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Future trends in fitness - Daniel Sheppard, FitBase

Future fitness trends

At the start of any New Year, plenty of new exercise kit and classes hit the fitness scene. Some offer genuinely impressive new workouts and others are nothing more and than a 5-minute fad, destined to join the likes of the stiletto workout and yoga-boxing before January is out.

First for 2010 is one of the best demonstrations of technology improving exercise that I’ve seen. VRX-Biking is the development of the very popular concept of group cycle classes. The X-Bikes from Trixter have a system that simulates the movements of an outdoor bike within the handle bars to work the upper body. For 2010 Trixter have developed a group class using the X-Bikes called VRX-Biking. VRX-Biking uses video game technology to allow participants to simulate rides through places like New York or the French Alps as they compete against each other on the big screen. Trixter’s claim that 55% more calories are burnt per session, is a little optimistic from upper body movement, but the added motivation and enjoyment gained from this interactive workout transforms the indoor cycling experience into a fun, motivational and results proven form of exercise. Find out more www.trixter.net

Another example of technology influencing our purchases in 2010 is the mighty Wii console and in this case, the new ‘Your Shape’ game. The game incorporates a camera designed to analyse your body shape in order to develop a personalised workout. Since the next stage is to input the area you want to improve of your body however, I suspect it creates your programme based more on this than your actual body shape. A second point to mention about ‘Your Shape’ is the use of your body weight as resistance. In the long term, using body weight limits the long term benefits of the game as the progression of resistance is fundamental to long term improvement and for me is the limiting factor with all Wii console games.

In contrast with the Wii games lack of resistance, The Gravity Training System (GTS) has successfully combined gravity with body weight as a way of improving muscle development and core stability. The GTS is new kind of ‘total gym.’ It’s based on the principles of functional or ‘real world’ movements and it offers a variety of workouts including strength training and Pilates. The adjustable incline tower provides eight different levels of resistance and over 200 different exercises to allow you to workout your whole body on one machine. The GTS is starting to appear in health clubs around the country and the new GTS group exercise classes are definitely worth a try. Find out more www.gravityuk.net

Working on the theory that repetition is the main reason we fail to stick to our exercise routines, the Adaptive Motion Trainer (AMT) is designed to incorporate a choice of workouts. It achieves this by allowing you to alter your movement whilst using the machine, meaning that no two workouts need ever be the same. The machine is an integration of a cross trainer and stepper with a lot of different movements in between. The benefits of the machine run identical to the stepper and stair master (high calorie burn and low impact) with the added benefit of varying the muscles used during exercise. This reduces the chance of developing overuse injuries associated with building one muscle group without balancing out the other and making each workout varied. Find out more www.amtfitness.co.uk

Ever heard of Kranking? This system gets you cycling – but with your arms rather than your legs! Unfortunately, overall the benefits of using the arms as a cardiovascular workout are limited by the size of the arm muscles and by the volume of blood that travels to the arms. This means you’d burn far less calories Kranking, than you would using the AMT for example. Another potential issue is the delicate nature of the shoulder joint which is susceptible to over-use injuries if too much resistance is used too frequently. Kranking does, however, give you the opportunity to rest the lower body as well as strengthening the upper body. The Kranking system claims to maximize core strength, although I would disagree with this statement as you cannot realistically make any improvement to your core stability due to your body position on the machine. Find out more www.krankcycle.com

Daniel Sheppard

Daniel is the Head Fitness Trainer at FitBase see www.FitBase.co.uk for more information.

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