To stay fit or get fitter in 2015, you might find yourself hula dancing, bouncing on a tiny trampoline or HIITing, a fast-paced repeating workout that many Canadian fitness professionals say will remain the most popular form of exercise for another year.
Characterized by short bursts of hard exercise, with HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, 鈥淵ou get more bang for your buck,鈥� said Tara King, the founder of HIIT Fitness.
According to nearly 2,000 fitness instructors who responded to the first national Canadian Fitness Professional trends survey in December, HIIT was their choice as the most effective form of exercise popular in gyms today.
Second on the canfitpro list was functional fitness, a form of exercise that uses movements to prepare the body for every-day activities like lifting groceries and climbing stairs. Third was exercise specific to adults over 65, a growing aspect of the fitness industry that has trainers seeing more knowledge about senior health and age-appropriate workouts.
HIIT topped the list, however, because it can generate significant and noticeable results, said the vice-president of canfitpro, Rod Macdonald.
In one of King鈥檚 30-minute classes, she typically sets up five circuits of challenging but simple exercises like burpees or jumping lunges and also incorporates weights. Other workouts 鈥� like CrossFit and Tabata, which is a demanding minutes-long circuit developed at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo in the 鈥�90s听 鈥� embrace aspects of HIIT, and King emphasized the importance of variety to keep the mind and body engaged and challenged.
鈥淏ecause your body will tend to plateau, you can get accustomed to it and you won鈥檛 see changes in your body anymore. We try to be innovative all the time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been around for a while but is becoming more mainstream.鈥�
In Vancouver, Urban Fitness and Tactix gyms specialize in these kinds of workouts while many other fitness centres have added classes to their larger rotation. HIIT Fitness offers classes in 麻豆传媒映画at a studio on Beatty Street.
What you won鈥檛 see at dozens of gyms around Vancouver, however, is the barefoot Polynesian rhythms of Kim Price鈥檚 Hot Hula class.
The low-impact dance workout isolates larger muscle groups and increases strength and definition to the core, said the instructor with Move Grove Fitness. The basic choreography and footwork is easy to follow yet the hour-long class still works up a sweat. Plus, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very sexy feeling,鈥� said Price.
鈥淵ou come into class and have to ask yourself, 鈥楢m I on a Hawaiian beach?鈥欌��
She encourages participants to wear a cloth sarong around their hips, which circle and sway to reggae and drum beats while the quads and glutes remain engaged through the majority of the class. 鈥淏y the end, you鈥檙e dripping with sweat,鈥� said Price, who was the first instructor in B.C. to offer the trademarked Hot Hula classes.
Beginning this month, the classes are now also available at Killarney, Kitsilano, Hillcrest and Sunset community centres.
Also new 鈥� because what鈥檚 old is always new again 鈥� are mini-trampolines. You could once find these in basement rec rooms around the country, but the low-impact, metabolism-boosting equipment is resurfacing at clubs like Steve Nash Fitness, which offers a class called JumpSport at its Howe and Davie location.听 The core is constantly activated to maintain balance and coordination, improving balance, strength and cardio while limiting the impact on joints.
听
鈥淎nother huge benefit is that jumping is proven to stimulate the lymphatic system which is related to improved immunity 鈥� a plus during cold and flu season,鈥� Ingrid Knight-Cohee, the director of group fitness at Steve Nash Fitness Clubs.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also impossible to frown during a JumpSport class. Jumping lifts your spirits.鈥澨�
