High-impact aerobics and low-profile classes

Barely 10 minutes into class, knees are pumping, feet are flying and instructor Rochelle Savoy isn’t cutting her students any slack.

“Pick it up, people, pick it up!” she roars into her microphone as she leads them in a combination of jumping jacks, grapevine steps, kicks and other sweat-inducing moves that doesn’t let up for 45 minutes.

In the world of health and fitness clubs, it doesn’t get much more old school than this -- high-impact aerobics the way it was 15 years ago, complete with deafening, pounding dance music, intricate choreography and a bouncy, motivational instructor yelling, “I need more sweat! More sweat!”

But classes like the one Savoy leads on Monday nights at Bally Total Fitness in Hawthorne are becoming difficult to find. The words “high impact” and “aerobics” rarely appear on gyms’ class schedules anymore, replaced by the likes of Cardio Kick Boxing, Boot Camp, Afro-Latino Dance Grooves, Power Abs and something called Killer X Training. In fitness, there’s been an evolution in group exercise toward creative high-energy classes that reference dance (hip-hop to samba) and athletics (martial arts to boxing), as well as a huge increase in more spiritually oriented, mind/body programs such as yoga and Pilates. Research into the benefits of balance, flexibility and good posture have resulted in classes revolving around balance boards and inflatable exercise balls. The reasons for the shift are as varied as the new slate of classes themselves.

“The baby boomers are getting older, and they don’t want to kill themselves,” says Nanette Pattee Francini, founder and executive vice president of Sports Club Co., which operates Sports Club/LA and other fitness clubs around the country. “They want a kinder, gentler workout. And the younger people are really into spirituality.”

In most of the club’s nine locations, including Los Angeles, the word “aerobics” doesn’t even appear on class schedules, says Francini. “A lot of classes are cardio-oriented but not necessarily high impact. And what you’re seeing a lot of is combining two modalities, such as martial arts and boxing.”

Competition among gyms has also been a factor in the changing direction, says Donna Cyrus, national director of group fitness programming for Crunch Fitness. As the roster of clubs grew, especially in image-conscious urban areas such as L.A., unique classes became a way to attract and retain members.

“We found a way to diversify ourselves by being more cutting edge,” she says. “You’d still be getting a cardiovascular workout, but with a bit more bells and whistles.”

Exercisers can also learn a skill while they sweat, she points out: “The first big move from high impact was to Tai Boxing [combining boxing and martial arts moves], and then we brought in dance-based classes like hip-hop. You could use these moves at a disco, or tie it to something on MTV. It’s a different way to do the same [exercises], but it’s much more interesting.”

In addition to its much-hyped Cardio Striptease class, Crunch’s L.A. gym also offers Circus Sports, using a trapeze and rings, and a hula-hoop class. Popular in New York is the Broadway Dance Series, in which a cast member from a Broadway show teaches choreography from various numbers. Right now it’s “Hairspray,” complete with wigs.

Growing group fitness trends include yoga, Pilates, core conditioning (strengthening the body’s midsection) and classes that combine similar disciplines, as well as dissimilar ones, such as yoga and Spinning, according to the IDEA Health & Fitness Assn., a San Diego-based organization of health and fitness professionals.

“A lot of people are afraid to try an hour of Spinning,” says IDEA Executive Director Kathie Davis, “so this is a way to introduce people to things they might be too gun-shy to try. It also works all major muscle groups without feeling tied to one thing.”

A recent survey by IDEA found that 53% of U.S. fitness clubs in 2002 offer high-impact classes, up from 35% in 2001. But Davis attributes the rise not to traditional high-impact classes, but to the increase in dance and other multidiscipline classes.

Injuries, such as ankle and knee sprains, may also have contributed to the move away from strict high-impact aerobics some 10 years ago, says Davis.

That may be true, says Harold Kohl, an epidemiologist with the Indianapolis-based American College of Sports Medicine, although actual figures haven’t been tracked to see if a shift to lower impact exercises has resulted in fewer injuries. “It may be most important,” he adds, “to get the message across of the old idea of cross-training. Five days of high-impact aerobics probably isn’t as good for your muscular-skeletal health as mixing it up with strength training and yoga, especially as people get older and want to age healthfully.”

At Bally’s, Savoy believes that adding variety to her aerobics classes has helped her to sustain a loyal following of students for more than three years.

Orenda Waters, a 25-year-old actress from Los Angeles, is among Savoy’s followers who credits the class with her 60-pound weight loss. “If you miss it, you feel like you missed church or something,” she says. “When I take this class, I don’t have to take other classes.”

Although most fitness experts agree that gyms will continue to offer classes incorporating some aspects of high-impact cardio-vascular exercise, what form they’ll take is anyone’s guess.

“Some essence of it will continue to prevail,” says Crunch’s Cyrus. “I’ve had conversations with instructors about bringing it back in a Crunch-type format. There’s a generation out there that has never experienced it, and there could be a kind of retro revival.”

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The Bodyworks column appears twice monthly. Send story ideas to Jeannine Stein at jeannine.stein@latimes.com.