Gym class without grades
Greg Isaacs saw them day after day -- teenagers hanging out at the local coffeehouse after school, consuming lots of fat-laden pastries and sugary drinks. So when Isaacs, a well-known Los Angeles personal trainer, opened his own fitness studio, he decided to create a teen hangout of another sort.
His new fitness club, Greg Isaacs 360 in Brentwood Village, is offering special classes for teens aimed at persuading them to get off the coffeehouse sofa and onto an exercise bike or dance floor.
“There’s obviously an obesity problem [among youth],” says Isaacs, “and an inactivity problem. I’m saying, ‘Hey, you can still go out and enjoy your muffin, but at least move and have fun.’ ”
On a recent afternoon, five students -- four girls and one boy -- were taking a class called Teen Elevation, which starts with Spinning, segues into some dance movements and concludes with abdominal crunches. The bikes are on one side of a spacious one-room studio outfitted with blond bamboo floors and a vaulted exposed-beam ceiling. There are also treadmills, free weights and step aerobics gear. Other teen classes include yoga, hip-hop, “Spin- arama” (featuring a live DJ) and classes that incorporate cardiovascular training with weights and stretching.
Although school physical education classes and team sports encourage teens to be active, they may not provide enough daily activity. Kids who spend hours surfing the Internet or zoning out in front of the television are establishing sedentary habits they might carry into adulthood.
To be sure, other gyms have long recognized the need for programs aimed at teenagers. For years Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs and parks and recreation departments have offered youth fitness and nutrition programs. But Isaacs’ gym is unusual because few privately owned gyms offer programs specifically for this age group. And while some Ys offer teen programs in lower-income neighborhoods, Isaacs’ Brentwood club targets a more affluent group. His teen-oriented classes cost $16 per session.
Russ Pate, associate dean for research at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, says such programs are the exception and that, nationally, there is a lack of fitness programs for teens. Although studies show that 70% of boys and 50% of girls participated in at least one school sport, many are inactive. “There’s a significant percentage of that age group that’s falling in those cracks,” he says.
Cristen Kauffman watches as her 13-year-old daughter, Mercedes, adjusts the difficulty level of her stationary bike at the start of the Teen Elevation class. “I told her, ‘You can do whatever you want to do, but you have to find something.’ This class gets them totally fit. They listen to good music and they get to work on their abs -- they’re all obsessed with their abs.”
Her daughter attends a private school in Brentwood that offers physical education programs, but Kauffman believes that Mercedes may not getting enough cardiovascular exercise.
The class instructor, Robin Retherford, a petite and energetic 32-year-old, leads the students in a workout set to the music of Avril Lavigne and Pink. “Take it easy,” she counsels one girl who’s trying to keep up. “It’s so not a big deal. You know your body best.”
Classes sometimes incorporate informal discussions and advice about good nutrition and realistic body images. Retherford emphasizes eating a balanced diet and says she’s willing to talk about her own difficult bout with an eating disorder.
“The kids are at a sort of confused age,” she says, “with all these hormones going on, and they’re bombarded with so many mixed messages. The older girls ask me about what it was like to have an eating disorder, and I tell them it’s not sexy. I never want to have someone else go through what I went through. I know what it’s like to be skinny and I know what it’s like to be called chubby, and neither one made me happy.”
“People complicate fitness,” says the powerfully built Isaacs. “Just move your body and have fun,” he says. “We’re not trying to be their guru or take over their parenting. But it’s a choice, like reading a book or watching ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’ Too many times we just shove the kids in front of the TV.”
Isaacs is working with the Archer School for Girls (the school that Mercedes Kauffman attends) to incorporate classes at his studio into a school program known as “fitness quest,” in which students go off-campus to experience sports such as bowling, biking, golf and tennis, as well as fitness club offerings.
“We try to make it as fun as possible,” says Raissa Adolphe, the school’s athletic director. “If they enjoy doing it, then they’re going to stay with it. It doesn’t have to be a killer workout.”
“I love the physical activity of just working out,” says 14-year-old Morgan Kozek, who has competed in school soccer and swimming at the Archer School. “You feel so relieved after doing this.”