FASHION / FALL IN THE CITY : Grazing on Fitness Fads : What Does a Body Good? A Healthy Variety of Newer, Better and Cheaper Workouts
According to current wisdom, it doesn’t do a body good to only move to an aerobics beat or focus on the joggers’ path. This is the age of diversity, of mix-and-match activities to develop strength, endurance and flexibility.
At Voight Fitness and Dance Center in West Hollywood--where hip-hop classes were introduced to the gym crowd and bicycle “spinning” classes are the rage--Karen Voight explains what’s wrong with a workout rut:
“Your body gets used to the motions and doesn’t put out as much energy. You have to put out higher energy levels for it to progress. The idea is to offer your body new ways to move and keep exercise stimulating.”
Two health clubs are trying to do just that by offering an unusual stationary bike and a new generation of exercise rubber bands. To go with it all, of course, stores carry the latest fitness apparel, ranging from leotards with exotic backs to hip-hop-inspired shorts and shoes.
A New Spin on Fitness
If your passion is chic indoor toys and you’re bored with standard stationary bikes, Johnny Goldberg suggests you spin.
Goldberg, a.k.a. Johnny G., is a world-class endurance cyclist who developed a bike for his now defunct Spinning Centre in Santa Monica.
He called his creation the Johnny G. Spinner.
Unlike other stationary models, the Spinner is built for standing and sitting exercises that simulate a challenging ride on a race course. It is made with some real bicycle parts, including cogs, gears, saddle and pedals.
Goldberg says his 40-minute spinning classes at Voight are populated by hard-core cyclists and people looking for the latest non-impact exercise. Each class is limited to 15 students who usually range from 18 to 55 years old. But Goldberg says one enthusiastic participant was an 83-year-old woman.
The ride--designed to burn fat, reduce stress and work almost every part of the body--varies according to Goldberg’s whim. Riders wear headphones through which they hear music (“new wave or any type to give encouragement”), Goldberg’s hypnotic instructions and observations on life’s ups and downs.
Goldberg stresses the exercise is strictly non-competitive and riders are urged to go at their own pace, often with eyes closed. He recommends starting with a maximum of two sessions a week, because “you’re getting all the cardiovascular exercise you need.”
Spinning classes cost $12; $10 for a series of four or more. Headphones and a towel are mandatory.
Rubber Band Method
Work-out regular Carol Roth flexes her small, hard biceps for a visitor at the Martin Henry Fitness Studio in West Hollywood and says with pride: “I didn’t have them a year ago.”
Roth--a tall, slim director of physician relations at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center--achieved her biceps and overall body definition with the help of Stretch & Flex III, a combination of colorful cotton pads and rubber bands.
Developed for muscle rehabilitation by a San Jose physical therapist, this piece of equipment is more sophisticated than the typical oversized rubber bands found in many gyms. For starters, the lightweight, stylish (black combined with neon pink or green), yard-long, belt-like apparatus features four cylinders of surgical tubing extending from a large center cotton pad. Two tubes are connected by cotton pads--to cushion the hands--at either end.
The tubes and pads are placed in myriad positions during an intensive exercise session that operates on the principle of muscle resistance. Studio owner Martin Henry says the cotton pads reduce stress on connective tissues and the joints.
He incorporates the gadget in his body-sculpting class. But his wife, Debbie, devotes an entire class to working with the bands. Men rarely take the class, but women--about 20--fill the room each Saturday morning to develop what Martin calls, “tone without bulk. They want a lean, sinewy look.”
Classes range from $10 for one to $6.56 each when purchased in a 25-class series. The Stretch & Flex III, not yet in stores, is available here for $65.
Acres of Freebies
If paying for a cycling session or a rubber band workout is not your idea of stimulation, what about 150 acres of mostly free options?
That’s the setup in Pasadena where Lower Arroyo Park, Brookside Park and a three-mile stretch of streets around the Rose Bowl offer more variety than any modern health club can--including unusual options like archery, fly casting and scuba diving.
A sample balanced menu, according to Voight, would be squats, sit-ups and pushups on the grass for strength training; running or cycling around the Rose Bowl for cardiovascular endurance and swimming in Brookside’s Acquatics Center to promote flexibility.
For more information on Pasadena’s giant gym without walls, call (818) 797-1114.
Hip-Hot Apparel
Sometimes what’s good for the street is good for the gym and vice versa. But when it comes to doing hip-hop and other dance-funk exercises dressed in Doc Martens and baggy jeans, some people draw the line. One of them is Regina Williams, dancer, choreographer and owner of Regina’s School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.
Williams’ knowledge of dance and exercise was tapped by Portland-based Side 1, a division of Nike, to develop a new line of hip-hop-inspired activewear and shoes for women.
Side 1’s $60 Trilite shoe--a combination of dance oxfords, athletic shoes and Doc Martens--is already in Nordstrom, Bullock’s and Lady Foot Locker. Two more styles will be out in November, just about the time the clothes--which include thong briefs and leotards, tight cropped tops, loose jackets, baggy pants and coveralls--will be in Nordstrom, Bullock’s and Chick’s Sporting Goods. Clothing prices range from $16 for a cotton-spandex thong brief to $75 for long poplin coveralls.
So far only women, who still make up about 95% of aerobics participants in the country, have been targeted for dance-related activewear.
Avia, a division of Reebok, has just introduced the FT 5000 ($90) and a line of what a company spokesman calls “aggressive” black apparel--with support bands to keep bust, stomach and hips in place through all the funky dance moves. Shoes and apparel are available in Lady Foot Locker, Sport Chalet and Nordstrom.
L.A. Gear’s Street Funk Tech ($70) and Street Funk Trainer ($58)--two high-top designs with less bulk and a more flexible sole than standard aerobic shoes--arrive mid-November in the May Co. Reebok’s similarly constructed Aero Funk ($60) arrives in Chick’s and Sport Chalet next January.
Skeptics might question whether real hip-hoppers, known for creating their own fashion, want formulated separates. But Williams says the Side 1 concept is no different from what streetwear companies, such as Cross Colours and Girbaud, are doing--except “it’s more versatile. I can wear it for my jazz, my hip-hop and my aerobics classes.”
One of her favorite pieces is a “funky” print leotard with back lacing that she wears under a pair of biker shorts. She rolls the shorts over a couple times at the waist “to give me that hip-hop look. But because we’re workout people, we want to show our bodies too.”
Activewear leaders like Carushka and Gilda Marx say they have no hip-hop designs in the hopper. Instead, their trend-setting apparel includes bra tops, leotards and unitards with exotic backs. And hot pants.
The back intrigue ranges from sexy lacing and mesh straps to criss-cross and diamond-shaped cutouts. Marx explains the designs “accentuate the postive” on women who have been working out with weights and have definition in their upper backs and arms.
As for the hot pants, they are worn--make that flaunted --only by the fittest of the fit. For “extra appeal” and extra exposure, Carushka offers a fishnet model and one with open-work running down each hip.
