Fitness Fads Anyone?

by Kris Pitcher

There's nothing quite like the next great...thing! The excitement, the allure of it's claims, oh and how quickly it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER! That's the best part about fitness fads. How many of these fitness fads have you done? I've not only done some, but I've taught some of these, in groups...to other people...to music, with a microphone. Yikes! I don't know if water aerobics is a fair classification of a fad though really.

I do love the one on the vibrating platform, although I think I just peed a little thinking about it. Anyone remember slide aerobics? Still a useful tool, the slide went by the wayslide, I mean wayside along with the mullet. I did like wearing those booties - choreography was tough on that contraption. I mean where are you going to go? Lots of rhythm work with sliding. Double step lasted for about 2 minutes there in the '90s. Oh boy I loved that. You'd take 2 steps and place them in an L formation. Class size maxed out at about 6 people because each person needed about 25 square feet. That didn't last long.

The funny thing about fitness fads is they tend to happen in big groups of people. I guess we're drawn to a dynamic instructor, those fancy outfits. We had rebounding for a while where everyone had their very own tiny trampoline. Bad idea? How many sprained ankles did that produce? BOSU is still around, but I'm not sure if it ever really took off in a group class. Now it's Zumba (take it easy - I'm not saying it's a fad). But I know that we weren't drawn in to these old fads. Our closets aren't full of thigh-masters, or ab-rollers. We're not hanging our bathrobe on the Nordic Track we promised to use. Hey, is that a Gazelle in the corner? Where are my leg-warmers? I wonder what the next great thing will be..?