Laughing, jumping -- and gyrating -- back to fitness
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Staying in shape once meant huffing and puffing on treadmills, cycling to nowhere on stationary bikes and endless stepping on stair-climbing machines.
Sure, they burn calories. But they're not that much fun.
What about swinging from a trapeze? Or taking a class where laughter is the goal?
These days some creative juices are getting injected into cardio workouts, forcing exercise classes to depart from the same old grind and deliver something unique.
Still considering the number of calories burned, these classes focus more on the experience -- giving your mind an escape from that dope of a boss, money problems or relationship troubles and propelling you into a free zone where nothing else matters except you, the class and a stress-busting break from the norm.
LAUGHING YOGA
-- Class length: 30 to 60 minutes
-- Calories burned: 200 on average
-- Results: The good feelings sparked in class are stirred up later by participants in their everyday lives as they learn the importance of laughter. Relaxed and calm from this mood-elevating workout, they take on more positive outlooks on life.
l www.universalyoga.org
The scent of burning incense greets you at the door to Universal Yoga, a small wood-paneled office in a Los Angeles suburb where participants leave their shoes outside and at first quietly practise breathing inside with Guru Yogi Ramesh.
Ten minutes later the room's stillness breaks up with different types of laughter, encouraged by the 58-year-old instructor as he teaches a class invented 5,000 years ago by yogis elated about their fulfilling lives in the mountains of India.
"I'm happy. I'm free. I'm happy. I'm relaxed," said the yogi, telling the class to jump up and down and repeat his words. "Now laugh like a baby, a lottery winner, someone doing a karate kick. Now try an artificial laugh."
At first, the participants remain cautious. They simply repeat his words. But with every step taken on their purple and blue yoga mats, they give in. And soon, the laughter is infectious. Throwing their arms in the air, they grin, giggle and then burst with honest, belly-busting laughter.
Somewhere within the five minutes of class devoted solely to laughing, Ramesh jumps around and hugs each of his students. Sometimes group hugs are in order. From there, students are all smiles as the remainder of class switches to stretching.
Ramesh firmly believes in the power of breathing. "The breathing cleans you out," he said. "Laughing makes you happy from the inside."
Laughing also relieves stress, high blood pressure and anxiety. It stimulates the heart and improves lung capacity, Ramesh says.
HOOPNOTICA
-- Class time: 90 minutes
-- Calories burned: 400 to 600
-- Results: Each move in this low-impact class targets different muscles, but hoopsters are constantly working their core.
Without making any changes to their diet, some participants have lost 15 pounds in one month hooping 30 minutes a day, four times a week.
l www.hoopnotica.com
Dressed in yoga pants and tank tops, four women watch as Rayna McInturf glides across the hardwood dance floor spinning a one and a half pound hoop with one arm and passing it behind her back to the opposite hand, still twirling the hoop.
They are mesmerised by the 34-year-old hoop teacher's fluid movements which appear effortless as she does the wheel -- a tricep strengthener that she encourages the class to try while making quarter turns with their feet to techno music.
Pulling their blue-sparkled and rainbow-coloured hoops over their heads, they try the move, again and again.
In a workout that blends elements of hip-hop, belly dancing and rhythmic gymnastics, participants use hoops that are bigger and heavier than the flimsy hula hoops played with by kids. But the same sense of childhood fun and freedom remains.
"A lot of people who come to hoop class hate exercise and see it as suffering," said McInturf, founder of Hoopnotica, based in Venice, California.
"But people find that this is like playing. And they see dramatic changes in their bodies."
McInturf, a professional performer who founded the company eight years ago, first used hoops in Cirque du Soleil premieres and TV commercials. She later decided to break down the steps to hoop dancing and teach it around the country.
In her first month of class, Mia Hanson (29) lost six pounds without trying.
The Los Angeles woman watched as her arms, abs and back quickly toned.
"It really improves your mood," she says.
"It gives you an excuse to play -- something we lose when we grow up."
FLYING TRAPEZE TRAINING
-- Class time: In a two-hour class, students fly five to seven times.
-- Calories burned: A few hundred calories are burned in the class which focuses on timing and uses all muscles for trapeze stunts.
-- Results: Participants' bodies become long and lean, much like swimmers.
l www.hollywoodaerialarts.com
It's a brave, 24-foot climb to the platform where students harness up and leap into the sky gripping a trapeze, an adrenaline rush that some equate to flying.
Though beginners may want to cling to the trapeze for dear life while swinging above the net below, they're wasting good energy on stress.
But once they disconnect from their anxieties, they can control anything, said Ray Pierce, who trains students at Hollywood Aerial Arts, a flying trapeze school he founded.
"I learned that trapeze was not about holding on. It's about letting go," said Pierce who trained with the circus in 1976. "Once you can do that, you can fly."
Working every muscle in the body, the two-hour class allows enough time for five to seven jumps.
Any weak muscles are quickly discovered with students as they pull their legs over their heads and do the splits in the air or reach out to connect with another on a swing.
LATIN ZUMBA FITNESS
-- Class time: 60 minutes
-- Calories burned: 800 to 1,000
-- Results: Aside from weight loss, many people stumble into class tired from the day but leave it energised.
www.latinzumba.com
It's nearly impossible to not join the crowd stepping out in this Latin-inspired, high-energy aerobics class that makes dancers out of all of us because each routine uses only four steps.
To the rhythms of hip-hop, salsa, Flamenco and belly dance, participants stomp their feet, toss their arms in the air and shake everything they have in this 60-minute class that burns up to 1,000 calories.
"People look at the class and think it's difficult. They think they can't do it," said Juan Pablo Santana, the 25-year-old director of Latin Zumba, a high-cardio class sweeping Los Angeles.
"But they end up catching on. Everyone learns to dance here."
- Susan Doyle
