♦
SPORTS
After The Fad
Bob McKeown
The aerobics boom is over but aerobic exercise is here to stay
Kenneth Gluckman gets into aerobics at the Jewish Community Center.
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
ike jogging before it, aero-
bics became a fitness fad in
the early '80s. With strong
media attention, a prolifera-
tion of videos from the likes
of Jane Fonda and Mary Lou Retton,
and movies such as Perfect — which
boosted health clubs in general, and
aerobics classes in particular, as the
`singles bars of the '80s' — a broad spec-
trum of fit and out-of-shape people
turned to aerobics.
Today, although Jane Fonda still
seems to be reaping the benefits of her
video empire, the media fascination
with aerobics has faded. But aerobics
is changing with the times and may
emerge even stronger in the '90s.
Aerobics, which originally focused
on dance-type movements, has bred
many offshoots. The high-energy
classes, with students bouncing to live-
ly music, still exist. But low-impact
aerobics may be what saves the exer-
cise from the fate of most fads.
"Aerobics is popular but it's having
its bellyaches," says Sylvia Zukin, long-
time director of the women's health
club at the Maple/Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center. "It became so popular
so quickly. Now there's a lot of different
negatives that are beginning to be
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1988
pulled out — the bones and joints and
the female problems that develop
through aerobics because, unfortunate-
ly, people don't take the time to per-
form, always, the right way."
Zukin says that many of aerobics'
problems stem from its users' failure
to warm up or cool down properly.
There are also problems in between for
people who try to do too much, too
soon. "As much as has been written for
it and as many good teachers as there
are who keep promoting it, people still
have a tendency to go for gluttony," she
says. "Instead of it being a healthy
thing, it becomes the other side of the
coin!'
Low-impact aerobics — which
basically involves classic aerobics
without the jumping — is not only a
good alternative for those who cannot
handle aerobic dance workouts. It can
also be a better way to lose weight.
"If you don't leave the ground," ex-
plains Zukin, "the tendency is that
you'll get just as much. You burn more
body fat with low impact aerobics, non-
impact, than you do with high-energy
impact."
Risa DeRoven, an instructor at the
three-year-old One On One Athletic
Club in West Bloomfield, says "When
low impact came in" within the last
two years, "attendance increased" at
aerobics classes.
Yet, Zukin believes, "you'll always
have those dynamite 'people. You'll
always have the ones who have to ex-
cel, whether it's a marathon run or jog-
ging or aerobics!'
Zukin notes that some of the peo-
ple who do high-energy aerobics pro-
perly may still overdo it by moving
right along to another strenuous
workout, like a stairmaster machine or
treadmill. "Twenty minutes, a half-
hour, is all one really needs," says
Zukin. "Anything after that is super-
fluous. ,You're not burning calories,
per se. You're not doing your heart any
more good."
Those interested in aerobics have
more choices than just high- or low-
impact workouts. Aerobic spin-offs in-
clude combinations of high- and low-
impact aerobics and workouts which
include other types of exercise, such as
weight training or martial arts
movements.
DeRoven calls the combination
classes "the trend of the future. It gives
you the best of both worlds. Doing any
one thing for too long, whether it's
high-impact or low-impact, I think will
have its toll on your body."
While many of the aerobics-
boomers may have dropped out, others
who did not jump on the aerobics band-
wagon are now being "enticed" into it,
says Zukin. "Many people were afraid
to get into the classes because of their
size, or because they didn't think they
looked well enough. Or the other part
is the time involved. I think the
lifestyles have changed a little bit, too.
We're permitting health to be a prime
factor, rather than a secondary factor.
It's an OK thing. People who take time
out for working out are not frowned
upon any more."
DeRoven says that attendance in
aerobics classes has remained constant
at One On One. She adds that
"aerobics are appealing to a wider
variety of people than they used to
because the classes are less dance-
oriented, they're not choreographed as
much. You can walk into my class on
any given day and I would tell you
what to do. You wouldn't have to know
in advance. I think we're getting more
people who are willing to try it out.
More men are participating."
What is the attraction for men?
"Probably part of it is because
there's a lot of women in there," says
DeRoven, proving that social motiva-
tion is still bringing people to health
clubs.
"Part of it, too, is because they've
found that it's not threatening and in-
timidating any more. We have some
male instructors. And they're not
dance classes any more, they're hard
workouts. We have classes that we call