If the dank winter weather is muffling your desire to exercise, you need some fresh inspiration to get you moving again. Changing your workout will not only make it more effective by challenging different muscles and building strength, but it can help you out mentally too.
“Fitness is all about motivation,” American fitness expert Jodee Burris says. “The hardest part for most people is motivating themselves to put their bodies in an uncomfortable state; sitting on the couch is so much more pleasant, so you have to find a workout that excites and challenges you. I’m a huge fan of group fitness because most people find that they push themselves harder in a group setting than they would on their own.”
Piloxing blends boxing, dancing and pilates to tone muscle, burn fat and empower you both physically and mentally
“A great new year’s challenge is to commit to trying one new workout a month,” Burris adds. “When other resolutions start to fall by the wayside, you’ll have something new to look forward to every month. Try a new class, buy a bike, get outdoors, borrow a workout video or get a day pass to a local gym. By the end of the year you will have had 12 new experiences and are likely to have found a least a couple that motivate you to keep exercising.”
Cross training – which involves doing several different activities during the week rather than, say, just running or just weight training – also works different muscle groups, burning more calories as you struggle with unfamiliar challenges, so you’ll also be fitter by the end of the year.
To help you get started, here are the up and coming trends of 2016 that will get your heart racing.
Piloxing
The brainchild of a Swedish celebrity dancer, piloxing is a dance workout that includes weighted gloves. Piloxing blends boxing, dancing and pilates to tone muscle, burn fat and empower you both physically and mentally. Malta is on the crest of this new wave, with four certified piloxers. Now there’s no excuse not to give it a try.
PoundFit
A US invention, PoundFit is another branded fitness programme that describes itself as a cardio jam session inspired by the infectious and energising fun of playing the drums.
The workout uses a couple of adapted drumsticks so you can drum your way through a workout that includes elements of yoga, cardio, strength training and pilates. It burns an alleged 900 calories an hour – the idea is that you work out harder because you’re distracted by the need to keep a rhythm going.
The class also tones those muscles that ordinary workouts just don’t reach and fans describe is as a great stress reliever. From the US, it has already spread to London, so surely it’s only a matter of time before Malta starts pounding too.
Katami 4x4
Paul Katami developed his exercise system after transforming his own body from obese teen to sculpted work of art – it’s worth googling him just to sigh over his pecs. Buy a DVD from his website, and in the privacy of your own home, you’ll get a heavy dose of inspirational instruction set to a pulsing sound track. It’s shot ‘in real time’, with ‘real people’ sweating and high fiving each other, along with liberal use of kettle bells or foam rollers.
The ‘real people’ look like they eschewed sugar a decade ago and starting working out in the womb. For total beginners, this might be a bit intimidating (although the Ultimate Kettlebell Workouts for Beginners has useful advice on how to use these weights without hurting yourself). But if you’ve worked out before and just need to ease yourself back in, this is a great bootcamp video.
FitnessBlender
FitnessBlender offers a range of fitness workouts for free (the creators of the website rely on ad revenue to keep going) but for more in depth training, you can also opt to pay for a plan that helps you put workouts and diet together for specificfitness goals.
Options include a four-week boot camp for lower back and thighs or a core programme for abs, obliques and lower back. The trainers clearly know their stuff but their no-music, no-fluff philosophy might make the lazier among us (me) want to curl up on the couch with a bag of sweets rather than finishing 96 minutes of high intensity exercise.
BooyaFitness
Booyafitness.com is a vamped up version of FitnessBlender, but requires a subscription of around €9 a month – for that you get training from boutique gyms, which are specialists in a particular type of exercise, and a vast number of workouts in different disciplines, from barre to boxing, all set to pumping music which you can control. The website will also make personalised recommendations. For people pushed for time, this is a fun, affordable option.