What's The Wackiest Workout You've Ever Tried?

What's the wackiest workout you've ever tried?

I once tried the "Cardio Striptease" class at Crunch in Los Angeles, which is essentially an intense cardiovascular class combining the movements of strip dancing, pole dancing, and exotic dancing. The instructor teaches you how to gyrate your hips, and use a boa (or scarf, or T shirt) while you "dance" around the room. Of course, I was the only guy in the class, surrounded by hot gals, and some "curious onlookers" peering through the mirrors to watch us. Needless to say, it was a truly humbling experience.

Cardio Striptease has since taken the country by storm, with takeoff classes all over the nation.

What is "Balletone?"

I've heard a lot about this new exercise craze called "Balletone." Can you tell me a little bit more about this and what it does?


Balletone as you might guess, from the name, is derived from the name "Ballet" and uses some of the principles of ballet dancing. It's part of a movement within the fitness industry away from the traditional forms of exercise, where you're sitting on a weight bench or spending an hour on a treadmill and instead "distracting you" so that you don't pay attention to the movements that you're doing.

Balletone involves a lot of balance exercises. For instance, you might be up on one foot frequently, or leaning side to side. You might be asked to sweep a foot behind you, while leaning to one side. This can be incredibly challenging, and after a class or two, you'll have a whole new level of respect for ballet dancers, both female and male!

Will Doing Yoga Alone Make Me Fit?

I'm a 27-year-old male, about 50 pounds overweight. I love yoga and I know it's good for you in combination with other exercises. But will yoga by itself make me fit and toned or do I need something that's faster paced?

First of all, it’s great that you have found an activity that you love—you’re on the right track. Keep in mind that "yoga" is a very general term, within "yoga" are many forms of yoga, some of which are more challenging than others. Like any form of exercise, there are also many "levels" of yoga — from beginning to advanced. For instance, "flow yoga" incorporates some cardiovascular activity to help you increase your heart rate. Bikram is another very challenging form of yoga which takes place in a heated room, often wearing very little or (in some cases) no clothing. Many local fitness centers are now offering "fusion" classes which "fuse" different types of yoga, or different exercises, together.

A study published in October 2005 by the American Council on Exercise found that yoga by itself is not enough of a cardiovascular exercise for the vast majority of participants. In other words, it did not help them burn enough calories to help them lose or maintain their weight.

Yoga is a wonderful place to start if you're looking to increase your flexibility and also strengthen your muscles, but whether you’ll need additional cardiovascular exercise will greatly depend on the type of yoga class you choose and how much you’re able to safely exert yourself in these classes.

Spinning: How Hard is Hard Enough?

I'm already training for next year's LifeCycle, and have been taking a lot of spinning classes. The instructor recommended that I buy a heart rate monitor so I can my heart rate was during the classes. How do you figure your maximum heart rate? Should I really push myself hard in these classes to get my heart rate up?

Yes—to get the full benefit of cardiovascular exercise, you do have to get your heart rate up. Since you're training for a long cycling event, your goal is to increase your endurance, so it's important for you to "push yourself" and get your heart rate up. But remember, always listen to your body—you and you alone are the best person to determine your level of effort.

To figure your maximum heart rate, you start with the number 220 and subtract your age. You want to exercise at about 65% capacity of that number, so multiply that number by .65 and you'll have your "target" exercise range. Remember, this is just an approximation, so if you don't feel that you're getting enough from that level intensity, you may want to bump it up to 75-80% of your maximum heart rate. Conversely, if you feel too winded at 65%, you can always slow down a little.

What are Watts and Mets?

The elliptical machine at my gym has an LCD readout measuring "watts" and "mets." I've always wondered what this means, and what should I be striving for?

I've always wondered what those things meant too! A watt is how much energy or power you're generating with each thrust that you make. And a met is actual the number of calories that you burn per kilogram of body weight while you're asleep (essentially 70 calories per kilogram of body weight, or a "K-CAL") So, for instance, if the LCD readout says "7 mets" then that means you're burning approximately 7 times the number of calories than you would when you're completely at rest.