European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 23, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                F Pic us gyms the next generation exercise gurus boldly promote new ways to get in shape by Jeannine Stein los Angeles times Here Are 8 million ways to exercise in the naked City. High Impact aerobics Low Impact aerobics High Low Impact aerobics step step circuit Power step Power walking Power dance Aqua aerobics country Western dance aerobics hip hop aerobics cardio Funk Power Funk strength training Stair climbing machines exercise bicycles treadmills kick boxing in line skating yoga pilates and spinning. It s become a calorie burning exercise just contemplating All the fitness options available now. But that s nothing compared with what s due on the next wave obstacle courses designed to be assembled inside health clubs the slide which mimics the Side to members of fitness club work out on individually programmed stationary cycles which could be replaced by the next round of exercise equipment and routines. Not Side movements of Speed skaters classes in which cardiovascular and strength training Are combined workouts that borrow yoga techniques to emphasize stress reduction aerobics classes infused with multicultural dance and music and workouts that incorporate motivational and visualization techniques to maximize the benefits of exercise. Our Industry is similar to the computer Industry in that changes happen so fast now because the interest in fitness is so High says Kathie Davis executive director of idea the san Diego based International association of fitness professionals. Consumers Are also so much More educated than they were 10 years ago. Coupled with the fact that Consumers Are always wanting something new and different that puts pressure on the  so what might be coming to a gym near you Here Are some of the innovations step Reebok athletic circuit from Gin Miller the woman who gave us step aerobics comes a new american a nov Afore style obstacle course for use in health clubs. The 21 station circuit includes a crawl through Tunnel push up station supine Chin ups jump rope lateral Maze squat thrusts abdominal crunches Stair climbing and Monkey bars. Events Are timed and participants Are encouraged to race against the clock As Well As against other students. Miller has designed Small medium and Large ready to install courses for health clubs. The slide this contraption s been around for a couple of years but has t gained wide acceptance. That could change soon with More companies introducing a variety of versions for at Home and gym use. Sliding also called lateral movement training uses a rectangular piece of plastic with bumpers on both ends. Participants Wear booties Over their athletic shoes and do choreographed moves from Side to Side somewhat like Speed skaters. The slide primarily works the outer thigh Muscles. Spinning not to be confused with the Teacup ride at Disneyland spinning was developed by Johnny g. For Goldberg competitive cyclist and personal Trainer who invented a special stationary Bike for this classroom program. In the class students pedal the Bike while an instructor uses motivational and visualization techniques to simulate courses that include Hills and sprints. Spinning taps into techniques self motivation visualization used by olympic and professional athletes for years. Some Call spinning an example of a mind body connection which Are the hot if vague buzzwords in the Industry today. Nike is introducing a total body conditioning class that incorporates strength exercises and lateral movement with dance aerobics. Reebok s version is called the step circuit training program which combines step strength training and flexibility in one session. Elements of boxing and martial arts May be incorporated into cardiovascular workouts. Women Are just discovering that boxing is great for increasing upper body strength and they Don t have to get in the ring with evander Holyfield to get a Good workout. Other gadgets that May soon be making their debuts Are Steps with built in pulleys for resistance training weighted Steps for use in pools and weighted balls to be used for stretching and resistance training. What everyone is discovering is that exercise ruts Are discouraging people from returning to health clubs says Miller the Georgia based fitness instructor. Routine frequently Means no new challenges for the body and that s when boredom sets in. Think of the people you be seen at your gym for a year she says. Maybe they work but every Day really hard but have their bodies changed that much there s an overuse syndrome. They do the same old repetition of the same activity and when you get used to it it does t do any Good. Here the Industry is saying come in and train every Day but where Are they going with it what s the real goal Here that s what led Miller to design her obstacle course. She got the idea from a run she took one Day off the beaten track. My assistant and i were running the same route we always did and i saw this old overgrown path through the  they took it jumping Over fallen Trees and streams and into a spider s web and realized they found something missing from their other routines fun. Play is a big missing link says Miller who plans to debut her obstacle course in january. I thought this is stuff i remember from when i was a kid the course is Tough you re using your body As Many Muscles As you can to Complete a  time or Lack of it is a Factor that Many fitness enthusiasts Are taking into consideration. People want something they can do on their lunch hour says Eric Sternlicht lecturer in Urcla s department of physiological science and adjunct professor in Occidental College s department of exercise they want to get a workout quicker. If you look at training