New Fitness Trends to Try

Let’s face it, new fitness trends are necessary. It’s easy to get into a monotonous routine at the gym. If it wasn’t true, there wouldn’t be so many new fitness trends and workouts each year.

I’ve put together a list of some of my wild + crazy favorites for you to try out this summer, in our last Moniqua Plante Wellness fitness overview.  As your trainer says, “Just one more rep to go!”

Get ready to ride the new wave of workouts!

Compact Classes

If you’re super short on time (or usually count the seconds in agony until your workout is over), you’re in luck. The newest fitness trend is a workout in 30 minutes or less. To keep this short and sweet ????, most HiiT (high-intensity interval training) cardio classes at your local gym will fit the bill, but many people prefer to customize their own workout. 

Here is an at-home version you can test out and modify, so you can enjoy some sunshine while working up a sweat. And there are so many on-line workout programs you can find to suit your needs. I’ve been working out with Zuzka Light for some time now. I can find pretty much any type of workout I want — and she has a plethora of HIIT workouts ranging from beginner workouts to advanced and everything in between. 

Ninja Warrior Gyms

If you’re a fan of NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior”, where amateur competitors race through cutting edge obstacles, now you can experience the adrenaline rush for yourself. Ninja Warrior Gyms are currently located in more than a dozen U.S. states, giving you access to the professional training you’ll need to dominate physical challenges like “floating steps, a warped climbing wall and a salmon ladder, a notorious challenge of leaping pull-ups.”  While many of these gyms offer club time and parties for younger kids, there is still plenty of space for all ages. 

And who says your inner child can’t get a workout too?

Animal Flow  

Speaking of channeling, what about your inner spirit animal? Animal Flow is a new workshop offered in Equinox gyms and on DVD. It’s ground-based, so there’s not a ton of extra equipment involved, which is a bonus, but you still get a full body workout. Equinox trainer Christian Favor calls the program “a fitness program that’ll get you moving in all planes of motions with just your body.”

Animal Flow was designed by Mike Fitch, a career fitness coach, nutritional consultant and post rehab specialist. It improves an athlete’s mobility, strength, endurance and power. All levels can begin to learn and use its exercises. 

The program concentrates on six key components:

1. Wrist Mobilizations
2. Activations (basically static holds, which we discussed in our previous article on body weight training)
3. Form Specific Stretches
4. Traveling Forms (exercises that mirror the movements of animals)
5. Switches (which are “dynamic movements that we perform one after the other, creating the ‘flow’ of Animal Flow”)
6. Flow (which joins them all together in a fluid sequence)

All the exercises have fun names like scorpion reaches, crocodile rolls, side-traveling ape and static frogs. There is room for you to get creative when you start combining the components into your own flow. You’re in for a wild workout, girl!

You can find out more information at www.animalflow.com, and try out a DIY shorter version here.

Pole Dancing Studios

Speaking of wild: “Pole dancing is as good for your heart as any form of moderate-to-intense aerobic training.” It’s surprisingly gentle on your joints and helps increase your flexibility. And if you consider yourself hopelessly uncoordinated, never fear. Pole dancing actually improves your kinesthetic awareness, making you less likely to slip, trip or bump into things in your daily life. 

Plus, it’s a super fun way to hang out with your girlfriends and celebrate your gorgeous bodies! Just like dancing, it’s also good for your mental and emotional health. 

In addition to learning moves on a traditional pole, you can often also work with aerial silks, hoops and take dance classes at these studios.  In New York, check out Body & Pole, and in Los Angeles, check out EVOLVE Dance Studio. 

Foam Rolling

I know this doesn’t seem like a workout! Think of foam rolling as like that Yin yoga class you think will just be easy that kicks your ass! A foam roller is just a lightweight, cylindrical tube of compressed foam. You use it to put pressure on your muscles in a consistent way before and after your workout. This increases your blood flow, flushes out toxins, improves your flexibility and reduces your overall recovery time. 

Not so silly now, huh? 

Click here for more of a warm up tutorial and here for a cool down, both of which you can try at home, and remember, if something really hurts, stop. Foam rollers can be uncomfortable, especially at first, but it should be a “hurts so good” feeling, not a “I think I broke a blood vessel” scenario. 

What are your new favorite workout trends? Let me know in the comments below.

LOVE + exercise adventures!