I wrote the following story for the Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer in Raleigh; it appeared in both newspapers on Sept. 20, 2011. It appears here in expanded form, with links. Check out yesterday’s post for a first-hand account of the CXWORX class

If you don’t like the lineup of group exercise classes at your health club, wait a month or two. Odds are you’ll see some new options.

The reason: group exercise classes are “experiencing phenomenal growth,” according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, and fitness clubs trying to weather a flabby economy are doing what they can to keep their sweaty members happy. In the case of the increasingly popular group exercise classes, that means mixing up the classes to keep members from growing bored. (For more on group exercise class trends and other industry trends for 2011 identified by the IHRSA, go here.)

“We gauge interest by tracking attendance,” says Andrea Greene, fitness director of the YWCA of Charlotte.  “If it looks like a class is not succeeding, we’ll modify it or drop it.”

Hence, come October the Charlotte YWCA will add 11 new classes to its group exercise lineup, including kickboxing, a body sculpting class and a triathlon instruction class.

“Being a small facility we have the ability to create new classes, to be flexible and change,” Greene says of their significant lineup change.

According to the IHRSA, which represents more than 10,000 clubs worldwide, interest in cardio kickboxing classes alone spiked by more 20 percent from 2008-2009, high-impact aerobics classes grew by 8.1 percent and low-impact aerobics classes were up 6.3 percent.

“We’re always looking at new options,” says Liz Church, who manages the Lifestyle Family Fitness clubs in Apex and Cary.

This practice of swapping out classes follows emerging science that doing the same exercise over and over offers diminishing rewards — and can be harmful. “Mixing up your routine will avoid overworking one particular muscle group or joint,” according to the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic, the American Council on Exercise, the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Sports Medicine, among others, tout the benefits of cross-training.

Sometimes, a new class may simply be new to a particular club. Cardio kickboxing, for example, has been around for more than a decade.

Sometimes, new classes are exercise mash-ups: different combinations of exercise staples. Bally Total Fitness with two Charlotte clubs, has introduced KWANDO, “an intense cardiovascular and strength conditioning class that incorporates movements derived from boxing, tae kwon do, and karate.” O2 Fitness in Raleigh has “Chisel,” which taps kickboxing and plyometric exercises, while new 20/20/20 classes employ three 20-minute segments of aerobic and strength training exercises that change from class to class.

Greene with the Charlotte YWCA says her clubs decides on new classes by monitoring trends in fitness magazines, keeping tabs on what the various instructor certification agencies are offering, listening to instructors and to members.

“If we hear about a great boot camp, we’ll try to bring it here,” says Greene. One new class that the Charlotte YWCA is investigating: Nia, which describes itself as “sensory-based movement” that appears to borrow from various dance forms and the martial arts.

Some new classes (Zumba) catch on and develop a cult-like following. Others (yoga with your dog) do not.

Sometimes, new classes appear to break new ground — or at least advance an emerging fitness concept.

In March, Les Mills International, which develops fitness programs and certifies instructors, unveiled CX30 (also marketed as CXWORX). The intense 30-minute class is based on research by Jinger Gottschall, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University (who is also a Les Mills-certified instructor). Gottschall put 10 men and 10 women through a series of exercises that worked their “sling” muscles, those muscles connecting the upper and lower body. Her objective: To see whether these extended exercises (the plank, for instance) were more effective than those that simply concentrated on the body’s core (crunches). In a paper presented in June to the American College of Sports Medicine, she concluded they were.

“We wanted to see if we could achieve activation across the core when we added the shoulders and hips into a movement … ” Gottschall said in a statement through Les Mills. “In fact, the integrated activity was much higher than expected.”

Gold’s Gym and O2 Fitness quickly picked up the CX30 class, and earlier this month it was added to the Triangle Lifestyle Family Fitness group exercise lineup.

If suffering is any indication, the new class is a success.

In her second time teaching the class at the Cary Lifestyle Family Fitness, instructor Nancy Nickel looked out at the 15 women and two men trying to mimic her movements and said through her headset, “You did not like that one. I can see it on your faces. It’s pure hatred.”

Afterward, 40-year-old Heather Austin from Moncure, a veteran of group exercise classes, gave CXWORX a thumbs up — for its effectiveness and its brevity.

“I like that it’s quick,” said Austin. “I do 30 minutes of this, I do another 30 minutes of cardio and I’m done with it.”

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It was the kind of candid honesty I thought I would appreciate in a group exercise instructor, but as it turns out, not really.

“You did not like that one,” Nancy Nickel said into her mic. “I can see it on your faces: pure hatred.”
Pure hatred might be a little strong, but there was little denying that none of the 21 of us in her fledgling CXWORX class would be going all Oliver Twist and requesting more, please.

CXWORX is a new creation from Les Mills International, the exercise mill that pumps out fitness routines used in more than 100 health clubs nationwide. Nickel started teaching the first version — or “launch,” in Les Mills vernacular — of CXWORX at O2 Fitness in April. This was her second CXWORX session at the Lifestyle Family Fitness in Cary, which picked up the class this month.

CXWORX focuses on the midsection, but as Nickel points out, “It’s not like your regular abs class with crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.” Instead, based on research by Jinger Gottschall, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Penn State, the 30-minute routine focuses on the “slings,” the muscles that “connect the upper and lower body to make functional movement possible.” That translates into exercises that spread the workout joy: for both the abs and the glutes, for instance. Or the abs and the lats.

The latter — the abs and the lats — means you can expect to do planks in CXWORX. Until CXWORX I didn’t realize planks came in the plural. I was familiar with the traditional plank: horizontal in a near pushup position, with your upper body supported on your forearms rather than your hands. According to Nickel and CXWORX, though, a plank can be done resting on just one forearm or by keeping just one foot in contact with the floor. Often these variations happen simultaneously with the free hand and foot point in odd directions or making circular motions.

I believe this is where our faces belied “pure hatred.”

CXWORX is divided into six roughly 4-minute segments. The first two segments are done vertical, with moves that stress movement and balance simultaneously. The second two segments are done on the floor, mostly planking. The last two vertical again, using resistance bands. It’s a full 30 minutes .

My classmates said they appreciated the brevity (most group exercise classes run an hour) of CXWORX. According to Liz Church, who manages Lifestyle Family Fitness’s Apex and Cary gyms, the class is intended to be paired with other classes. After an RPM (cycling) class, for instance, or with Pilates or yoga. Or in tandem with a session on the eliptical trainer or treadmill.

One thing you might not want to pair it with is another CXWORX class.

Nickel looked concerned before class when I mentioned I had taken a CXWORX class the previous evening, not 15 hours earlier.

“You might want to back off a little on some of this,” she suggested.

My abs, my lats and my glutes took her advice.

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