The Six Hottest New Workouts

Tired of the same old?
Jump-start your fitness
regimen with these sizzling routines.

by Tracey Middlekauff

Denise Weighs In
	Here’s something to sneak into your smoothies: deep red, purple or blue foods (think blueberries, cherries, strawberries or raspberries). They contain phytonutrients called anthocyanins, which have been linked to lower heart disease and cancer risk.

Yesterday’s Moves: Yoga Today’s Routine: Disco Yoga If you’d rather take a nap than do one more Downward Dog, maybe you need a healthy dose of the Bee Gees when you strike a pose. With Disco Yoga at Crunch Fitness, “Participants hit poses and hold them, like John Travolta in ‘Saturday Night Fever,’” says Donna Cyrus, director of Crunch National Group Fitness. You’ll get all the benefits of a regular hatha yoga class — core strengthening, flexibility and balance — plus more of a cardio element, because Disco Yoga moves quickly between poses, says Cyrus. The extra oomph will help you burn between 200 and 400 calories an hour. Yesterday’s Moves: Step Aerobics Today’s Routine: Circus Acrobatics All that stepping up got you down? Defy gravity with circus acrobatics. You’ll learn to fly through the air while simultaneously working all the major muscle groups. Repeatedly climbing up to the platform and kicking off works the shoulders and thighs, and after six months on the trapeze “women develop beautiful arms and lats,” says Jonathon Conant, founder of Trapeze School New York. Unlike the muscles you develop at a gym, Conant says, working against gravity gives you a natural musculature. More muscle means you’ll burn calories more efficiently, too: up to 221 an hour. “Moving your total body mass rhythmically can also make it a real cardio challenge,” adds exercise physiologist Michele S. Olson, Ph.D. Yesterday’s Moves: Boot Camp Today’s Routine: Dodgeball 101 Dump the drill sergeant: It turns out you can do interval training without the barking orders. Dodgeball at Crunch is just like you remember it from childhood, only now nobody is going to throw the ball at your head. After a 20-minute warm-up, participants play four 10-minute, high-intensity rounds. If you get “out,” you’re sent to the corner to do push-ups or sit-ups. “There are huge cardio benefits,” says Dr. Olson. “Plus the breaks help reenergize you so you can work harder.” Cyrus says dodgeball particularly targets the thighs, upper body and abs; and thanks to all that jumping and reaching, you can burn up to a whopping 500 calories in this action-packed hour.

Yesterday’s Moves: Kickboxing? Today’s Routine: Stage Combat or Body Combat? You’ll pick up real fight choreography in a stage combat class, challenging your brain as well as body. Broadsword fighting (using a hefty curved weapon) starts after a three-week safety phase, says John Ficarra, a certified fight instructor and owner of New York’s Combat Incorporated. (Visit www.safd.org to find local instructors.) “You’ll immediately feel it in your forearms and legs,” he says. “As you get more advanced, you change levels and use your core to twist.” Or try Body Combat at Gold’s Gym, in which you learn choreographed fight routines put to high-energy music. “You’ll see significant results in your cardio capacity and muscle tone,” says Lori Lowell, national group fitness director for Gold’s Gym International. Expect to work off 450 to 600 calories per hour. Yesterday’s Moves: Jump Rope? Today’s Program: Hula Hoop? Drop that jump rope: The hula hoop has made a comeback! Actually, today’s exercise hoops are bigger and heavier than your old one, which makes it easier to keep them continuously spinning. It’s a great low-impact aerobic workout, plus you can get creative and twirl the hoop around your arm. “Isolating different muscle groups for a high number of reps mimics weight training,” says Olson. Just remember to switch directions so you get an even workout! Visit hooping.org for more info. Or check out Bally’s Total Fitness, which offers cardio-intense hoop workouts using specially constructed Heavy Hoops (www.heavyhoops.com). You can burn approximately 600 calories an hour. Yesterday’s Moves: Walking? Today’s Routine: Qigong Walking? Adding qigong — sets of simple, repetitive movements designed to promote healthy energy flow — makes walking more of a total body workout with its swinging arm and torso movements, says Olson. A very popular form is called Fragrance qigong, which consists of three sets of five movements each. The key is to keep your walking rhythm smooth and relaxed, never straighten your arms, and repeat each motion 36 to 45 times, according to New York tai chi and qigong instructor Tzyann Hsu. Get a taste of what it’s all about by trying the following: Bring hands together at waist level with fingers softly touching; gently swing arms left to right. Then, with hands still together, swing them vertically so that your fingers point up toward your chin, and then down toward the floor, just below waist level. Next, separate your hands; let your arms swing down naturally and then up to just below chin level, with your palms facing each other, forming a reverse V shape. Modifying your walking effort this way will help you work off 264 calories an hour. Find out more at the Qigong Association of America (www.qi.org). .