Class Acts

Movie stars and body-builders swear by their personal trainers, but there's another way to get motivated to show up at the gym. Exercise classes can provide expert instruction and a lively sense of camaraderie that will keep you coming back for more. They're also a good way to work out between sessions with a trainer, says Julie Ann Huyett, a certified personal trainer at gyms in Lee and Charlotte counties. Huyett refers many of her private clients to classes to supplement the workout regimen she helps them create. "They're getting that expertise in a class setting in a much cheaper format," she explains. "It's a great tool for me to get a client on a very specific program."

Denny Bowers, program coordinator at the Whitaker Wellness Center in Naples, agrees: "It's basically like having a personal trainer. It's just that there's a group of you rather than one on one." Bowers estimates that the group classes draw about 775 members each week. One-third of the club's 60,000-square-foot facility is devoted to group fitness.

Another reason for the growing popularity of group exercise: It saves time.Trying to fit a full workout into a schedule already crammed with work and family can be challenging. Many classes are structured to offer both cardio and strength training, so that participants can get a good workout in about an hour.

We asked some trainers, gym rats and bodies beautiful about the best group workouts along the Gulfshore; here are eight that went to the head of the class.

THE YOGA WAY

Eastern-influenced classes that strengthen and tone the body but which include meditative and spiritual elements continue to grow in popularity. "I think people want something to help them feel grounded-life is so hectic and crazy," says Debi Grilo, an instructor with Studio 41 Yoga in Naples.

"Yoga is for everyone," says June Denison, owner and instructor of Joyful Yoga in Fort Myers. She speaks from experience: When Denison first began a hatha yoga practice, she lost 65 pounds, which "made a huge change in how I felt; I felt like doing more," she says.

Accessibility is another part of yoga's appeal. Her classes are for "all ages, all sizes, all shapes," Denison says. Because of the emphasis on personal progress, each student can adjust the workout to his or her own capabilities.

Those interested in the discipline have a smorgasbord of choices in their workout, from the gentlest hatha yoga, which concentrates on stretching and holding poses, called asanas, to the pulse-pounding workout of the faster-moving Ashtanga yoga, to the challenge of Bikram yoga, which takes place in a room heated to around 100 degrees.

The unifying characteristic of all these types of yoga, however, is that they can be tailored to anyone. "It doesn't make any difference what level you're at," says Jim Mahon, owner of the Yoga College of India in Fort Myers, which offers Bikram yoga classes. "You're never too old, you're never too bad, you're never too sick."

While all types of yoga increase strength and flexibility, many variations also offer a greater workout challenge. In Bikram heat yoga, for example, a set series of 26 postures works "every part of the body, head to toe," according to Mahon, while the high temperatures help detoxify the body. "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll sweat," he says.

Ashtanga-or what some studios call power yoga-involves "an extremely vigorous series" of standing and seated poses, says Grilo. "It moves quickly," she says. "It's a very challenging class."

Power yoga at Gold's Gym is growing in appeal among students of all ages and skill levels. One trainer told owner Jerry Pitkin, "I didn't know what strength was until I took yoga." Gold's assistant general manager, John Vasquez, had a similar experience: "I thought I'd go in and take a catnap," he says with a laugh of his first yoga class. "I was sweating bullets. Once you take it, you realize it's a different kind of workout."

WATER WORKOUTS

Taking advantage of Southwest Florida's year-round warm weather is part of what exercise classes in water are all about. But another part is the opportunity such exercise affords for safe, no-impact, full-body workouts, especially among those with injuries or health problems.

"A lot of people, regardless of their age, still want to work out hard," says Shawn Buchheit, fitness director for the Ritz-Carlton Spa in Naples. In line with the spa's philosophy of tailoring class offerings to the needs and requests of members and guests, it offers nine water classes per week in the outdoor lap pool.