rooms now classes Are combining step with toning exercises. It s different than it used to  exercising blood vessel Muscles May slow aging by Ira Dreyfuss the associated press exercising your blood vessel Muscles May help to keep your arteries healthy As you grow older a noted heart researcher says. A study indicates that vigorous training May retard medial arteriosclerosis a stiffening of the arteries that comes with age according to Edward g. Lakatta. Lakatta differentiates Between this condition and atherosclerosis the clogging of arteries by fatty deposits. Either can Lead to High blood pressure heart disease and stroke. But medial arteriosclerosis which interferes with the artery s ability to Widen As a Way to reduce blood pressure comes As muscle and elastic fiber in the artery is replaced by fibrous tissue. We used to think blood vessel stiffening was inevitable but that s Why we Are excited by this study said Lakatta chief of the Laboratory of cardiovascular science at the National Institute on aging s gerontology research Center in Baltimore. Lakatta and his colleagues examined 14 men Ages 54-75, who averaged 30 Miles a week of running. Large arteries of these endurance trained men were compared with those of sedentary men in the same age Range. The athletes had about 30 percent less arterial stiffness said the study in the american heart association journal circulation. In another part of the study the researchers gave Treadmill tests to 146 sedentary volunteers Ages 21-96. Controlling for difference in Ages those with less stiffening of their arteries could spend More time on the Treadmill. Lakatta cautions that although exercise might be helping people to have More supple arteries the effect might also work the other Way. People who have More supple arteries for other reasons such As Good genes might simply be Able to keep exercising when others have Given up he said. Lakatta however leans toward the exercise explanation. Arteries might be amenable to exercise partly because the Middle of the arteries includes muscle cells Lakatta said. Lakatta does not know the minimum level of exercise needed to get such a Benefit he wanted to find out whether a Benefit exists so he looked at very Active athletes because they would be most Likely to show it. The scientific consensus is that regular moderate exercise such As walking is enough to Cut risk factors. Lakatta recognized As both a Leader in cardiovascular research and a top investigator in the Field of geriatric cardiology studies cardiac functions and How aging and cardiovascular disease modify these functions. Other researchers agree that exercise helps to control blood pressure As people get older. But they Don t think that Lakatta s study is proof that exercise makes blood vessels dilate better. Nonetheless the findings fit a pattern showing that exercise can improve cardiovascular health by lowering blood pressure improving heart function and helping the exerciser to control his weight said one of the critics Barbara v. Howard president of Medl Antic research Institute in Washington. A new study claims regular exercise can help keep arteries from stiffening. Not step aerobics produce a Good workout especially if Arm movements Are added. Calorie burning Steps to fitness look in any health club these Days and you la find exercisers climbing up and Down a Small plastic platform part of the growing group of fitness enthusiasts who do step aerobics. But How much of a workout does step aerobics offer plenty according to the results of three separate studies. At the University of Texas southwestern sports science research Center in Dallas James stray Gunderson and his colleagues studied the metabolic demands of step aerobics in 10 healthy women with an average age of 27. The team of researchers used a new oxygen device to measure the metabolic Cost of doing step aerobics during workouts. Study participants used a step height of 10 inches roughly the height of two Steps stacked on top of i other. In findings which were reported earlier this year at annual meeting of the american College of sports Medicine showed that step aerobics burned about eight calories a minute enough to make it an effective calorie Burner stray Sunderson said. Those who move their arms a lot during step aerobics do even better according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin s la Crosse exercise and health program. John Porcari and his colleagues examined the effects of four Arm positions hanging at the Side arms at about a 45 degree Angle from the body arms directly out in front and arms overhead. Keeping arms at the Side during most of the workout burned about five calories per minute according to the study which involved 18 women Ages 20 to 30. Moving the arms overhead increased the Energy expenditure the most raising it to 12 calories per minute Porcari said. He noted that the wide Range of Energy expenditures was a Surprise. Step aerobics can also provide As much conditioning As jogging but with less risk of injury according to a study of 90 students at the University of Colorado. All were women at the same fitness level when the 28-week study began and were randomly assigned to one of three groups race walking jogging or step aerobics. Each group exercised four times a week for 60 minutes a session which included 10 minutes of warm up 40 minutes of aerobic activity and 10 minutes of Cool Down. All groups showed equal improvement in conditioning Levels but injuries were most prevalent in the running group and forced 16 percent of runners to drop out of the study said co author William Byrnes. Less severe injuries that required missing a Day or two of exercise also occurred More often in runners. The Washington Post 16 Thi stars and strips tuesday novt Mytr 23,1993 the stars and stripes 17