite the process of getting in shape for weddings, bikini season and other looming events. According to Lexington trainer Kat Hampton, however, more and more people are sticking with the cardio and resistance-intensive style of "boot camp" training for the long haul.
"When (most people) do boot camps, they get results and most people stick with it, even if they do it just twice a week to maintain," she said. "If you really want long term results, it takes time -- you can't just give yourself a month to get in shape for something."
The boot camp sessions that Hampton offers are 60-minute classes that focus on timed interval training, which allows everyone to do as much as they can of a certain exercise in, say, 40 seconds, and then move on to the next "station." Some classes rely solely on body weight (i.e., push-ups or squats) while others have stations that utilize a variety of equipment, including medicine balls, dumbbells, stepping blocks and ropes.
Hampton opened her studio, BodySlam Bootcamps & Personal Training, last summer, after a few years of working as a personal trainer and nearly two decades in the medical field, where she treated lots of obesity-related health problems.
"It's nice to be on the other end, to help prevent a lot of the medical issues down the road," she said. "It's a good career change."
Her bootcamp sessions take place in an indoor studio, with no more than eight students per class.
"Because the class is so small, everyone really encourages each other -- it's a very motivating environment to be in," she said. "A lot of people hear boot camp and they're intimidated by it -- they think if you're not in great shape you're not going to fit in or whatever, but it's not like that."
People typically come to boot camp with a variety of different goals, whether it be losing weight, maintaining or just to feel better. When they follow Hampton's recommendations -- two to three sessions a week alternating with cardio intervals -- and her nutritional advice to focus on "clean eating" (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, limiting processed foods), she finds that nearly 100 percent of her clients see noticeable results within three weeks.
"It's almost universal that everyone between that third and fourth week really starts noticing a difference in their endurance," she said. "You really start getting tighter, and even before you lose weight on a scale, your body starts changing, you start dropping sizes."
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Saraya Brewer
Aqua Zumba: Just Add Water
With the dancing and the music, sometimes Jill Johnson thinks she's at a pool party, not leading an Aqua Zumba class. A relatively new workout option in Lexington, Aqua Zumba is an official spinoff of the increasingly popular dance fitness program Zumba, only instead of in the studio, participants are in the water, which can be great for exercisers who don't like to sweat.
"It's great for people who don't like to get hot and sweaty," Johnson said. "You don't get the panicky, I'm-too-hot sensation lots of people get when they first start exercising. If you're new to exercising and you're not used to that, it's kind of alarming -- in the water you don't have that so much."
Johnson has been a fitness instructor for over 10 years, leading Pilates and Zumba classes, among other programs. She got certified to teach Aqua Zumba when the training session first became available after a friend in the Zumba organization told her about the new exercise.
"She said, 'Jill, this is going to be something you're going to love,'" Johnson remembers, "and she was right."
Johnson teaches Aqua Zumba classes at Lexington Athletic Club and the Beaumont branch of the YMCA.
Along with being easier on people who have an aversion to getting hot, Aqua Zumba appeals also to people who want the added difficulty of using the water's resistance as they move, as well as to people who need an exercise with a low impact.
"The water version is easier on the joints," Johnson said. "It's adaptable to all fitness levels --
you have your older adults who have joint issues, they can come get in the pool and move at a level that works for them, and then we can bring in younger people who are really wanting to use that resistance from the water."
Because many people are encouraged to work out in water during a recovery process, more and more people are being encouraged to try Aqua Zumba.
"That's often times where I get my members, because the doctor has told them to work out in the water," Johnson said. "When we first introduced Aqua Zumba at Lexington Athletic Club, there was a little resistance --
they weren't sure about it, they didn't know if they were going to like this new class, but we've really grown the class and they love the music, and they love the energy. You can get a sense of being able to dance again, some of those people who can't dance any longer because of joint issues, they can now move with freedom in the water, which is lovely to see."
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Robbie Clark
TRX: the Suspension Builds
The TRX Suspension Training apparatus definitely gives new meaning to the phrase "hanging out," though there is nothing leisurely about this new fitness program.
Designed by members of the Navy SEALs in an effort to maximize a workout, the program essentially relies on a strap hung from a ceiling or bar upon which participants use their body weight and gravity to go through any number of movements that can target different areas of the body.
"The TRX targets lots of muscle groups," said Carrie Stewart, who offers personal training and group TRX sessions at the North Lexington Family YMCA. "You're using a lot of your core, stabilizing muscles, as well as large muscle groups."
Stewart has been instructing different fitness regimens for the past 20 years. As a wellness specialist for the YMCA, she has been working with the TRX system for over a year, after being certified by TRX representatives at the Johnson Center on the University of Kentucky's campus.
Stewart said that aside from being a very effective full-body exercise program, TRX also easily empowers participants to alter the intensity of their workout by slightly, or drastically, changing the angle at which they are standing.
"You can modify the exercise by the way you stand at the TRX," Stewart said. "Your angle at which you're standing is how you modify the exercise. Somebody who is a beginner wouldn't have to stand as far back as someone who is not a beginner. You can take your body totally vertical."
While Stewart offers personal TRX training, as well as group sessions of up to five individuals, at the YMCA, other facilities around Lexington have begun incorporating the equipment into their offerings. The TRX system also is easy enough to install for home use, with people affixing the straps to their doors or pull-up bars; a stand alone TRX S-frame also is available for home use.
Be it in a gym or at home, Stewart says the program is gaining popularity as people become more exposed to suspension training.
"People don't know that much about it, but they are getting interested in suspension training," she said. "I like everything about it. It works your whole body. It's incredible."
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Robbie Clark