Trends

— TRENDS —

Fitness Gets Fun

The latest workouts are quirky, colorful, and surprisingly effective. by Bernadette Starzee

Trapeze workouts are great for the core and the upper body. Start slow and work with a professional instructor. HANNAH SHEEHAN, 22, began taking an aerial class a few months ago. The workout includes static trapeze and acrobatics using aerial silk loops and lyras, which are like giant hula hoops, suspended from the ceiling.

“It was mostly about fun and trying something different, but it’s also surprisingly good exercise,” Sheehan says.

From trapeze to retro roller-skating and weighted hula hoops, today’s trendy workouts offer a rare alchemy that may make them more than fitness fads: They’re both fun and good for you.

SOCIAL SKILLS

Some of the most popular trends grew out of the pandemic as people sought new workouts they could do outdoors or in their own home. Others owe their surge in popularity largely to social media.

Los Angeles–based actress and dancer Ana Coto is credited with sparking a retro roller-skating craze in 2020, when TikTok videos of her skating to music went viral, receiving millions of views, inspiring copycat videos, boosting roller-skate sales, and prompting manufacturers to roll out skates in a rainbow of colors, from pastel pink to neon green.

“Activities that get you moving, excite you, and challenge you in a positive way are great for your body, mind, and spirit.”

—Alexander Garcia, personal coach

Workouts involving weighted hula hoops have also caught fire recently, due in large part to TikTok, where videos tagged with “weighted hula hoop” have generated hundreds of millions of views in the past few years. Some fans say the workout has helped them shave inches off their waistlines and hips. Typically weighing one to four pounds, a weighted hula hoop is heavier than a traditional one and offers a low-impact cardio workout you can easily do on your own in your home or yard.

GET MOVING

“I’m a fan of anything that gets people moving, especially in an era when we spend so much time sitting at our laptops and on our phones,” says Alexander Garcia, a personal coach and owner of Alexander Garcia Training, which serves clients from New York City to the Hamptons. “Activities that get you moving, excite you, and challenge you in a positive way are great for your body, mind, and spirit.”

Trapeze and aerial arts provide a variety of mental and physical benefits, from building overall strength and coordination to improving body awareness and timing, even enhancing self-esteem. “Some people do flying trapeze to overcome their fear of it,” says Yiannis Psaroudis, social media manager and a trapeze catcher at Trapeze School New York. “And we find this helps them overcome their fears in other areas of their lives.”

With an indoor location in Brooklyn and an outdoor site overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan,

Who needs a rink? Roller-skating is now in vogue as an outdoor workout.

Trapeze School New York offers a variety of trapeze and aerial arts. A dedicated group of regular customers take classes like flying trapeze and trampoline one to four times a week. “We call them our frequent flyers,” says Psaroudis. “If you’re doing flying trapeze, trampoline is a big part of the curriculum because it teaches aerial awareness.”

Perhaps the best incentive of all: People often have so much fun in the classes, they forget they’re exercising. Editor’s Note: It’s a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Thicker and heavier than a standard hula hoop, a weighted version works muscles from your chest to your knees.