Blended fitness adds some variety

Creating workout programs by blending completely different types of exercise is nothing new, but it seems the fitness professionals around the country are getting much more creative.

We saw a good example of exercise combos a few years ago at the height of the Zumba craze where instructors morphed Zumba classes like Power-Zumba, incorporating weights, and Aqua-Zumba, water aerobics on steroids. The trend just seems to be getting even broader and more interesting.

Here are a few other fairly new workout combinations that are becoming popular across the country:

* Piloxing: This workout incorporates a pretty creative duo with two very different exercises. What it is: Combination of standing pilates and fast-paced boxing. Moves you’ll use: Punching moves like jabs, hooks and uppercuts; standing pilates leg exercises; pilates abs floor work; ballet and samba dance moves. Health perks: The high-energy, fast-paced moves provide a good cardio workout that burns fat and builds endurance. Plus, you’ll use just about every muscle in your body and move them in different directions. What to expect: You need to be somewhat coordinated because you’ll be moving your arms and legs at the same time. Take note: Want a more intense workout? Use weighted gloves. You’ll tone your arms and jumpstart your heart rate. Class options: If you can’t find a piloxing class in your area, this workout is also available on DVD.

* The Booty Barre Workout: This workout incorporates ballet, yoga and pilates to build strength, flexibility and balance across your body. Although it may be a fad and time will tell, it is a great workout. This fitness format is really attracting a large following and has gained huge popularity. Barre workouts are big in large metro areas and we have a few barre studios in our area. This workout consists of an hour-long class where ballet meets intense cardio moves. It usually starts with a dynamic warmup and upper body work followed by 30 minutes at the barre, working in different directions that keep your heart rate up and your muscles flexed. High-energy music keeps you moving while you get a great full-body workout.

* Cy-Yo: This workout incorporates a 10-minute yoga session to warm you up, then it’s time to jump on a stationary bike for an intense 40 minutes of spinning, ending with a 10-minute yoga cooldown. The yoga aspect is designed to stretch, open your breathing and loosen your spinal column, hamstrings and lower back. The primary focus of the combo exercise is to help you develop proper breathing, stretching and relaxation with the added benefits of intense cardio and lower body strength training. One other aspect of this regimen is its application of yoga-style breathing during the cycling portion of their programs.

* Spinlates: This workout is like Cy-Yo but incorporates about 30 minutes of pilates after about 20 minutes of spinning. The blend is to spin at different speeds while you perform pilates moves such as standing, sitting and stretching. The primary focus behind this pairing is building strength and firming up your lower body muscles, such as glutes and hamstrings while you get a great pilates workout firming your upper body. Like yoga and spinning, pilates and spinning incorporate great cardio without the impact of running or other workouts that stress joints and tendons.

* PIYO: Here is another take on merging yoga and pilates, this time together. This workout incorporates yoga in combination with pilates to emphasize awareness of your body’s alignment and movement patterns using yoga. The other principle coming from the pilates core focus of working the entirety of your body for firming up, building strength and balance. Since yoga and pilates have similar foundational principles such as controlled breathing, concentration and proper positioning, they make great partners as a combo exercise.

* Water Cycling, Hydrospinning or perhaps call it Aqua-Cycling: This workout seems to be taking hold in some locations around the country. Yes, someone came up with the idea to incorporate a stainless steel stationary bike for use in pools. This is basically a spinning class in chest high water and is touted to be low impact with a lot of water resistance. The exercise program is based very much off spinning - start at 50 percent then take it up and down from there. Great cardio, high level of difficulty based on pedaling through water, etcetera. I have not tried this but I wonder if your backside hurts less due to buoyancy?

The list of new fitness combinations seem endless and every year we see more interesting versions appear. I think it is a very good thing that tired exercise regimens get revitalized with creative blending. If new, exciting, and hopefully fun exercise programs motivate people to get off the couch and become active, then it is all good and worth trying these programs.

Judd Jones is a wellness coach and director for the Hagadone Corporation.