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Go for the Goal of Wellness in 2005; The New Year Sees Different Trends in Training and Fitness.

Posted on: Saturday, 15 January 2005, 00:00 CST

If getting the best body you've ever had is at the top of your 2005 to-do list, there are some things you should know.

Fitness director Tim Kraynack of Yorktowne Racquetball and Fitness Center in York Township said while many people might be psyched about getting physically fit at the first of the year, they might go too hard and burn themselves out. In fact, he said the fitness industry loses about 50 percent of its members in the first six weeks of the new year, and only 10 percent stick with the gym through the end of the year.

It is always a mystery on how to get people to stay, but there are new ideas or alternatives popping up everywhere for 2005. Kraynack said you have to find what works for you, but the professionals are there to push you along.

Kraynack said 50 percent of the people who sign up for the gym aren't truly ready to make the commitment to working out. But as directors and professionals, it is their job to keep them motivated. Yorktowne hopes to incorporate a weight management program similar to L.A. Weight Loss Center or Weight Watchers into its programming.

"The focus that we are trying is wellness, not fitness," Kraynack said. "You don't need to be a gym member to get in shape."

But it does help. While eating right can take you so far, staying active will help with the overall picture of health.

Kraynack predicts fitness classes will continue to be big. In the past, group settings seem to be successful at keeping people coming to the gym.

"We have a lot of interest in group exercise programs just because you can come into a group atmosphere. You aren't the focus of the attention," Kraynack said. "You also make friends."

Yorktowne offers Pilates, yoga, indoor cycling, step, abs and body pump weight training. And toned muscles are in.

"People are focusing on the abs, and Pilates, for example, will blast the stomach muscles."

While some of the classes won't give you a cardiovascular workout, they will increase muscle, which helps burn fat faster and makes you sweat.

"That means you can eat more cookies," Kraynack said.

Kraynack said in all seriousness, a combination workout would serve you better. With busy lives, people are looking to get in and get out, and a workout with flexibility, strength and cardio combined is a good choice if you can only spend a limited amount of time at the gym.

And if you can't get to the gym, Kraynack said, Internet-based training programs are big, and in the near future workouts will be delivered to cell phones.

Chrissy Krackow, owner of Ladies Workout Express in York Township, said her gym caters to women on a busy schedule. "It is a full-body workout that combines muscle strength training with cardio," she said.

The workout is interval circuit training in a circle similar to the popular chain Curves. Ladies Workout Express opened in May 2003 and has seen a surge in business and plans on seeing more in the next year.

"It is a hot trend right now," Krackow said. "It is a 30-minute workout for women with hectic lifestyles. Any fitness level can do it; it is a comfortable environment and you can come and go as you please."

But if the weights, big machines and mirrors all over the wall make you uncomfortable, maybe the gym isn't for you. While it is technically a gym, the Hanover Area Family YMCA in Hanover offers an adult gymnastics class suitable for an alternative workout.

"It focuses primarily on strength and flexibility," said Sue Moul, gymnastics administrative assistant. "It is not so much about the skills of gymnastics, but they get on the beam and vault and other equipment and do chin-ups and leg lifts."

Moul said the program started when some of the mothers watched their children in the open gym time and wondered if they could do something like that.

"There is a place for every age here," Moul said. "Our youngest in the adult class is about 22 and it goes up to the mid-50s." As you get older, Moul said, it is good for the bones and muscles to stay stretched, but the class will not push members to do anything they don't want to.

"It is all within their comfort zone and abilities," Moul said.

Source: York Daily Record

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