Aqua Energy, for example, combines a high-energy water workout heavy on cardio with stretching, strengthening and toning exercises. Aqua Ai Chi emphasizes the fusion of body and spirit using balance and breathing exercises. Splash Dance incorporates show-tune sing-alongs and dance moves into a workout that may also include weights, noodles and webbing for a full-body workout. The workout is no-impact-easy on older joints and muscles in particular.

Spin Cycles

Picture a stationary bike on steroids, with pounding music and crazy disco lights, and you have a pretty good idea of what a typical spin class entails. That may be why spin continues to rank among the most popular classes at many local gyms. This isn't your grandma's stationary bike. Various settings can fire you from "relaxed downhill to heart-throbbing uphill to the flats," says Gold's Gym's Jerry Pitkin.

In a room with up to two dozen other bikers while you spin, personal controls mean you don't have to keep up with the pack, even if a manic instructor is egging you on. You're in control. And you're not only getting a terrific cardio workout; you can also build serious muscle. "You see improved musculature in your legs so quickly," says Huyett.

There is no complicated routine to follow-only simple instructions on adjusting the bike's intensity, so even first-timers can pedal with confidence right away. And once you try it, say many spinners, you'll be eager to get back on the bike. "Spinners are very dedicated," says Laura Manning, communications director of the YMCA of Collier County. "It burns so many calories that they love it." And they have so much fun, she adds, that the sounds of the spinners whooping it up sometimes reach far outside the spin room.

BODY SCULPTING

For those who crave brawn, group weight-training classes are gaining in popularity. An instructor guides participants through a safe, supervised workout that can exercise every major muscle group. Most sculpting classes involve free weights, and some include other elements, from resistance bands to stability balls. But in all of them, the focus is on building and toning the muscles.

Physiologists and exercise experts at Body Training Systems (BTS) in New Zealand have created one of the fastest-growing offerings, called Body Pump. It incorporates set routines choreographed to driving music for a full-body workout in about an hour.

Body Pump is offered at the Whitaker Wellness Center in Naples. Program coordinator Bowers calls it "resistance training to rhythm" and says that the center's six weekly classes average about 35 students each.

Each routine includes 10 music tracks, from warm-up to cool-down, and weights are changed or added with each one. Because the routines change only once every couple of months or so, participants quickly learn the combinations, freeing themselves to concentrate on form, says Huyett.

"It's deemed very safe," she adds-participants reap the benefits of the knowledge and research behind the system.

The BTS system is a patented one that can be taught only by BTS-certified instructors. But many gyms offer what Pitkin calls "a homegrown" version. Sculpting classes "help to draw classroom-oriented people into the strength-training genre," he says, bringing in more women, for example, who are less likely than men to try free weights.

Aerobic movement in conjunction with the weight work means that both types of sculpting classes offer a complete workout in a tidy one-hour package.

PEACEFUL PILATES

Once the beautiful little secret of ballerinas, Pilates went mainstream in the early '90s, when celebrities began using the stretching and toning system to maintain their Hollywood hard bodies. Now Pilates is available at most Gulfshore gyms and at special studios devoted solely to its practice.

Part of the appeal of the system-particularly for women-is that it's a no-impact workout that gives long, lean muscles, as opposed to bulk. Much of the class takes place on a mat, and involves holding various positions for a terrific stretching and isometric workout.

It's not as easy as it may sound. "I think men don't think it's going to be challenging," says Diana Colyott, owner-instructor at Pilates of Bonita Springs. "Once they try it, they change their minds."

Pilates focuses much attention on the abdominal muscles-what fitness professionals call "the core." A strong core is the key to a fit and healthy body, say proponents; strengthening those muscles can even help address issues like rounded shoulders, hip problems and osteoporosis risk, says Susan Mann of the Pilates Center of Naples.

Pilates also improves posture, increases flexibility, builds strength and aligns the body. "It's efficient and effective," says Colyott.

The calmer pace of the exercises, as opposed to some of the more energetic group workouts, may also provide side benefits in the form of peace of mind. "I think people are looking for a little less impact, a little more serenity," is how YMCA's Manning explains Pilates' appeal.